Ten Acre Organics is a fun place

Well it is a fine Monday night here in Taylor, TX.  I spent friday and saturday night at home because I had to pick the children, Ella and Ian, from their church trip to florida on saturday morning but turns out they did not overnight at a hotel and drove through the day to arrive late friday night.  Saturday I just lounged and read like usual.  I am really knocking the books down I think I have read over 10 this month and my brain is showing signs of fatigue...but I press on.

 Sunday funday was an experience.  I spent the heat of the day volunteering at a local urban farm by the name of Ten Acre Organics or TOA.  They are a group of 5 people who went to college together that decided to found their own urban farming company in the pursuit of creating a model for sustainability on ten acres.  They are a bit short as they only have the front and back yard of their residence but you do have to start small to succeed.  I was intially interested in them because their website had a lot about aquaponics as this is my main focus for now.  When I arrived I found two minor grow bed operations with unblossomed tomatoes and a fairly large deep water culture, floating raft system full of basil.  They had the pointers that for those who are pursuiting media bed designs the original system had an ebb and flow drainage system while the new and improved beds had a continuous flow system.  This just means that the first bed filled with water then was drained using a siphon and the new bed was always full of water.  Apparently the plants grew better in the continuous flow and the roots did not suffer from lack of oxygen...food for thought.  Anyway I spent most of the afternoon weeding in the hot sun, pouring sweat-at Fresh Pasture we always take a siesta to skip the midday sun but when in Rome.  I helped them with their compost turning and planting of new okra and squash plants in their very intensive front yard production.  My heart goes out to them and hope they succeed, they have a good group of dedicated individuals so I think they will do fine and just raised $17k from a successful kickstarter campaign so things look good.