84 posts from 2008

DS went to see Santa today.  We mailed his letter at Macy's, then we saw that Santa was there.  I thought it was too early.  DS told Santa, "I mailed a letter to you, but I can tell you what was on it."  Santa assured him that he'd get it. 

Today, aside from voting, we cut open the pumpkins we'd decorated for Halloween.  Since DS is too small to operate a carving knife, we cut out faces in yellow craft foam sheets and stuck them on with double-sided mounting stickies.  They were cute.  Next year I think we may try adhering them with a hot glue gun.  I'll be looking for one at the dollar store.  You can see the pumpkins in the NinjaTurtle1 picture. 
We only used about one and a half pumpkins, and they were small.  We removed the seeds.  I washed and brined the seeds and cooked them in the oven.  They are good!  I also froze about a pound of cooked pumpkin for bread and made pumpkin soup today.  It was a lot of work, but I had the pumpkin chunks cooking while I brined and started lunch.  It was fun for DS to see what was inside the pumpkins, even if he remains less than excited about getting his hands dirty.  He did a little bit.  We talked about how the Pilgrims had to make all of their food.  I explained how they didn't have stores with food in cans or boxes.  We talked about growing food from crops and saved some pumpkin seeds to try to plant again next year.  It was a nice time.  We worked on the porch and it was beautiful today. 
  Since I'm sharing fall stuff, I wanted to add that we made cupcakes liek these.  There is one boxed cake that's a regular brand which doesn't have milk in it.  It does need eggs, though.  It's a Spice Cake and that's what we used.  Not positive but I think it's Betty Crocker.  Instead of Nutter Butters (DS can't have nuts) we used Honeymade Grahm sticks.  We found candy corn that DS could have for the first time this year and he was excited.  For the faces we painted a grahm with frosting and stuck on cake deco sprinkles: dots for eyes, and inverted hearts for the red waddle and head crown thingy.  We used a small piece of pretzel stick for the beaks.  I thought ours were even cuter than these.  Wish I'd taken a pic.  He loved doing this and we gave them to his Speech teachers.  I believe the original idea came from education.com.  

 
For the pumkin seeds: We removed the seeds and separated the strngs out with our fingers.  I rinsed the seeds well in a colander.  Then we mixed 1/2 cup salt in 4 cups of water and soaked them in it for 2 hours.  (DS stirred the brine until it all dissolved) I drained them and patted them dry a bit on a clean towel.  I sprayed a bit of cooking spray (like Pam) on them and spread them out on a non-stick cookie sheet.  I cooked them at 250 F  for 35min.  I stirred them a bit every 15 minutes.  These were smaller seeds, you could cook them longer for larger seeds.  I didn't want to brown them, but I imagine you could turn the heat up to 300 or so to brown them.  I wanted them to be like the commercial ones in the individual packs and it worked great.  Now I understand why those silly things were so expensive!  It took some time.

For my Soup I had the idea that I wanted to use Tumerick.  I was pretty sore today and a friend's doc told her reccomended Turmeric to help reduce inflamation.  I'm not a fan of Turmeric, so I experimented with what might go with it by smelling what I had in the spice rack.  If you don't like my selection today, you might try just garlic, salt and pepper.  That's what I used for this soup when I made it with butternut squash, minus the wine.
 
Fresh Pumpkin Soup:
About 3+ cups of cubed fresh pumpkin (peeled and seeded and washed)
one medium (or about 1/2 cup) diced onion
I can chicken broth
1/4 cup Toffutti Better Than Cream Cheese (or real dairy if you can)
1 Tablespoon Squeeze Parkay (or real dairy if you can)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 pinch (literally) sage
1 shake (maybe 1/8 tsp) basil
1 pinch paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup dry white wine

I cooked the cubed pumpkin for 45+m in a 3 qts pan until they were very soft.  I drained them and set them aside.  I put the onions, parkay and spices in the pan and cooked them until the onions were translucent and well cooked.  I added the wine and cooked it a few minutes until it was bubbling and evaporated a bit, then I added the broth.  While I was cooking the onions I pureed the pumpkin, so it was ready to add after the broth.  I let this bubble for 15 more minutes, stirring it occasionally.  I turned off the heat off and mixed in the Toffutti BT Crm Cheese (on the burner still).  I let the Toffutti get upt temp, but wanted it to stay nice and creamy.  I mixed it well.  I ate it.  It was good.  :) 
You could also cook the pumpkin in the broth and then blend it and the onions together.  You'll need to be sure the liquid covers the chunks to cook them.  I wanted the texture this time.  Getting hungry just writing this!  This is another version of one of my favorite soups.  I also wrote about a carrot and acorn sqaush blend, once. I like this better with the wine.  I also had to have a glass of that wine, you know, since I opened it.    

  

GO VOTE!

Here's the boy all dressed up on Halloween. 

Nine happy years and this wonderful boy:  Happy Anniversary, Honey!    I LOVE YOU!!!

