New Arrivals

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Last week we were already in the mood to prepare for next Spring. In fact, we had already started a tray of various vegetable and herb seedlings in our Growing Spaces greenhouse dome. We continued our endeavor this week by adding the second element to what will be a closed loop ecosystem: fish.

Early, we had settled on Tilapia as our fish species of choice. The reasons were many fold: they have been used in Aquaponic systems before (so there is a lot of information and data); they mature rapidly (within 6 months under proper conditions); they are easy to breed (one female will produce 200-1000 eggs per spawn and will spawn every 4-5 weeks); and finally, they are a good source of protein (their white flesh and "non fishy" taste have made them a popular dish).

There are many varieties of Tilapia and we settled on the more popular species, the Blue Tilapia. So this week we picked up 300 Blue Tilapia "fingerlings" and added them to the large water tank in our greenhouse.

Blue Tilapia Fingerling (DoA)

We expected some losses as we gradually introduced the fish to their new surroundings. By the time we emptied the bag containing the fingerlings, a half dozen or so were already dead. Nevertheless the majority looked to be in perfect shape swimming in schools as they found their new freedom in our 3000 gallon tank (in a tank this size we can accommodate over 1000 fish). At the time, the tank temperature had gradually gone up to 16.5 degrees (some 3 degrees higher than the previous week).

Water temperature has now become a major concern. Optimum temperature for Tilapia is over 20 degrees C. Last week, we were concerned about the survival of our fish and with the cold weather now upon us, temperature fluctuations to below 15 degrees is a great concern. Because the greenhouse is operated "off the grid", it is impossible for us to adequately heat such a large volume of water.

In any case, we are pushing ahead hoping that some fish will survive what will be 3 grueling winter months. If they do, they stand a much better chance next year when the water tank has had one full summer of exposure to warm temperatures (our tank was filled with our cold well water in September). Also, once we have one full year of operational experience, we will have a better feel for the type of fish which may survive our environmental conditions on a year-long basis.

In order to begin filtering some of the fish waste we decided to add some water plants to the tank. We opted for Duck Weed which apparently Tilapia also enjoy as a source of food.

Our water tank is showing signs of life with both Tilapia and Duck Weed

We are now monitoring things very closely. Right now, the cold water is just not conducive to much activity from the Tilapia.

In the meantime, the environment in the dome itself remains conducive to plant growth. Our original potted plants (fennel and strawberries) are doing very well and the seeds planted last week have started to germinate.

Lettuce and others have started germinating

On the farming front, it was also time to prune our Kiwis, starting with those newly trellised last year. This is where we now get a better feel for where and how these fruits grow. Kiwis grow on the third year shoot of a vine. These vines can be distinguished by their colour. The most recent shoots are lighter brown and the older vines turn grey.

Late harvest Kiwis showing the different year growth of their vines

Even though the Kiwis have taken very well to their new trellises, the pruning process is still very difficult. When we extracted the Kiwis from rampant Wild Grapes and Roses last year, we were left with unstructured vines which had not be pruned for many years. The result is that it may take a few years for us to properly train all of these vines (while maintaining fruit production).

The old Kiwi vines have taken very well to the new trellises, but it will take years to train them

As far as the Ward Manor is concerned, we are finally coming to the end of the outside renovations.

The wood working and troughs are almost done. Gord (one of the talented workers on the Tucker Construction team) commented that it must have taken them years to finish the wood work back in the 19th century; even with modern tools, he considered it an incredible task to rebuild all of the external finishes.

Some of the rebuilt and restored external finishes waiting to be installed

The wood was also painted with a primer and we expect to do the final painting in Spring (where we will be changing the colour to something more appropriate of the times). Meanwhile, the team also worked on fitting new storm windows to protect their Victorian counterparts and provide a touch more insulation.

Fitting new storm windows

All that will remain is the iron work and the rebuilding of some columns for the west wing veranda.

This progress has allowed us to commit to the next phase of the project: landscaping.

Our effort here is focused on the back ridge which is a mess and the front of the barn where we have an ineffective parking lot. So this week, we started work on some "hardscaping" of the parking area.

Extending the delineated parking area on front of the barn

Because of the gradients involved (both on front of the barn and on the ridge behind the house), we've started to take the first of many deliveries of massive armour stone. Luckily we have ample space to temporarily store these.

Our first stone delivery

I will close this week with an amusing event. One evening, Christine screamed as she entered the dining room.  It turns out, we had a bat in the house. I'm not sure how it got there, but perhaps all of the work on the outside of the house scared the little rodent and forced him to find a more suitable shelter.

