When I first started my blog in September last year, I included a tab My Farmwhich tells you a little bit about my farm and why we choose to stay here. I had not read that segment for several months and I realised that I had told you about the old fish farm on our property, but I have never really shown it to you. It is overgrown but we will work on getting it cleared in the cooler months...because there are hidden treasures up there just waiting to be re-discovered and put to use.
We have a large dam with low water levels at the moment that I hope to cover in lilypads. This dam was a source of water for the aquaponic set up. These photos were taken last weekend when it was extremely hot and so very dry.
We have a few stray craypots and nets because there are Redclaw Crayfish growing in our dam and the kids like to catch them...and put them back. They are a delicacy to eat and served in local restaurants, but we just like them in the dam.
There are several old greenhouses like this with solid ends and doors, and frames down the middle...but they don't have shadecloth, and didn't when we moved here. It would be expensive to cover them but you never know, we may come across some second hand materials one day.
These large trays were used in the filter systems before the water was recycled back into the fish tanks. They have a spongy cloth in each level...I thought I could recycle them into seedling trays.
There are hundreds of old plastic pots and other useful metal framework which could be made into shelves or benches for plants.
This large tank still has many large goldfish swimming about...and a great supply of 'seaweed'. I haven't tried using it on the garden yet although I imagine it would be full of nutrients...and the water would probably make great liquid fertiliser.
There are useful powered sheds like this one, which used to house guppy tanks. You can see old electrical filters on the benches. I would like to store all my bulk potting mixes and garden supplies in here one day.
Another old fish tank with a shed to keep the sun out. This would make a good raised bed if we allowed for drainage underneath...or a water saving garden with gravel in the bottom as there is a pipe on the other side for drainage. So many ideas.
The jewels in the crown of the fish farm are the hothouses that run down the dam side of the farm. Fish were moved into here during the cold months and baby guppies were bred in the heat.
I believe they also used to grow vegetables in them, which I would like to have a stab at (of course) - I think they would bake in summer though so it may be a good winter garden.
This is a view of the fish farm from the main paddock. You can see how high it has been built up. A perfect location for a small retirement home one day maybe? High and dry at least :)
This is the view from the driveway showing a shed we converted into a chook pen. It wasn't a great success as something ended up taking our chooks, so if we use this again it will need some work...and some clearing of trees.
So, there you have it...a few long term goals and a large project to tackle. We need to address water supply and pumps, power, and clearing of vegetation, but it is not impossible and we need to have some projects to work on in life...my husband probably wouldn't agree, I can hear him groaning as I write this :)
Do you have some really large projects at your place that keep getting put off?
