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Transcription of: Solar Powered Aquaponics YouTube video… by: The Urban Farming Guys

Bonk!

That’s how goats love each other! Give him a bonk.

He’s been bonked enough where he knows..

Baby dotes!

Urban farmer since day one!

Today, we’re going to show you how to go off-grid with your aquaponics, to make an IBC tote aquaponics system, powered by the sun for under $400. This is scalable. This one will at least be 200-gallons when we’re done with it.

We’re here with Alex, who’s going to help us demonstrate just how easy this is. First, you’ll need to obtain a food-grade, 275-gallon IBC tote. Get this off Craig’s list, anywhere between $25-100, food-grade being very important. You’ll need to find out what was in it. Next, you’ll need to remove that top bracket on the top of your IBC tote.

So, what are we doing next? Alright, we’re going to flip this over and we’re going to pull out the plastic so we can measure and cut out how deep we want our grow bed and then the outer rack to support that grow bed. Now that we have the plastic and the metal cage separated, we can cut the metal without cutting the plastic and we’ll have a better product in the end.

Alright, we are going to take this bottom bracket and we’re going to cut right above this bottom rung. So, that will be the top and we’ll flip the cage over and that will be the frame for the bottom to sit on. Okay, so, after you make your cuts, take your rack off and 180 degrees you take your bottom and now that is your top for your grow bed.

So, what are we doing here? Alright, since our grow bed doesn’t need to be that deep, we only need eight inches or so. We’re using our frame as a jig and we’re just going to make our cut line all the way across. So, we’re just going to cut the top off right now and then flip it over for the grow bed. Like a glove. That’s it, right there, stackable aquaponics.

Alright, we’re going to be using a flood and drain system on this IBC tote, where the pump is going to be pumping in more water than this drain can drain. So, it’s going to be draining slower than it fills on the low side. So, the water will fill up over the top of this drain and then there’s going to be another stand pipe next to it that goes up to this level. But, once it hits this level, it starts draining faster then. So, we have to install these two pipes into our grow bed. We’re going to cut through the metal and then use a hole saw to cut through the plastic.

Um, can I get up here for a minute? Why? So, I can see your plants. Can I screw these together now? Can I screw these all the way together?

First thing we’re going to do, is drill two holes with this hole saw, which is just a little bit bigger than this drain pipe. We drilled two holes here with the hole saw. We just did that here and here. Then, there’s a little rubber gasket here. These are $5 fittings, $10 for the set. You get them at a local hydroponic shop or online somewhere. So, you just slide this in here and go down underneath, tighten that up, tight as you can get it with your hands. And, you notice, you have two drains. One drains at the floor, the other one drains up high. And you can make these even taller: you can unscrew this, add a link, and then screw these in up top here.

This is perfect aquaponics music. Right? You like it? Yeah.

Hey, buddy! You going swimming? Yes! You are!

Alright, our solar-powered aquaponics system is being powered by this solar panel unit right here. We have it turned away from the sun for demonstration purposes. I’m going to show you just how simple this is. The solar unit is this. This plugs into a charge controller, this controls your charge. This is hooked to the battery right here. Now, this, is hooked to your inverter. Here is the inverter. I have the timer for the aquaponics to fill and drain and the inverter. Now, you’re plugged in just like regular electricity. This turns the DC to AC and powers the whole thing. And these are your solar panels right here.

We were able to power this all day and all night. We have more than double the amount of solar capacity, in comparison to the wattage of our pump. We have a small pump in here.
What are you doing, Titus? I’m trying to get a fish. Good job! Can I put it up there? Okay, you get it. Thank you. My new one, ha! You got one! Good job! He’s getting better at this. Look at that-first try!

Tell me about your invention. You hold the apple with a zip tie and a rubber band and if you want a bite, what do you do–Swing it up to your face? Just like that? Let’s walk around with it.

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Transcription of Guerrilla Composting video..by The Urban Farming Guys

Happy No Shave November! How is my ‘stache doing?

It is growing really well, Buddy!

The leaves are falling! It is time for massive guerrilla composting! Why? For growing yams the size of BABIES! The world depends on it.

What do you have to say about this tater about as big as your whole body?