Either way, it was an evening of comedic dance as two full grown adults try to capture and/or chase a little bat out of the house. You don't often see that in the city.

A small bat, comfortable atop our study

PS. It turned out that the best way to calm the bat was to turn the lights on. He proceeded to make himself comfortable atop our study. Once there, things were a lot easier for us.

Getting Ready for Spring!

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Winter may not even be here, but this week we were already thinking of next Spring. Just as we did last year, we decided to use the remainder of this Autumn to prepare ourselves for next year's new plants. We're already receiving nursery catalogs and are salivating at the thought of planting new fruits and vegetables.

So we started this week by sorting the various T posts we salvaged from our newly cleared land. The posts that were too oxidized or warped we sent to recycling, the others we pounded into new rows.

Sorting our old posts

The rows to be planted next Spring are part of a hill that was originally farmed for corn. These we tilled in anticipation of planting new berries for 2014. Likely upcoming crops for this space include more raspberries (Golden and Black), more currants (Red and Black), Strawberries and Blueberries.

Tilling new rows with our trusted BCS

Since the trees are shedding their leaves, it was also time to take advantage of the massive amount of compost generated by the European Copper Beech that is in front of the house. It turns out that Paw Paws like a soil covered with dead leaves (as they would find it in the old Carolinian forest). So we decided to move the leaves from under the Beech tree to our newly planted Paw Paw patch. Regrettably the winds did not collaborate.

Relocating leaves to the Paw Paw patch

Although windy, temperatures did reach double digits so it was a real pleasure to also start our pruning activities. The first item on our list was the Concord grape vines. This year, we were determined to prune them correctly and after educating ourselves a bit on the process, we were much more aggressive this time around.

Pruning Concord Grapes

We also decided to complete more work on the Biodome. With a Spring mentality enhanced by some of the milder weather experienced this week, we actually decided to seed a tray in anticipation of making our Aquaponics system fully functional before winter. We started a variety of plants including lettuce, spinach, wax beans, cucumbers, peppers and a variety of herbs.

The Biodome's first seedlings

We also decided to set up our own pump assembly for the hydroponic beds. We did this using 2 simple elements from Canadian Tire: a marine bilge pump (they run from 12 volt batteries) and a 40 Watt solar panel (on sale half price this week!).

600 GPH Bilge Pump

40 Watt Solar Panel

The result is a sustainable flow of water from bed to bed at a maximum rate of 600 Gallons per hour. We only had to provide overflow protection on the first bed using a simple pipe assembly.

Overflow protection on first hydroponic bed

Sustainable water flow on all prototype beds

Now we need fish....something to be addressed this coming week. However, to introduce fish into our large tank we need to verify two key parameters: pH (the acidity of the water) and temperature. We've decided to use a simple thermometer and a dye to get a handle on these. It seems we have a rather alkaline water (pH hovering around 8) and a rather cold tank (temperature of 15 to 20 degrees C). Our key concern is whether we will be able to winter the Tilapia we are planning to get for this installation.

Monitoring pH in our main tank

I'll end this week with Pumpkins!

Our Pumpkin cellar

Since Halloween is over, we've noticed many people just throwing away their pumpkin "decorations". This is a shame since Pumpkins are very good food and a great source of Vitamin A. So I thought I would share one of our Pumpkin recipes that has always been a hit in the family this time of year: Pumpkin Chowder.

Note: Our recipes are just guidelines and proportions can be adjusted to taste.

Ingredients: Pumpkin, Carrots, Potatoes, Corn, Onions (or Leeks), vegetable or chicken stock, heavy cream (or milk).

Method:

Chop onions or leeks and soften them in a pan with some olive oil.
Toss in finely cubed carrots.
Toss in finely cubed potatoes
Simmer all in stock or broth.

Onions, carrots and potatoes waiting for the stock

Quarter a pumpkin, remove seeds and bake until soft.
Peel cooked pumpkin and puree in food processor.
Add Pumpkin to stock.

Add corn, salt and pepper to taste.
A touch of Cayenne provides a nice finish,

Once the potato cubes are well cooked, add cream (or milk).
Take a good half of the chowder and process it in a blender to add back to the soup (this will provide a nice velvety thickness to the chowder).

After working in the field...there's nothing like a hot bowl of Pumpkin Chowder

Back to the Biodome

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With the cold weather now firmly establishing itself, we decided to spend a bit more time correcting the deficiencies of our Biodome. Last week, with the help of a new temperature recorder, we discovered a 7 degree Celsius difference between outside and inside the dome. We did not feel comfortable with that, so we started to work on our insulation.

First we started to use insulating foam to fill small gaps between the foundation and the structure.