Since we started the process, Angelina Jolie has adopted one child and given birth to three. 
If we could have done it the old fashioned way again, I might have given birth to one child, waited the suggested year and be about ready to give birth to another. 
If I were a rabbit I could have produced 24 litters of kits.
If I were a cat I could have queened 11 litters of kittens.
If I were a dog I could have whelped 3 litters of pups.
If I were a horse I could have birthed 2 foals.
If I were an elephant, I still could have had one baby by now.
I'm just joking around, but the wait is excruciating.  I know we will have another child some day.  I just wish I knew when.

My son struggles to understand the Our Father.  I've tried to explain it a few times, but not well enough.  He sometimes asks me to "'say the long Prayer" meaning the Lord's Prayer, and I do.  He asked me about it again tonight.  I told him I'd write it down so he could understand it, and we'd go over it together.  I found it hard to get the meaning in simplistic terms.  It was a good exercise for me, though.  This is what I came up with.

Dear God in Heaven,
You take care of us like a Father.
We praise you.
Please make our world right.
Let us always do good things and be nice,
like everyone in heaven.
Give us the food we need to be strong.
Forgive us for the bad things we have done,
as we forgive other people who have done things that are not right.
Help us to not want to do things that are wrong.
Keep us from everything bad.
We know Heaven is Yours and You have super powers.
You are wonderful!
Amen.

The long awaited sale on aquariums came, and I got the 75!  And the whirlwind began.  We'd been talking about doing an NPT demo for the Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Club and so I volunteered my new tank.  Too bad they wouldn't do all the planting for me.  It took about 4 hours.  I did learn how to use the forceps to plant.  It was actually easier and I didn't damage the plants as much from my usual wrestling and rooting. 

