With spring fast approaching, there's a whole bunch of cool projects that we are planning to start tackling this year. Here's a list of the current priority items.
1. Food production, of course!
The goal this year is to maximize our yield with the urban land(s) we are growing on. We will also be growing seeds for use next year on our loaned farm property in Stoney Creek ON. Also known as the Terra Thunder Centre of Excellence!
It's difficult finding reliable yield information from diversified organic farms but from what I gather something in the range of 2000-2500 lbs/acre is a good target. (ref: http://goo.gl/MweQGU).
There's a whole bunch of new varieties that we haven't grown before so it will be a great learning (and eating) experience. Take a look at our seed listing if you haven't yet: http://goo.gl/sJnZaF
2. Urban Food System
We're building a simple gardening ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) leveraging all the tools and power of GOOGLE!
The system aims to feature; a way to plan diversified cropping, input timesheets, track farm resources, post production, allow the general public to view production, and hopefully the close the loop a way for people to "purchase" the produce.
Why GOOGLE?
- costs free-ninety nice
- tools are there and it's supported well
- accessible enough for non-technical people to get into it
Besides, I've been meaning to play around with google apps script anyways. When/if the time comes to transition to something more developed and custom, all the data will be easy to collect and export anyways.
3. Black Solider Fly Larvae (BSFL)
These nasty maggots have gotten me hot and steamy like never before. I believe this species will become as prevalent in the composting community as red wiggler worms have in the past few years. I don't think BSFL will replace our worms; we will continue vermicomposting for the rich compost material, but for fats, meats and other non-worm items I'm hopeful this is the solution.
Check out these awesome time-lapses!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww1CAsTvAJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaoVBlS8iVA
4. Thunder Core
A project we've been working on in the last year; an automated and remotely controlled horticultural controller, internet-connected with sensors including PH, dissolved oxygen, moisture, built on Arduino hardware. We're hoping to finalize and test the first prototype at one of the urban farm properties this year.
5. Beekeeping
We got swept up in the fervor of the recent Flow Hive buzz. (haha I'm so punny)
If you haven't seen; https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive
On it's way to becoming the most funded project in history, which is awesome! Too bad it won't be shipping in time for this season so you can look forward to tasting our honey earliest in 2016. As responsible beekeepers though, we will be taking workshops, getting protective equipment, etc this year.
6. Aquaponics
Been planning to work on this for the longest time, looking to jump in this 2015 season. Tilapia anyone?
7. Biomass/Biochar Production
This year we'll be looking to improve on our TLUD design and produce more biochar for the urban gardens.
Something like this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OitA6hQBic
Look forward to more updates!
EDIT: Almost forgot one of the big ones
8. Mycology
Mushrooms! So good, and so low maintenance? We will be starting to produce our own spores of popular edible mushrooms including; cremini/portabello, shitake and oyster which are apparently the easiest to grow. After that, I'd like to get good at producing the medicinal and highly plant beneficial mushrooms such as red reishi & general mycorrhiza types for soil amendments.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Aphids: Garlic Solution is an Effective Method for IPM
With Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on everyone's mind during growing season, aphids are one enemy in the fight that seems difficult to counter, so we set out to investigate one method we've been using on aphids to control their population & spread; garlic.
There is much scientific brevity here. It works so I'm not going to write a full paper on it, just trying to demonstrate to you that this stuff is the shit.
Theory
Garlic contains certain chemicals such as sulfur that will harm and deter aphids.
Method
Garlic Solution - 3 to 4 Cloves of garlic (Allium sativum) sourced from common grocery variety (imported from China, bleh) was minced and dropped into tap water (approximately 4X the volume of the minced garlic, although up to 10X water should still be effective) inside a plastic bottle.
Live aphids (some died in transport) we're observed in the presence of the garlic solution versus a control (trying to drown them with tap water)
*Wild Heerbrugg M3 Microscope with 10X Eyepiece
Observations
Control: Water had little to no effect on aphids. Their bodies seem to float above and so as seen in the video they are quite lively while floating atop. The effect of aerosolized water also did not seem to phase aphids while on the plants.
Garlic Solution: The moment the aphids touched the solution, activity slowed. Within 10 seconds of exposure, all subjects either had no movement or only tiny (end of arm twitching or similar) reactions.
Conclusion & Application
This stuff works well and is easy to synthesize yourself. Create your own garlic solution and upcycle an aerosol type container (our container of choice is eyeglass cleaner) to spray on effected plants and other areas where you think aphids may go. Spraying liberally will help control populations faster.
What you will find is they start dying off, turn black, and drop to the floor eventually. We've seen no adverse plant affects with the limited concentrations that are applied.
There is much scientific brevity here. It works so I'm not going to write a full paper on it, just trying to demonstrate to you that this stuff is the shit.
Theory
Garlic contains certain chemicals such as sulfur that will harm and deter aphids.