Crazy, that is craziness!

Wow, aliens!

I need a baby carriage!

Look, it is right there! There is one right there behind you.

We will make a sweet potato pie out of these.

The first thing you need if you are going to guerrilla compost on a massive scale is an expert. And I know just the guy!

You smell that? I think the leave done fell off the trees already! It is time for guerrilla compost. First thing we need is a pick ‘em up truck!

Candy, what are we doing?

Guerrilla composting!

Alright! We are going around. Today is leaf pick up day in the city and we are grabbing them up, going to compost, guerrilla style. There is a pile of them right there. Ooh, the motherload! You let other people collect them and you pick them up. It is like morel hunting, except easier!

Dang, Candy! It looks like the Grinch just stole Christmas! Looking good!

Free couches and a burned down house, there you go!

Doublewide! That is some serious compost right there.

If you are going to compost for real, you are going to need a major source of nitrogen to go with all the carbon. That is scientifically. Now, I just tell people you are going to need a bunch of crap. I sent my cousin, Jason; I showed him just how to get a whole bunch of horse$#!* for free. Did you see him running behind that horse? He will believe anything I tell him! I could tell you some stories!

The last thing you need, the hardest thing on your journey to make guerrilla compost is a whole army who ain’t afraid of the poo.

Hey, Elijah..Hey, man, what is going on?

There is no crap to do on Saturdays.

Man, there is always crap to do on Saturdays. Come on, let me go show you something! The Urban Farming Guys always has lots of crap!

Now, it is time for the poo. Now, it is time for the poo! Now, we need a big layer of poo!

You know what they are doing? Yeah, they are making compost!

Okay, I think we are ready for more leaves, but we will pull from here. That way, we can move the pile this way.

What is that? What is what? This?–That is poop, horse poop. But, I see some poop right there! Yeah, that is poop right there!

Then, while you are still feeling crazy and in the guerrilla composting mood-Go up to your local coffee shop, ask them for their grounds. You will find as much as you ever want. Right here, this is today’s grab, right after we got us a latte.

Then, if you are really ambitious–guerrilla gardening!

So, our berry bushes, our raspberries and our blackberries here, are producing like crazy, that we planted three or four years ago. There are lots of extra shoots coming off, things we are transplanting. So, we are going to guerrilla garden. Here is a piece of property, right down the street from our stuff, with a nice fence for these to grow on. And if somebody comes along and kills them, they kill them. But, if they live, we have lots of berries for the neighborhood.

Here we are at 55 air temperature. We are going to shove this into our compost pile here. Just went up to 60, going up to 80, 105. So, it will get a lot hotter than that in two or three days.

And, here is the final product. Big thanks to all our volunteers. You guys are helping us make a massive impact here in the inner city and around the world. Stay tuned! Click the subscribe button above. We are soon going to be showing you our 100-foot long worm bed. It produces 8,000 pounds of worm castings per month. We are going to have the best soil on the planet!

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Transcription of: How To Grow Shitake Mushrooms..by The Urban Farming Guys

So, here we are with my friend, Jason Golden, at the Golden Acre Urban Farm. Tell us what we are doing, Jason.

Today, we are inoculating Shitake mushroom logs. I have harvested four-foot segments of red oak from our tree. And they have been waiting for three weeks. Now they have been hydrated in a water bath and we are ready to drill and inoculate.

Alright! So, what we have done is we have soaked our oak logs in a bath. You can use your bath inside your house or any other kind of a bath to hydrate the logs. The logs have been drying now for a couple of weeks. And, so, what we want to do is provide a fertile bed for the spores to take hold. So, we moisturize our logs. So, I will grab a log. I have these boards on my sawhorses here to keep everything from rolling around, to give me good control.

So, these have been soaking how long?

They have been soaking for 24 hours.

Alright.

This is a six-inch log. I want six lines of spores.

Six lines? Boom, boom, boom. That is one line.

Right. So, what I will do is I will mark it, just to help me. One there, one there, one there, and one there. I have an 11/32 drill bits. I have taped it to an inch and a quarter. The plugs are an inch long, and so I am giving it a little more space. Once the plugs are in, we will fill the extra space with some beeswax. So, I am going to come six inches in; I am just going to eyeball it with my fingers.