Using foam insulation on the base of the dome structure

Then we taped seams we had missed earlier.

Taping some missed panels

And finally, we installed block foam insulation on the outside of the fan assemblies (the louvres provided no insulation at all).

Installing insulation outside the fan assemblies

This work really paid off. We went from a 7 degree difference between inside and outside to 12, to 17 and eventually well over 20 degrees C (on a sunny day).

Inside temperature

Outside temperature

We will now be charting the temperatures over time to establish the type of environment we have created. We already know there is a strong relationship with weather and in particular overcast skies.

Even though most nights in the past week have reached below zero degrees C, so far the dome temperature has been well above freezing. The only frustrating thing is the high humidity (it hovers between 75 and 85%)...particularly when you are wearing glasses. This is also causing a significant amount of condensation inside the dome.

It's not easy to work with glasses in a very humid environment!

With the temperature tackled, it was time to also address our prototype hydroponic bed. Last week we found our concept to be relatively expensive, time consuming and not very effective (ie. leakage). As a result, we decided to standardize on the use of "off the shelf" hydroponic tables.

Using equipment from our local supplier of everything hydroponic (Northern Lights on Highway 20), we were able to rapidly set up a four bed prototype in order to test our water flow concept.

Testing the water flow

The height of the beds is a bit of a nuisance, but since we are hoping to only test things out with one solar powered pump and gravity, we had to set them up at a level above the edge of our large water tank. We may be able to refine this a bit, but a lot will also depend on the dome flooring which has not yet been installed.

Using this type of set up and configuration, we believe we can install  well over thirty 32 in. x 48 in. beds. We will then have additional space on the edges of the dome for additional seeding beds and in the center for larger plants or columns.

Elsewhere on the farm, we continue to pick Arctic Kiwis. With so many frosts under our belts, the berries are looking somewhat shriveled and soft....but they also seem to be at their best, loaded with sugar. With the leaves dropping from the vines, the berries are easy to find even when they have climbed their way up the odd tree.

Picking Kiwis that have crawled up a Staghorn Sumac tree

With the recent success of our Kiwi wine, we are seriously considering an Arctic Kiwi Ice Wine. This will definitely be the subject of our next experiment.

In the restaurant and Tea Room, the team continues to bake traditional and seasonal cookies and breads. Chef made a batch of Stollen (a traditional Saxon Christmas fruit cake, loaded with Marzipan/Almond Paste), while Morgan has been decorating his gingerbread cookies.

Traditional and seasonal Stollen....right out of the oven!

Decorating cookies in our kitchen's "assembly line"

This week, we also decided to tackle a small project: a new compost bin.

When we first arrived at the farm, our objective was to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. We felt this could be achieved somewhat by monitoring and reducing our waste (ie. garbage). So our first action was to compost and we set ourselves up with a small plastic bin just outside our home's original kitchen.

Our first compost bin

We were then horrified to find out that running a restaurant generates a significant amount of waste. A large part being packaging....but as well a massive amount of organics. So it was time to put the restaurant on the same composting regimen. 

With the restaurant and our yard/farm waste, we ended up creating a large compost pile. Not a very pretty site but a wonderful impact on the number of garbage bags we produce.

A compost heap next to our beaver pond.

This week's project was to put together a new kind of bin which we may be able to use to distribute the compost piles where they will be most needed. 

To do this cheaply, we took our hints from the Internet and decided to procure some cheap (free) pallets from our local building material retailers. Using these, old T-bars and shelf brackets (scavenged from the barn), we created something which may do just the trick.

A new compost bin

Given the amount of waste generated by our restaurant activities, producing sufficient compost will not be a problem. In fact, we believe that some form of animal husbandry will be necessary on our part if we are to use a lot more of this organic matter. Chickens or pigs may definitely be called for.

I close this week, with another interesting event we have been promoting at the Tea Room. This week, we hosted both a private evening and an open house where Tea leaf reading was the attraction. 

While at the farm, we have developed a lot of different friendships and one of these is Gloria. Gloria is our Tea supplier and an expert on Tea blends....but she is also an impressive "medium" and reader of Tea leaves. 

The interest in these events proved so popular that both were rapidly booked with no advertising. Christine is now determined to make this a regular activity.

An evening of Tea Leaf Reading at Ridge Berry Farm

Arctic Kiwi Wine

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Many who have been following our adventures on the farm will know that the Arctic Kiwi is one of the prominent crops we've inherited...albeit not maintained for many years. We are still harvesting these Kiwis even though we are a few days well beyond our first frost.

