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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Spring is Springing

I've been kept off my game by a persistent cold that made me want to stay warm.  Meanwhile my aquaponics system has plugged along through subfreezing nights.  In several senses it has been successful.  Mint has taken over one of the grow beds.  Mint is something I want to grow, but it has a tendency to spread too far in a garden.  In a grow bin it will hopefully be isolated to a particular bin instead of spreading through the system.  My parsley is also responding to the warmer temperatures and before long I might be able to use my own mint and parsley when I make tabbouleh, a dish which features bulgur wheat and various vegetables and greens including parsley, mint, green onions and tomatoes all diced up and mixed together with a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. 
I scattered some peas on the surface of the three bins where I had  tomatoes growing until fairly late.  They have responded to the casual treatment by growing!  I planted some beets last year in a similar manner and had beet greens for quite a while.  There are still some rather stunted beet greens growing amidst the parsley and mint.  Now I need to plow ahead and get the other parts of my system up and running.  The fish have come out of hibernation and flit around.  I will purchase more 'feeder gold fish' since I'm not all that hooked on fish as part of my diet.  I get an egg or so a day from my chickens and that usually meets my minimum needs for animal protein, although now and then I poach a bit of salmon or make a tuna sandwich.  Or, when I'm feeling self indulgent, go for coconut shrimp.