The Breakdown:
Of course before I planted the new big tank, I had to break down my small tanks.  I started with the 10g which had been running for 13 months as a soil tank.  I removed as many shrimp and snails as I could (all fish were in the 20g).  Then I started taking out the masses of plants.  The Sagitaria subulata went crazy in there.  I had so much left over that some went home with everyone who came, like party favors :)  The removal process from soil was messy.  I pulled out maybe 6 plants before I had a big swirling mud puddle to deal with.  After all the plants were out I netted the mud to save as many Cherry shrimp as I could.  Then I syponed the water through a dapnia net to save the fry too small for a regular fish net.  That didn't turn out well.  It gave me a lot of dirt in the shrimp bucket, no matter how careful I was, and the tiniest baby shrimps didn't survive the the bucket, as far as I can tell.  I added all of my mosses: taiwan, java and marimo ball to the bucket as well as plenty of duckweed and water lettuce.  Ambient temps were at least 72F, no heater or filter in the bucket over night.  I scrubbed the 10g with vinegar to get the calcium scale off (we have extremely hard water) riinsed it well and filled it with half new and half tank water from the 20g.  All the fish went in there with the UV filter for water movement, with some plants; Except for the Otocinclus catfish.  He's got a taste for slimecoat and I didn't want him tatsing the other fish in a bare tank, so he went into the inverts bucket.  Next I broke down the 20g.  Wish I'd known I was getting a new tank the week before when I did my major trim.  I'd have saved everything.  Oh well.  Not many tiny fry in this tank.  The last batch was rice sized.  I battered these plants more netting the shrimp, but didn't syphon it's water thru the daphnia net. Pulled out as many MTS as I could see and took out these plants.  It was really late by the time I was done breaking it down. 
Lighting Emergency:
We put the new tank on a piece of styrofoam o the new stan and I had a panic attack.  I had used two clamp-on architect lights before with a mind to utilize them for the larger set-up.  No go.  There wasn't enough lip left over to grasp.  And when I looked at them more closely, I saw that they were only rated for upto 60w bulbs.  Two of those wouldn't have given me the 2-3watt ideal for an NPT.  Crap.  I stayed up late searchng the web for alternatives.  We found two floor lamps that would work at Walmart and got them the next day- disaster averted.  This changed the lighting plan, though.  I now have two "tree" lamps on each end of a four foot set-up.  I added more watts than planned to reach the plants in the middle.  I'm running the equivalent to 300w but in Compact Flourescent bulbs.  2-60's and 2-40's are 6500K GE sunlight bulbs, the remaining 40's are cool white bulbs.  If I see algae I'll cut back on the wattage, but it looks right to me now. 
Substrate
To begin, I put the rocks and wood on the bottom glass of the tank.  I did this first because Diana Walstad reccomends it in her book, Ecology of the PLanted Aquarium: A practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist.  She points out that rocks, wood or things on top of the soil would compress it and cause anerobic spots that create Hydrogen Sulfide.  Next I ran a border of gravel around the front and side glass, so I wouldn't see the soil through the glass.  Then it was time to add the soil.  I put in about an inch of plain Top Soil with no fertilizers.  If you have soft water you should add crushed eggshells or sea shells or peletized dolomite lime to gently increase KH.  I'd say a handful of shells or a tablespoon of the lime per each gallon of dirt.  You can also use regular dosing procedures to bring up KH initaially.  I didn't need any of this.  I topped the dirt with the smallest aquarium gravel I could find.  It was 1/2 to 2/3 the size of most gravel.  Walstad reccomends 3mm or smaller grain size, such as pool filter media.  She has also used sand successfully, but you need to use much less of it and generally the dirt comes to the top of that little sand.  I used about and inch of gravel over the dirt. 
Planting
Next we filled the tank about two inches of water, onto a plate.  This gets the water in gently without stirring up all that soil.  And the water kept the plants wet for the marathon planting.  I planted the tank heavily, with a plant every few sqaure inches.  I used Vallisineria, E. Tenellus, Annubias Nana, Elatine, S. Subulata, Water Sprite, H. Difformis, H. Polysperma green, H. Polysperma 'sunset', Narrow Leaf Java Fern, Hygrophila 'compacta', Aponogeton (unknown sp.), one platyfila or giant Sagitaria and probably more that I can't remember.  I'll put the mosses in with the rest of the inverts later.  I added duckweed and Pistia stratiotes floaters.  You need true floaters that take CO2 from the air.  And you want to incourage aerial growth (out of the water) in your plants.  These plants have the advantage in nutrient uptake and defeat algae.  It's important to plant heavily, with plenty of rooted and fast growing plants to absorb the initial ammonia form the newly submerged soil.  The first month is critical in heading off algae before it happens.  Many people will add Hornwort or Najas grass for the first montrh for that purpose.  Airing out the soil helps also.  I did this by speading the dirt out in a baby pool in the garage for a week prior. 
Filling
Once all the plants were in we filled it with 21 gallons of distilled water and tap water.  We used a garden hose through the back door for the rest and this went well.  No flood.  Our tap water reads 8.4 pH, the highest setting on the test, with a GH of at least 300.  I wanted to adjust it down some in case I had an ammonia spike.  But my plants and animals are all used to the hard, alkaline water and do fine.  Once it was full I turned on the heater to help bring up the temp.  Once it was warm I added the fish and the Submariner UV filter.  I like the UV filter for good water conditions.  It keeps bacteria down in the water column, fights green water and water-born illness in fish.  It also gives me water movement.  A traditional filter isn't necessary in an Npt.  There are plenty of bacterial colonies, working together and against each other in the soiland on surfaces.  You don't really need to cultivate Nitrafying bacteria to filter ammonia.  The plants do that.  D Walstad proves (in the book) how aquatic plants prefer to uptake ammonia via leaves rather than Nitrates via roots like their terrestrial cousins.  If I need more  water movement in this big tank I'll add a powerhead.  You could run just a powerhead if you didn't use a UV like mine.  You can also use a regualr Hang-on-the-Back filter, but you won't want charcoal or fine media.  If you have an initail ammonia spike the charcoal is useful.  But take it out when that's under control so the pants can get the ammonia.  You don't want a filter media that will grow Nitrafying bacteria either.  It's also competition with the plants for their preferred fertilizer. 
More on Fertilizing
I don't add any fertilizers other than fish food.  A 'moderate fish load' provides ammonia and mulm which snails break down into readily available fertilizer for the plants.  I try to keep to just under the inch-of-fish-per-gallon rule.  I don't think there's a hard rule.  I go by plant growth.  I think you balance between the plants getting enough ammonia from fish and the roots getting enough nutrient from roots.  I think a tank may be able to handle a higher load, but the plants will grow like crazy and use up nutrients from the soil faster than they can evolve from decomposition.  The 10g tank needed more fish for better plant growth, but instead I added a little fish food for the plants.  It gave off ammonia as it decomposed.  D Walstad reccomends feeding fish liberally 'twice a day plus a little extra for the plants'.  I'm not sure how to do this with my voracious fish, so I just give them plenty twice a day.  Shrimp and snails eat extra anyway.  Snails also clean up some dead leaves and turn it into fertilizer.  Both help with algae, but I don't think they can conqer it.  I don't vacuum the gravel.  the soil has iron, potassium, all of the trace nutrients you would otherwise add to the water column by dosing in a higher tech tank.  Without added CO2 systems the growth is not as fast.  The soil and fish to support the plants completely.  It's lower maintenance.  I did use Excel for an algae outbreak this last year.  I did the initial dose and maintenance dose for 10 days.  Once I kiled off the algae, I didn't need it any more.  It worked well and I would do it again for algae.  I think I may need to add more fish food than I'm used to for this larger tank, at least until I stock it fully.  I understand that I'll be feeding the plants/tank size, not just the fish.  Think my shrimp and snails will like that!  Going forward I'll top off and trim once a month or so to encourage good growth.  I hope to change water as little as 50% every six months. 
 
Recap NPT Elements
1-2 inches Soil capped with 1-2 inches of small gravel, amended with shell for soft water
Dense planting wih plenty of fast growers, good root growth and floaters
2-3 watts per gallon or thei CFL equivalent, sunlight if possible
heater if your tank falls below 74F (78 is better for plant growth)
water movement with HOB filter (little or no media) or powerhead
moderate fish load
stable NPTs need much fewer water changes