Dried Peppers

Much hotness

Right before my CSA ends there is usually an onslaught of food I cant quite eat in a week. These foods usually include many pounds of apples, many varieties of giant gourds, and a relatively small amount (less than a pound even) of hot hot peppers. Last year I canned them with oil. This year, not knowing what to do, I kept them in a pile by the window. I have piles of vegetables decorating my home like rich people have bouquets of hydrangea. Some of the peppers dried out on their own. A swell way to preserve them until Im ready to tap their heat.

You can do the same with any mixture of peppers you grow or get from the market. I plan to make some spunky chili powder and give it away for Christmas. The following is less of a recipe an more of a suggestion. Easy nonetheless.

Dried Peppers
Several dried peppers, whole but rinsed

Heat oven to 150 degrees. Place peppers on a tray. Allow to dry out in warm oven 2-3 hours.

Wrinkled hotness

Reef Tank Part 3

Time to finish up the light canopy. Ill be running 4 florescent VHO lamps with an Icecap 660 ballast for a total of 440 watts of lighting.

I picked up a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" plywood and had it cut to size at Lowes and attached it to the frame with paneling nails.

next I measured for the risers to mount the endcaps for the bulbs, then i remeasured 10 more times and test fit before drilling pilot holes for mounting screws.
then I checked the fit and checked it again just to make sure.

I mounted the remaining lamps the same way and switched it on to test it out. (note:do not look directly at the lamps when you plug them in, i was seeing spots for 30 mins after)

Damn thats bright!

I finished up the top and mounted it to the hinges















Then i placed it on top of the tank and switched it on














perfect, now I have to mount the ballast, clean up the wiring , add the handle to the top ,add molding around the corners and stain it to match the stand.

April 24th 2010 progress

Well... Progress. nothing much to report. All going well and no major problems.

I did have a minor difficulty with the flushing system. Seems for no apparent reason to stop flushing and just act as an over flow. Made me loose a few plants which dried up and died as a result. These were leaf plants but the tomatoes and chili plants survived. However it was an easy fix done by reducing the size of the outlet pipe at the bottom of the bottle outlet. Worked well since then.

We ate 5 cat fish a few weeks back and left the Tilapia to carry on in the tank. All fine and seem happy enough. Interestingly the amount of solid waste has reduced considerably. Not surprising as I had reduced the Bio mass by approximately 50%. (I.e removing the cat fish). So much was the difference in water clarity that I decided last week to dispense with the filter system and see if it made any difference. It consists of simple netting and some old geotextile I found laying about on my construction site.

So after 1 week I checked the pH. It was 7-7.5 today so thats OK. I do suspect that the plants are a bit short of nutrients as they appear a bit pale. But that could be me and my imagination just looking for something..... Produce has continued with chili, tomatoes and greens. My single paw paw is still hanging on in there. I really need to make a separate container for it to enable the roots to grow better. New project.

Recently I planted some coriander and last week some new narga super hot chilies. Will wait and see progress.

First Post of Many WHY AQUAPONICS

While engaging in a debate on the worlds capacity of humans and the limitations imposed by the lack of available land and food, I stumbled upon the concept of aquaponics (hereafter referred to as "AP").

AP is human harnessing of a process that started billions of years ago...yet, amazingly enough, is the future of food production for our entire race.  It will go commercial, and current agricultural farmers with their antiquated techniques will be cornered out of a market with APs ability to mass-produce organic produce locally for less than half the cost using less than half the land.  Couple this with the fact that AP can operate solely only renewable sources of power (wind/solar), emancipating farmers from fossil fuel dependence...and can be scaleable from a kitchen to commercial operation...and you can truly see its limiteless potential.

If I won the lottery, I would become an AP baron, purchase huge cheap plots of land in a sunny climate, raise tilapia in subterranean rooms at constant temperature, and elbow out all competition.  Sadly, the military lifestyle only affords me a meager base pay and moves me every 3-5 years. 

