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  1. #1
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    gosmith's system

    Hi all,

    I'm just getting ready to break ground on my greenhouse build, hopefully tomorrow, weather permitting. The 12' x 20' GH is a gable design covered with GH film (not sure what kind yet.) I'll post pics as I go along. For now, here is the preliminary layout for the system. FT and GB's are built from lumber and lined. FT is 4' x8' x 4', filled to 3'. There are five flood/drain GB's to start with. Each is 30" x 48" and 12" deep. They will use bell siphons of some type. The sump is under the GB's and will use a low power pump in order to be able to run it from a future PV solar array. The plan is to finish the build over the winter for a start up in early spring.

    I'd like to be able to raise talapia eventually, but don't know if I can maintain the required temps over the winter, so we'll probably start out with yellow perch and see how it goes. We want the system to be self-contained, so won't use grid power or fossil fuel except for an emergency generator. Space heating will come from a biochar stove that uses wood chips from the county road crews. I dry this in racks and store it in recycled dog food bags.

    I also have an old propane water heater that will be converted to heat with another biochar stove. This will be connected to the FT with a heat exchanger and a low-power inline pump from a solar thermal system. I'm also planning to connect a cool water line to a heat exchanger from an existing large trout pond, which is uphill from the GH. I'm hoping to use this to maintain cooler water temps during hot summer days. All of this is experimental, of course, so we'll probably have to make lots of adaptations as we go.

    Comments and advice much appreciated.

    Gary


  2. #2
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Welcome to the show....pull up an easy chair, relax and stay awhile. New voices are always a welcome addition to our family..! Whatever questions you have on you mind, this is the place to get the answers so pick a topic of your interest and start your own thread and Enjoy.
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
    • "In the eyes of the world, you are only as good as your last success"
    so never forget
    • "MAN IS ONLY LIMITED BY HIS IMAGINATION"

  3. #3
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Welcome!

  4. #4
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    Re: gosmith's system

    welcome, you've put a lot of thought into your project.

  5. #5
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Not sure what the welcomes are for. I've been posting here for a couple of months now, but thanks anyway.

    Well, the project is now under way. I started by drilling two sets of holes in 5 foot lengths of 2" Sched 40 PVC pipe. These hold 8" lengths of 3/8" rebar. The pipes will be buried in the ground and cut off at 3 feet above grade. They will hold the 2x2 studs and will hopefully stay in the ground when we have a windstorm like the one last week that had gusts up 80 mph.





    --

    Here we are breaking ground for the new greenhouse. That's my daughter on the left, reminding us that we'd better not be thinking about blocking the view from her dining room window with a bunch of ugly plastic sheeting. That's me on the right in the brown sweatshirt. I'm holding my hands up trying to show her how big the fish will be, but she's not really paying attention. That's my son-in-law with the post hole digger. It's always a good idea to let the younger guy do all the heavy work so he can gain valuable experience.



    The rock wall behind me is the lower end of the 100' trout pond. It has about a hundred coastal cutthroat trout in it, some of which are up to two feet long. This is fed by a stream coming down from high on the hill. We're hoping to be able to put in a hydro generator at a later date to supply all our power needs. We should be able to get a good 75' of head in a 3" pipe.



    --

    Here's the view from one of the dining room windows. Not sure what my daughter's problem is since it's such a nice level spot. We take a moment to discuss our options.





    --

    Here we are at the new building site, a little farther to the east. My grandson helps out by fetching wooden corner stakes back from the dogs, who didn't seem to approve of where we had originally placed them.



    --

    My grandson lives to fish. He can't wait to catch his first AP fish and demonstrates his mastery over all things fishy by standing in the middle of the trout stream. He's not quite as excited with the idea of eating veggies grown in fish poop, but he does think the worm bins will be cool. His older sister has now decided to have Grampa help her make some worm bins for her school science project. How do I get suckered into these things?





    --

    More pictures later.

    Gary

  6. #6
    Moderator urbanfarmer's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Nice pictures! I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

  7. #7
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Here are the construction details of the compost rollers. They are made from the 42" wide 1-1/4" plywood ends from recycled cable spools. The framing is 2x2';s and the outside is covered with 1/4" mesh galvy hardware cloth. The lid is held in place by a couple of steel springs from an old desk lamp and trimmed with the edges of some left over stove pipe. The hinges are 1/2" loops of stiff steel wire, sorta like you'd use for a key chain. While this one is made to roll on a track made from 2x6's, two of these will be mounted inside the GH on 2" steel pipe axles through the center hole. Hopefully they will generate a bit of supplemental heat in the winter along with some CO2 for the plants.

    Right now this one is cooking along at well over 100 degrees internal temp a week after loading, even though the outside air is down in the 40's and lower (down to 25 tonight.) It is filled with mostly alder and maple leaves, along with our daily kitchen waste, some chopped up comfrey and buttercups, the last of this year's lawn trimmings, and a few large bags of recycled coffee grounds from a local Starbuck's. The axle pipe could also be plumbed and connected to a heat exchanger to add some warmth to the fish tank tank in the winter months. I'll probably experiment with that at some later date.

    Gary




















  8. #8
    Moderator davidstcldfl's Avatar
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Great looking picts in your earlier post...
    LOL Gary, you get excited about a flat spot in your yard. Here in FL, I get excited when I drive to the central/north part of FL, where the 'ridge' of FL is located. There, we have mountains, that may be as high as 100 feet or 'more' !
    We have a mountain called....Mount Dora, it's about 160 feet above sea level....


    Cool design on the rolling composter. Everyone hates to turn the piles...
    As it's being rolled...does the stuff fall out the screen once it's decomposed ? Do you lay a tarp down to collect it ?
    "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." - President Ronald Reagan

  9. #9
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    Re: gosmith's system

    hi gary, everything is looking real good so far, you've got a lovely view there. ive found a project for
    next spring (worm bin's). your layout look's good, good luck with your build. can't wait to see the
    finished product. best wishes Big Al

  10. #10
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    Re: gosmith's system

    Thanks David and Big Al.

    On the compost roller, I keep the leaf litter fairly coarse and it stays fairly clumpy as it finishes, so I don't think a whole lot will fall through. This one's a prototype, so we'll have to wait to find out for sure. A tarp would work for collecting whatever does fall through, or you could put the tracks in a place you want to garden in later. This one will end up over the top of a 3' x 12' worm bin made with two rows of cinderblocks, so whatever falls through will become a tasty snack for the little wigglers. We get a lot of rain here over the winter, so I have the roller covered with a strip of carpet. It's porous enough to let a bit of water drip through to help keep the compost moist. Too much rain cools the pile down too much and washes the nutrients away. BTW, most cable companies and cell tower construction companies love to get rid of empty spools for free.

    LOL. Not sure what we might call Mt. Dora around here. "Dora's Speed Bump" maybe? "Dora's Bug Bite?" Probably wouldn't bother to name it.

    That's Sauk Mountain in the pics. At 5,537 feet, it's only about half the height of the mountain behind it, Mount Baker, which is 10,778 feet. Both are volcanos, although only Baker is still active. Great place to ski.

    Gary


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