The cement truck arrived and I was already tired - from shoring up, placing rebar, packing rocks, moving stuff.... Then the truck arrives and there's cement pouring out of this huge wide chute into this tiny little form. A man must have thought that system up - cement going everywhere, us trying to direct it into that skinny space. Then the jabbing and the pounding and the scraping and the leveling and the...well, you get the picture! I told Jeff he'd better never overestimate my usefulness like this again!
But the footings are now in, though rather homely, thanks to me, and you will soon get to see a photo of the greenhouse and its insides. Everyone has been wanting to see the workings - believe me, so do I. I wish I was gently tying up tomato vines right now.
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Notice I keep talking about the tomatoes and not the tilapia. I'm hoping Jeff will take care of the tilapia - I think fish are kind of slimy. Speaking of tilapia, see those big wire wrapped white boxes in the photo? They are the tilapia's homes - the tops will be cut off. Several of them are under downspouts right now, collecting rainwater. We had a worried day when we were struck with the thought that the plastic could be the bad kind, the kind that releases BPA and messes with our hormones. But yeah! It's not! We called the company to make sure it wasn't any of the evil, leeching varieties of plastic.
We're also presently testing the pH on the gravel from two different pits - Miles Sand and Gravel, and Corliss Resources. If their gravel doesn't have too much limestone, we might be able to use it for a grow medium instead of the expanded shale and save ourselves about $1200.
ASAP to-do list:
Put up house
Cut tanks and top off with tap water so they can start de-chlorinating
Start plumbing
Find best source for tilapia babies and organic fish food
Make a date with the Fish and Game inspector
Learn how to grow duck weed and worms (fish food)
Plant tomato and pepper seeds
make a timeline for the cycling of the tanks so I know when to plant the rest of the seeds
Learn how to clone
But first, must collapse!