Method
Garlic Solution - 3 to 4 Cloves of garlic (Allium sativum) sourced from common grocery variety (imported from China, bleh) was minced and dropped into tap water (approximately 4X the volume of the minced garlic, although up to 10X water should still be effective) inside a plastic bottle.
Live aphids (some died in transport) we're observed in the presence of the garlic solution versus a control (trying to drown them with tap water)
 |
| 6.4X Objective* Showing Metric Rule With Aphid on Pepper Flower |
 |
| 40X Objective* on Aphid |
*Wild Heerbrugg M3 Microscope with 10X Eyepiece
Observations
Control: Water had little to no effect on aphids. Their bodies seem to float above and so as seen in the video they are quite lively while floating atop. The effect of aerosolized water also did not seem to phase aphids while on the plants.
Garlic Solution: The moment the aphids touched the solution, activity slowed. Within 10 seconds of exposure, all subjects either had no movement or only tiny (end of arm twitching or similar) reactions.
Conclusion & Application
This stuff works well and is easy to synthesize yourself. Create your own garlic solution and upcycle an aerosol type container (our container of choice is eyeglass cleaner) to spray on effected plants and other areas where you think aphids may go. Spraying liberally will help control populations faster.
What you will find is they start dying off, turn black, and drop to the floor eventually. We've seen no adverse plant affects with the limited concentrations that are applied.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Terra Thunder : The Genesis
As a first post to the Terra Thunder blog I guess it's important to try and explain what exactly we are trying to achieve here....(as I've gotten this question quite a few times) so here goes...
Please excuse anything that may be construed as technical jargon, an engineering background does that to you.
What is Terra Thunder?
Terra Thunder is the operating name that covers the projects we are undertaking towards building practical procedures and methods for a fully community sustainable, self-reliant existence.
What do you define as a sustainable and self-reliant existence?
Where one can sustainably produce the following 1. FOOD 2. WATER 3. HEAT/ENERGY 4. ESSENTIAL MATERIALS (clothing, building mtls, etc) without the assistance of; corporations, governments etc. Our primary focus at the start will be in food.
What is the goal of the sustainable existence model?
We'd like to see each person, with community support, manage entirely all their own inputs & outputs, from cradle to grave, and start becoming producers and not consumers.
What will be the key activities?
There is already a vast and extensive knowledge base of practices out there to "go green" or "live sustainably", we aim to filter some of the noise and show by doing what are the most successful practices. In so doing, build and join them into a set of practical guides that we will go out and help others execute upon, locally and globally.
What is the revenue model?
We see revenue in the traditional sense as a barrier to self-reliance, fundamentally our monetary/currency system makes it such that heavy imports/exports and many unsustainable practices are encouraged. So we are aiming to conduct these projects as self-sustaining units and not rely on any recurring revenue. Instead we look at this as producing a value exchange. Barter? Sort of, but I think we can do better. More on this later...
As any good organization we are like a living organism and will be morphing and changing as we find success and failure. We encourage anyone with a similar mindset to reach out, say hi, and of course we are always on the lookout for important value partners.
There will be more to come...hopefully you will understand by seeing what we are doing in the posts to follow and participate in the development of our projects. Thanks for reading!
Please excuse anything that may be construed as technical jargon, an engineering background does that to you.
What is Terra Thunder?
Terra Thunder is the operating name that covers the projects we are undertaking towards building practical procedures and methods for a fully community sustainable, self-reliant existence.
What do you define as a sustainable and self-reliant existence?
Where one can sustainably produce the following 1. FOOD 2. WATER 3. HEAT/ENERGY 4. ESSENTIAL MATERIALS (clothing, building mtls, etc) without the assistance of; corporations, governments etc. Our primary focus at the start will be in food.
What is the goal of the sustainable existence model?
We'd like to see each person, with community support, manage entirely all their own inputs & outputs, from cradle to grave, and start becoming producers and not consumers.
What will be the key activities?
There is already a vast and extensive knowledge base of practices out there to "go green" or "live sustainably", we aim to filter some of the noise and show by doing what are the most successful practices. In so doing, build and join them into a set of practical guides that we will go out and help others execute upon, locally and globally.
What is the revenue model?
We see revenue in the traditional sense as a barrier to self-reliance, fundamentally our monetary/currency system makes it such that heavy imports/exports and many unsustainable practices are encouraged. So we are aiming to conduct these projects as self-sustaining units and not rely on any recurring revenue. Instead we look at this as producing a value exchange. Barter? Sort of, but I think we can do better. More on this later...
As any good organization we are like a living organism and will be morphing and changing as we find success and failure. We encourage anyone with a similar mindset to reach out, say hi, and of course we are always on the lookout for important value partners.
There will be more to come...hopefully you will understand by seeing what we are doing in the posts to follow and participate in the development of our projects. Thanks for reading!
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