We have experimented with many applications for these berries, from jams to chutneys and raisins. A few weeks back, we even decided to attempt a wine. We used the Melomel (fruit-based Mead) production technique that has been most reliable for us and which has been documented on this blog.

After following the progress of this wine for a couple of weeks, we had determined that it was ready to rack, basically transfer the brew from the fermenter to a carboy. This was also a time to get a good taste of what was to come.

Racking Arctic Kiwi wine in our new cellar.

I have to admit the results are amazing and certainly the best wine we've produced to date. Even Chef, who's a wine aficionado, thought it pleasant. It reminded him of a sweet New Zealand Chardonnay. To me, it resembled a late harvest or even an ice wine, although not as syrupy. This makes sense since the Arctic Kiwi when fully ripe is loaded with concentrated sugars and takes on the character of a raisin. This wine however still held floral and tropical notes which are almost reminiscent of pineapple.

We can hardly wait to get to the bottling stage. All in all so far, this was a great discovery and will hopefully become a regular part of our farm production (once we get around all of the administrative hurdles dictated by the Ontario government for local wine producers).

This week was also all about Halloween and although this made it a fun week, it reminded us that the Holiday season is fast approaching. As such, it was time to launch our latest venture at the market: Seasonal Gift Baskets.

The team has been working every day producing Gift Baskets and is having a difficult time producing the corporate orders we now have on hand. The baskets are of course based on our preserves and cordials, but also include the coffees and teas we serve at the restaurant as well as some local artisanal products.

It's gift basket production time at the market

Chef is now also heavily involved in the production of these baskets. We have been adding a selection of traditional seasonal European cookies and breads. In order to meet the demand, we've even enlisted our younger daughter Morgan.

Morgan doing what she loves: baking, and helping Chef with our cookie production

With the weather turning rather cold, it was also time to get back to the Biodome. We acquired a digital thermometer and humidity sensor to record both inside and outside temperature as well as minimum and maximum values.

Our new digital temperature recorder for the Biodome

What we discovered is that the temperature difference between the exterior and interior of the dome is roughly 7 degrees Celsius. We were really hoping for at least 10 degrees. It turns out that our dome is not at all well insulated. There are a lot of gaps between the dome structure and the foundation. So much of our time has been spent sealing these.

Having said this, the few plants living in the dome are doing quite well. Our fennel cuttings are simply loving the environment and our strawberry plant is still producing fruit.

The fennel is alive and well....

while we are still picking small strawberries in November.

We have also had a chance to work on the hydroponic beds that will form part of the Aquaponics facility. Here have encountered some issues. Nothing major, but our overflow pipe was not properly sealed and leaked inside the wooden casing of the bed. This resulted from the difficulty of installing the pond liner. Basically we had too many folds to make a proper and clean cut, while the washers could not be sufficiently tightened to seal the installation.

Once filled with water, we encountered our first leak

We've also come to the realization that continuing this way will be very costly. The pond liner alone costed some $60.

After spending some time at a local hydroponics shop, we decided that perhaps working with "off the shelf" equipment might not only save us some money but would save us a lot of time. So we're now going to approach this with ready made (formed plastic) hydroponic tables. This avoids all of the pond liner issues and costs.

The problem now is that we will be effectively trying to fit a square peg in a round whole. The pre-made hydroponic beds are rectangular and we will need to come up with an arrangement that maximizes the use of the area while fitting these beds in a green house with a circular footprint.

Elsewhere on the farm, we continue to make some discoveries. This week it was on the ridge behind the old manor.

We know this part of the yard was used as some sort of a dump site or open air compost heap for kitchen waste before we acquired the property. This was thoroughly hidden by overgrown vines. In the end, it seems that this kitchen waste must have included some seeds.

Covered with weeds, the ridge behind the manor is due for a major landscaping project.

Within this mess we found some vines. One was producing a beautiful "goose neck" gourd, the other a rather large yellow squash which we suspect is some sort of Zucchini. We found a half dozen of these beautiful fruits which have now joined the rest of our Winter squashes in the cellar.

A surprising find in the weeds.

I will close this week with another surprise. Most blog readers will know we are avid processors of Black Walnuts. This Fall, we intend to process at least 2 bushels of these wonderful nuts.

Our total harvest however has been hampered. We placed a large amount of nuts inside a plastic bin. This bin was inside and in the back of the barn, in a place not readily accessible. When we came to husk this batch nuts, we discovered that the vast majority had vanished. Left behind were just shreds of black husks.

Some critter has decimated our Black Walnut inventory

We suspect some sort of audacious critter...a chipmunk or squirrel. Then I came across a picture of a very likely "ballsy" culprit :)

Watch out for this guy!