Stage 1 - Fish Food

The first stage in this farm project is food for the fish. If we can produce food for all stages of the fish life, then we won't have to rely on outside sources.

Currently I feed my aquarium fish the cheap pellets from the local aquarium shops. I am quite sure there would be preservatives and fillers, just like cheap processed fast food we buy for ourselves.

The newly hatched or born fish fry need infusoria. As they get a little bigger, we can feed them daphnia. Then progress to tiny worms. And finally earthworms. The omnivores will also probably go for duckweed.

As we decide on what fish to put into the system, that will dictate what fish food we need to produce.

Zombie grasshopper!!

This thing was on the road. At first we thought it was just a carcass of a grasshopper. Touched it, prodded it, nothing moved.

After a few minutes, it must have realised that it's trick of looking dead was backfiring and it flew off. Never seen that species in my life!

The green ones visit our garden often. At the risk of sounding racist/bugist, I hope I don't see too much of them.

how do I organise this blog

I'm thinking to break it down to each stage...

fish food > fish > plant food > plants

A complete system - aquaponics

Aquaponics is amazing! I'll leave it to the experts to give you the details... here is the wiki on it.

My basic understanding is that it is a complete cycle like this...
Fish eat food and then poop > Fish waste eventually turns into ntrates in the water which is toxic for the fish but plants love it > Plants absorb nitrates > The water that is left is clean enough to be put back into the fish tank starting the cycle all over again.
We harvest and eat the veges and fish. The vege scrapes are put into the compost bin which eventually becomes another source of plant food.

I would like to add one thing to this and that is fish food. If we could produce our own natural fish food then there would be hardly anything processed added to the system.

21 chilli samples contained pesticide residues: Health Ministry

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By Bernama December 22, 2018 @ 3:09pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) has confirmed that 21 chilli samples in the market did not comply with the standards under the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 relating to pesticide residues.

Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said MOH’s Food Safety and Quality Division had been monitoring imported chillies at the country’s borders and local markets.

“The monitoring had started since January, a total of 503 chilli samples including chillies from Vietnam have been analysed and the result found 21 samples (4.2 per cent) did not comply with the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 requirements relating to pesticide residues.

“Enforcement actions have already been taken. MOH will continue to monitor vegetables including chillies to ensure compliance with the act,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said all imported foods were subject to the law and it was the responsibility of the related parties to ensure compliance with legislation.

He explained that failure to comply with the regulations is an offence and if convicted, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not up to three years or a fine or both.

The public with concerns about food safety issues may contact the nearest District Health Office or the state’s Health Department or through the MOH website http://moh.spab.gov.my or Food Safety and Quality division’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bkkmhq.

Yesterday, a local newspaper reported that smuggled red chilli from Vietnam was found to be sold nation-wide despite the government’s suspension of the import permit (IP) on the commodity since Sept 14.-- Bernama

Snake!!

Our Zoey is my hero,

alerting me to this...

Planting Design Idea

Spotted this in Putrajaya. Looks doable, and I think it would go well along the wall-fence that we share with our neighbours.

 We are always on the lookout for things to convert those bottles into instead of recycling them.
There have been so many reports in the news lately that only a small percentage of the plastic we send to be recycled is actually recycled. The majority ends up polluting our planet.
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