The theory is solid.  The math is solid.  The science is solid.

Imagine...no more irrigation and huge canals...no more algal blooms...no more pesticides...no more dependence on foreign oil...drastically reduced carbon emissions.

Some backyard enthusiasts such as Murray Hallam and Affnan have done much to make it easy for the layman, and have done much to promote awareness of the potential of AP.  I will ATTEMPT to explain the theory behind it all, and emphasize the role that AP will play in our (yes, OUR) future.

Prospect Farm Harvest Fest is this weekend!!

Soup cook-off judged by food smarties Brandon and Joe, raffle with many many great restaurants and food shops prizes, an off the hook bake sale. Yes that includes that zucchini bread recipe and banana chocolate chip cupcake recipe I talk so much about. Music from A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Spirit Family Reunion. Activities like Farm Jeopardy, tours, face painting, and so much more that my head hurts from remembering it all.

Check out the event on Facebook or on the Huffington Post.

Stop by and see what Prospect Farm has achieved in our first year. Its all free too!

Prospect Farm Harvest Fest + Soup Cook-Off
Saturday October 30th (rain date Oct. 31st)
11am - 4pm
@ Prospect Farm located 1194 Prospect Ave btwn Seeley and Vanderbilt Sts, Brooklyn
F or G train to Ft. Hamilton, exit towards Prospect Ave/Greenwood

weekend projects

now that were out in the country and I have room to let my 6 yr old daughter outside to play, I had to make good on my promise to build her a tire swing in the front yard.
Gena and I had been out driving around and we stopped into a small garage/tire shop and I asked if they had any old tires they needed to get rid of. One of the mechanics pointed to a shed near the garage and said "go for it, take all you want".

I picked out a nice big "bubba truck" tire. a 36" mud tire. Ive been making alot of trips to Lowes since we bought the house so i told my daughter "Babygirl, we have to go to Lowes" she does her best horror movie type scream and says "not againnnnn". Once I told her we needed to go and get parts to build the tire swing she had a whole different attitude.

I picked up a u-bolt, a snap swivel and 50 of poly rope and we were in business.
I drilled two 1/2" holes in the tire and installed the U bolt then drilled two more in the opposite side for water drainage.

We cleaned the tire up with some bleach and the garden hose and I hung it from a nice big branch in a tree in our frontyard. Shes been having a blast swinging on it all weekend and it was "the best xmas present ever"

Buckeyes

Candy shaped like a tree nut. Buckeyes
also share a name with a famed college football team.

If youre from Ohio when you hear the term Buckeye you will likely think football, trees, or chocolate covered peanut butter balls. If you are not from Ohio you will think football, or did you say f*ckeye? The Buckeye is the official state tree of Ohio. The nut of the buckeye is a large brown ovalish-sphere with a tan center called a buckeye. Maybe it looks like an eyeball. Some historical nut with a sweet tooth did create a Reeses-peanut-butter-cup-like treat out of the buckeyes unique shape.

Buckeyes are a standard at any Ohio bake sale, or holiday event with a cookie platter. Ironically I learned my buckeye technique from my Aunt in Maryland. Buckeyes were necessary at Christmas. Once the buckeyes were ready it was only a matter of days/hours before the candy might be swallowed whole by her sons, or lurking cousins, being my brother and I. Story has it that my oldest cousin horded a dozen or so in a frozen coffee can labeled "fishing worms" to keep buckeye thieves away. Buckeyes are worth protect, and maddeningly addicting. They are also idea frozen making them better for sharing in person then for mailing.