Alright. Does the six inches have anything to do with the size of the log?

No, six inches is the same no matter what size of log. It is just to allow the fungus that is within each dowel to have a significant amount of meat to be chewing on. So, you want to space them out. Now, I am turning the log, so as I can drill my next one. My next line is here. Now, the trick is, we want them in a diamond shape.

So, you will go here and then here.

Yep. Okay, so our holes are drilled. We are going to take some Shitake mushroom spores and our dowels, and we are going to put one into each hole. We have a hammer, we have a spore, and then some kind of an object to hammer it in a little bit farther, whatever you have lying around. And, what actually we want to do is drive them in as deep as they will go, to leave a little bit of space for the beeswax covering.

So, we are going to seal these in with beeswax?

That is right. We have inoculated our log, our plugs are in place. And, now, we are ready to seal with beeswax. I picked this up from a local farmer. Basically, we use that just to hermetically seal the spores in the log, to keep competition from other fungus out and to give the spores a chance to germinate.

Heating up the beeswax here; ready to take it off.

So, we have our melted beeswax. I just pore a little bit in; try not to drip any, but if you drip, it is not a big deal. I just do it like this and try to do a steady hand. Fill it up to the top. And, again, this is to keep the Shitake spores safe from competing fungus.

So, this is the beeswax after it has hardened here. So, Jason, tell me about this stack of logs right here.

Well, this stack is sitting in the shade, and we are basically counting down the months until we can start fruiting these logs. These logs take at least six months before the first fruiting. In nature, they fruit during the rainy season, which is the Spring or Fall. But, if you happen to inoculate out of season, you can shock them on yourself. What is involved in that is basically taking it back to the original water baths, soaking them for 24-48 hours. And then, when you take them out, it said that if you knock them on the ground, and just shock the logs, they will fruit shortly thereafter.

So, how long have these logs been sitting here?

These have been here for about five months. I expect to be able to hydrate and shock these logs next month.

How often do you have to water these?

Well, it depends on how much rain you get. I tend to water them about every two to three weeks. But, if you had plenty of rain, you are not required to do that.

Okay. Is there a reason they are stacked like this?

I have just done this to be a decorative feature in the yard. Primarily, you want to raise them off the ground, to keep them from getting into the natural fungus structure of the land. So, I am raising them up to keep them basically clean.

To keep them from competing fungus? Okay, great. Well, we are going to magically show you these, in the next clip here, already fruiting.

So, Jason, you have a lot of wood here! You have some hedge back there, you have some ash and oak. Why are we using oak versus any of the other wood you have on your property?

Well, oak is the native wood in Japan that Shitake mushrooms grow from. And on the market, Shitakes grown from oak gain a higher value than any of the other wood species. It has been said that you can grow them in cherry and some of the other hard woods, but oak is the premium wood for Shitake mushrooms.

Okay, and can you use just any oak or does it have to be like old, dead for a while? Or, what do you have to do?

Well, you want new cut wood. You do not want wood that has been in your woodshed for three years. So, do some pruning on your trees, but it has to be new wood.

Shitakes will fruit as early as six months from inoculation. These guys took 18 months; we just let them fruit with the season, probably could have watered them a little bit more. But, they will fruit once a month after this. By soaking them in water, you can get them to fruit again for another five years until the log completely falls apart. What you want to do is simulate spring by soaking them in ice water. Or, if it is already cold outside, you can soak them in water and they will fruit again. Soak them in ice water in the summer, and it thinks that spring is here and it is ready to fruit again. And, boom, there they are.

We are ready to harvest some of our Shitake mushrooms. You want to get them before the heads fully open up. You want the heads to separate from the stem to where you can see the gills about two-thirds of the way. When they open up too much, that is not good. You do not want to get them too early and you do not want to get them too late. So, these guys right here, these two in particular, are perfect. They are a little bit too much even; you can see underneath they still have the curl. You can get them right before this or right here at this stage is good.

These, here, did not even exist four days ago. They were under the wood, they started poking up. And, here, four days later, we have a harvest. We are going to harvest some more tomorrow. And, we are going to have some stir fry tonight.