What on Earth is Aquaponics?

A  year ago, I'd have asked the same question.  In fact, when Eric first brought it up, I might have, in exactly that way.

Well, he got to setting up a system, and today we finished it.  So... aquaponics, day 1.

To answer my own question, aquaponics is the use of water and fish - with light - to grow plants.  Basically, it's a nearly self-sufficient ecosystem you can put anywhere.  Ours is in the basement.

We've got 8 goldfish in a 20 gallon tank of plain old water on the floor, with an air stone to oxygenate the water, and some goldfish food.

We've got a pump in with them, that spends half an hour sending water up a PVC pipe to a bed of rocks in a bin up on some cinderblocks, then an hour off to let the rock bed, which acts as the fish tank's filter, drain back into the tank and give the seeds/plants some time without being immersed.

And then the water drains back out through a PVC pipe in the bottom, back into the fish tank.

Above it all is a light fixture with two metal halide bulbs and two T5 bulbs in it.

Into the rock bed, we just sprinkled the seeds!  We've got spinach, mesclun, brussels sprouts, broccoli, yellow pear tomatoes, and kale so far.  We left space in the back to do some beans, peas, and cucumbers.  Apparently, because of how this system is set up, the plants don't need large root systems or a lot of space, and they should grow pretty quickly.

The waste from the fish acts as fertilizer for the plants, while the plants put oxygen and nutrients back into the water for the fish.  All that's needed after that is fish food.  The pump is already set up on a timer, and we'll get a timer for the light, and we'll see how things go.

I'll keep you posted, of course.

The prospect of year-round fresh veggies right in our own house, though... woohoo!

Want a Dinosaur Puzzle?

Like this one, I mean.  Well, you can make your own, 'cause the pattern and instructions are now in the Reef Botanicals HAFShop!

Sewing, Not Soap

Next weekend, I face & body paint at an event called Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire.  I've been doing it for several years, but a few years ago, I got a wheeled cart so I could paint on the go and not miss shows I wanted to see, not miss shopping, not miss all the fun.  It works well.

It's also ugly.

So the first year, I suddenly thought last minute of getting a table skirt for it.  Of course by last minute I mean on the way to the event.  So I ended up with a dull blue plastic table skirt sold in the party section of the dollar store.

It was ugly too.  And very much not of the Renaissance.  Or Wicked, for that matter.

The second year I had the cart, which was last year, I didn't even bother.  I meant to make something, didn't find the time, and gave up.  Of course, I didn't have a sewing machine back then.  I went with my plain cart, which really doesn't go with the Renaissance theme.  It also doesn't go with the Wicked theme.  It's fairly un-thematic.  Just utilitarian.  And, you know, ugly.

And then in July, I got my sewing machine.  And in October, I won that Joann's gift card from Frugal With a Flourish, and I bought that awesome royal crushed velvet.  I also bought some 1/2" elastic.

So... today I cut my fabric and started to sew.  The cart is 87" around.  The height of it is perfect for 1/2 the width of the fabric, so I cut a 60" piece, and then cut it in half lengthwise.  I hemmed each short end for a nice finish.

Having the machine really makes life easier for stuff like this, and I got nice, even hems.

Each pack of elastic was 3.5 yards, so I needed to sew the better part of two of them together.

I stitched in two spots and went back and forth to make sure it's strong.  Last thing I need is the elastic breaking in the middle of a 3-day event.

I used the elastic to measure how far I needed to fold the fabric over at the top, and pinned it down, then sewed just outside the pins to give the elastic a little more room.

I designated the cut long end as the "top," since the other side was already finished, and could be a nice straight bottom without any alteration, while the top needed to be sewn down for the elastic to run through.

For anyone who's never done this before, a little trick... pin a safety pin to the end of your elastic.  It makes it much, much easier to pull through.

When I was running it through the second length of fabric, I had to make sure I wasn't going to pull it right out the other end, so I pinned the far end to the velvet to make it stay put.

Once both pieces were strung onto the elastic, I sewed together the open ends of elastic and tried it on the cart.  It looked good, but the velvet was heavier than I anticipated, and dragged down a bit.  To keep it lifted properly, I sewed a button in the front middle, where I wanted one of the splits in the fabric to be.

Then I sewed on a loop of embroidery thread, to the opposite side of the elastic, to be pulled across the top of the cart and hold the fabric up.

The way I set up my face paints, the thread won't interfere.  Just to make sure it's really stable, I also added buttons and loops of embroidery thread to the corners.

And voila!  The cart is ready for faire!

Much better.

Artist Spotlight: Part Thirty-Five

Oh wow, do I have some cute stuff to show you today!  Briskmama, the holder of a degree in computer science, was born in Dubrovnik.  After growing up in a small town, and spending time on the beach swimming and playing, she moved to Zagreb to finish university, met her husband, and stayed in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Her grandmother and mother taught her how to knit, embroider, and sew, and boy did they do a good job imparting their knowledge.

She's still got the holiday spirit with the ornaments above and these adorable reusable Christmas gift bags.  I say check out her products and stock up for next year!

If you've had enough of the holidays, she's got some great embroidered totes.

On her blog, you'll find tutorials for sewing, as well as some insanely amazing recipes from this avid cook.

Honestly, I think her photography is enough to make me want to follow her blog.

Speaking of her photography, she sells that too, in her Etsy shop.

If you'd prefer her art prints, a result of her passions for drawing and computers, those are there too, and they're adorable.

How awesome is her vintage style?

Wild Things!

My nephew's 1st birthday is on December 22, and his party is this Sunday, December 19.  The theme my sister and brother-in-law chose is Where the Wild Things Are.  Great book, great theme.  Only there's not a whole lot out there for Wild Thing parties.  You'd think there would be, but there really isn't.

So my sister finally found some Wild Things balloons and vinyl wall decals, plus a room border.  I think the vinyl is meant more for actual kids' room decorations than party decorations but they'll definitely work.  There was a matching popup cake topper too, and she got it, but no plates, cups, or napkins, so she had to do those and streamers in coordinating colors.

It's all very exciting!

But there still remained the issue of a birthday hat... and I saw, fortuitously, this tutorial.  I changed it up to make it suitable,

and here's my version, with an 18" circumference, plus about an inch of elastic.  We tried it on him, and it fits perfectly.  My nephew is big, though, so if you do one, you might need it to be smaller.

And last night, my sister and I made the cake!

Of course, a birthday isn't a birthday without gifts!  I got him this book & finger puppet set.

I love it 'cause it teaches color theory!  There are so many baby books out there that teach letters, numbers, vehicles, animals... this is the first and only I've seen that teaches art.

Speaking of books, remember this one?

I used it to make my nephew an additional gift.  From two of my mother's pairs of pants (brown flat fabric and a pair of corduroys), one of my skirts (tan linen), an old green sweater, plus the thread and two of the buttons that Avery got me for my birthday, I made these parts.

And from these parts, I made this guy!

And a close up of his adorable, surprised-looking face.

This was much more complicated than the mooshy belly creatures I made him for Chanukah.  It took longer too.  But it was so much fun!  Now I just hope he loves it as much, even without the ultra cuddle fabric.  We'll see on Sunday!

Oh, and last night after we made the cake and my sister was looking at the decorations, she suddenly asked me, "Did you make the crown to look like the one from the book?"  Um.... yeah!  Would you believe she hadn't put it together that that's what I was doing until she saw it together?  She thought I was just doing it because I found the tutorial and wanted to make my nephew the star of the party.  Ha!  But according to her, it looks exactly right.

Awesome.

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