I have always wanted sort of "change up" this recipe to make it stand out from the ubiquitous buckeye recipe. You can add more or less sugar and butter, making the peanut butter part sweeter or drier. You cant really add flavors (coffee, cayenne, cinnamon, bourbon, maple) to the mixture without disturbing the balance that is chocolate and peanut butter. What I did find was that adding salt made the sweetness a little more exciting. Browning the melted butter also contributes a small measure of nuttiness of the candy. Mixing in a 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate to the chips to really play with contrasts. Some people melt paraffin, or food grade wax with the chocolate. That makes the candy a little more durable in warm areas, less melty. It also replaces some of the richness of the chocolate with empty wax flavor. Use your own judgement. I make buckeyes once a year I want them to be as decadent as possible.

Buckeyes

2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (do not use all natural, chunky or smooth skippy or jiff are great)
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt, more for sprinkling
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups chopped chocolate (I use high quality semi-sweet chocolate)

Melt butter over medium heat in a pan. Allow to simmer until butter becomes a light brown color. Remove from stove and pour into a large mixing bowl with peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whip with a mixer until a smooth dough forms. Form into 1/2 - 3/4 inch balls. Try to be uniform for a prettier batch. Place peanut balls in rows on a rimmed baking sheet. You should make 5-6 dozen balls. Sprinkle with sea salt. Freeze for 2-3 hours until firm. The balls can be kept frozen for up to a week covered or in a ziplock bag.

I hastily shaped and dipped my buckeyes. Not uniform or pretty.
People will taste them before they even notice.

The next step is to dip the balls into melted chocolate. Its key to be fast and efficient with your chocolate dipping. As the frozen peanut balls thaw they become easier to drop in the chocolate, creating a black buckeye bomb. Not a bad thing, but more like a truffle then a buckeye. At the same time your chocolate will be cooling, making it goopy. Cooled chocolate is more likely to suck in your thawing peanut butter balls. Here is what you do. Find a tall ceramic mug. Use a coffee mug, or a tempered glass measuring cup. A tall melting shape make better use of vertical space.

Use a microwave to melt half of the chocolate in the mug, stirring to make sure its smooth. Bring half of the frozen peanut butter balls out of the freezer. Jab a single ball with a long pointy kitchen tool (I use a fondue fork, but kabob skewers, tooth picks work too) and dip more than half way into the chocolate. You are aiming to leave the top part of the peanut ball uncovered. There are two models for this. One, as you dip move the ball side to side. This creates an oval "eye-like" shape. The other is to dip straight down and up, creating a round shape. You will want to twirl the buckeye as you take it out of the chocolate to remove excess chocolate. Move back to cookie sheet, and continue. Act quickly to fill up your sheet. Melt more chocolate, and dip the rest of the frozen balls as needed. If you want to make A+ buckeyes carefully smudge the fork holes until they close up.

a buckeye with an oval center from side to side dipping and
a buckeye dipped straight down for a circle shape.

When you have finished dipping all of the buckeyes put the trays in the freezer and allow to firm up about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Bump them off the trays and serve. People from Ohio will thank you for buckeyes, everyone else will call them "those awesome peanut butter chocolate ball things."

General Thoughts For The Weekend

I said at the start I would be writing about other things besides my own system. Well there is after all only so much one can write about a Barrel System on a weekly basis!!!
This week Ive managed to spend some time on the Internet searching for all I can find on aquaponics farming set ups. The basics, Ive decided from all my research, is that it is not to difficult.
The hard part seems to be getting to a proficiency level where what you are doing is productive and economical. In other words it needs to be sustainable. Sounds easy I know but as I read more there are numerous factors in play all requiring to be constantly adjusted and monitored. And each system had its own set of factors with different weighting factors.
Reading the Backyard Aquaponics Magazine has been really helpful. It seems my enthusiasm is increasing the more I read. All the difficulties I read about I am keen to turn into challenges and find solutions.

Another good link was Redheeler Farm

Add in the papers from the University of the Virgin Island and you are well on the way to understanding what it is all about. They really have done some major research into it all.
However I have a long way to get to get a commercially viable system designed with any degree of confidence. Ill now get back to searching the Internet.