Reasons to grow your own food

This is a common sight behind restaurants... washing dishes on the street!!

Sorry for blurry pic

Seafood lovers should eat less shellfish due to heavy metal poisoning risk

Source

Seafood lovers should eat less shellfish due to heavy metal poisoning risk
Monday, 08 Apr 2019 2:48 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Seafood lovers living on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia are being warned to reduce their shellfish consumption because of the risk of heavy metal poisoning.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) School of Marine  and  Environmental Sciences marine biology programme senior lecturer, Assoc Prof Dr Ong Meng Chuan, said a team of 25 scientists and researchers detected a high concentration of heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, plumbum and mercury around estuaries and harbours in the Straits of Malacca during a scientific voyage from March 13-22.

He said findings reveal the waters of Johor, Port Klang and Pulau Pinang are at a higher risk of heavy metal contamination.

"This situation indirectly leads to the contamination of a food source because it is in the nature of shellfish to stay put and not migrate in search of food.

"Obviously, if the water is contaminated with heavy metals, it will be passed up the food chain," he told Bernama.

The marine expedition using UMT's research vessel, RV Discovery, was carried out in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace 2019 (LIMA '19) exhibition and sailed from Kuala Terengganu to Tanjung Lembung, Langkawi.

The team collected samples from more than 45 stations along two shipping routes: the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea.

Dr Ong said many don't realise the long-term health consequences of eating contaminated food from the sea.

"Heavy metal bioaccumulation takes a long time to be detected. The build-up from eating arsenic- or mercury-contaminated food can lead to various disorders," he said.

He said the Straits of Malacca is more polluted compared with the South China Sea because it is shallow and narrow, and experiencing growth in industrial activities in the port and estuary areas.

He said river currents in estuarine waters were weaker, allowing heavy metals to easily sink and accumulate on the floor of the estuary.

Dr Ong said the government and relevant powers should ensure strict enforcement of the law to tackle heavy metal pollution.

"Perhaps a heavier penalty or tougher sentence is needed because we don't want another Sg Kim Kim incident which affected the health of over 2,000 people,” he added. - Bernama

We need a plan

Updated 13Dec2019

Whatever we are trying is not really working. And there are too many components to keep track of. Time to draw a plan. Maybe that will also help us organise it in our heads.

Did some "digging"  and found this great site for drawing out garden plans. It's called Gardena. I don't know how to draw or use drawing software well, and yet managed this...

But had to improvise a bit... for example I used a trampoline to draw the compost bins, and white picket fence as the water tubes :)

Here are some pics of our place from different angles, to give you an idea what it really looks like.

The main garden which will house the ponds and vege boxes. It is the main green bit you see in the right half of the diagram above...

The 3 feet wide tiled & raised will have some kind of seat.storage maybe 

The tiny strip of garden we have on the other side (left side of the diagram) will have some plants , compost bins, soil and stuff storage. You can see it here.

Btw the back dog is a stray that we let in occasionally. Zoey has quite a few stray friends that pop by to see her at different times of the day!!  

Food for the smallest fry

The newly hatched or born fry need tiny food called infusoria. I've been watching tutorials on creating and maintaining a culture. This was the clearest explanation I found.

 So it will be stinky, therefor inside the house is not an option. Outside, Zoey our dog will drink it!!

She is a strange dog. When we just got her (someone dumped her in the jungle nearby) we gave her clean water in a bowl. She had a sniff and that was the last of it. She drinks water only from our container ponds. Fish water must be the dog's version of beer or Coke.

What about Banana Leaves

A banana tree would be a great addition to the garden, for the bananas and also the leaves! as plates!

Plant food source - waste water from my indoor aquariums

The plants will need food/fertilisers. Let's try to supply them with the water from the indoor aquariums. I have 2.

This is the main one. 4x2x2 feet. About 300+ litres. I have neglected it for so long. There are only 2 fish in the tank! A very shy sailfin pleco and a serpae tetra. Oh yes, and about a thousand bladder snails...

The job to revive this tank will be a huge one. I want to make it as low tech as possible, but priority will be to have a healthy environment for the inhabitants.

Off the top of my bald head I can think of...

1. start regular water changes. The waste water will be great for the planned vege garden.
2. get some water circulation going to mimic a gentle stream.
3. lots of pruning
4. slowly introduce some tank mates for the tetra
5. slowly add some other species, maybe ghost shrimp, fighting fish, etc.
6. address the lighting
7. reduce the snail population.

Bitter success!!

The bitter gourd plant didn't do too well but it gave us this beauty.

 Fried it up with eggs.

Looks like $#!+  I need to learn how to take IKEA brochure pictures. They make toilets look nice.