Reduce Your Use of Plastic in the Kitchen

Reduce Your Use of Plastic in the Kitchen

Friends of Portable Farms, we wanted to share a simple plan to reduce the use of plastic in your kitchen by using a simple technique to protect food instead of using plastic. 

This is a fun project takes less than a hour to create a dozen Waxed Fabrics of various sizes. These Waxed Fabrics will last through months of regular use before they need to be refreshed. If they get dirty, just use cool soapy water to rinse them before reuse.

Tools:

  • Beeswax. You can buy a block to shred the wax with a kitchen shredder. Make sure the wax doesn’t have fragrance or pesticides. We used organic bees-wax pellets for our project. 
  • 100% Cotton fabric scraps. You can also use old cotton t-shirts or other lightweight cotton fabrics.
  • Scissors to cut the fabric.
  • Wax kitchen paper parchment
  •  Iron
  • Your favorite happy music playing in the background along with a glass of sweet tea or lemonade. 

One pound, 16 ounces, beeswax pellets is about $10.00. We used 8 ounces to make the Waxed Fabrics shown in the seven examples shown in this article. 

Place cotton fabric on top of of a piece of waxed kitchen parchment paper. Then sprinkle about 1/4 of a cup on  HALF the fabric (about 12″ x 12) and then fold the fabric over. After your fabric has been prepared with pellets and place another piece of waxed kitchen parchment paper. 

Set your iron on the highest heat setting and place the iron on top of the waxed parchment paper. Melt the wax by moving the iron around on the fabric for about 2 minutes.  After melting the wax onto the fabric, remove the waxed parchment paper and pick up the fabric to open it. 

Hang the piece of Waxed Fabric up for about 3 minutes to dry and then, it’s ready to use.

Here is a small apple to wrap to include in a lunch bag. The Waxed Fabric also protects the food unlike a thin plastic bag.

Fold and wrap the apple. The warmth of your hands seals the fabric to secure the apple. 

We make homemade bread every three days on average. The Waxed Fabric keeps the bread moist and fresh.

Again, just wrap the bread and fold over the edges. Hold you hands on the seal to heat the wax to seal it. 

This works great for packing lunch boxes. Use it to wrap sandwiches, sweet rolls, treats, chips or fruit. Again, if the wrap is dirty, just use cool soapy water to clean the fabric and reuse.

Waxed Fabric is ideal for putting over bowls or pie pans in the refrigerator for leftovers. 

Pleat the Waxed Fabric along the edges of the bowl and hold your warm hands over the pleats to seal the fabric to seal it. 

Here is a variety of selections of Waxed Fabrics of varying sizes and shapes. HAVE FUN and experiment with ideas for your personal choices.

Simplify Life. Eat Well. Live Long and Prosper.

Simplify Life. Eat Well. Live Long and Prosper.
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Phyllis Davis harvesting several kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is similar to the cabbage family with a taste much like a broccoli stem. Can be eaten raw or cooked.

Spring inspires us to throw things away, donate old clothes to worthy causes, wash the windows, move furniture and vacuum underneath the cushions and in general, simplify our lives. We may hate doing it, but we love the results and it makes it happier.

We can make our lives more resilient, less susceptible to shock and more secure relatively easily.

There are a variety of inexpensive ways to enhance our family’s chances of surviving any kind of trauma.

  • Start by simplifying your life.
  • If you want to be able to weather whatever comes, begin by reducing the opportunities for something to actually go wrong, because you know that eventually something may go wrong.
  • Reduce the complexity of your household, protect your income, examine your beliefs to see if they fit your current world and begin to carefully notice how you interact with those around you.

Colle Davis, Inventor, Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems holding an Asian Green Komatsuna Summerfest to show how SMALL the root ball is for the plant.

  • Make a list of what you want to accomplish in the next six months to help your family through any emergency. This may mean storing a few days’ supply of water, emergency food, some flashlight batteries as well as some plans for charging your mobile phone and laptop. These steps are really simple, consisting of low-cost items that, if you are truly serious, you will rotate out with fresh supplies annually.
  • One other item you may want to consider for long term security is building a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System at your location. At least you can eat and if you have a small solar installation you can eat for many, many years to come. The Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems actually delivers a slight excess of everything the plants need, even the light, so every plant always has the perfect conditions for maximum growth. The NEW Enhanced PFAS also has other advantages:

No pesticides are ever used.

Less water use than any other type of commercial growing system available today.

The waste water is a valuable fertilizer that can be used on other crops or sold at a profit.

Waist high work area.

No single point of failure.

No weeding – ever.

Watering is automatic.

No soil or dirt inside the building.

For maximum production/yield, PFAS LLC recommends the following ENHANCEMENTS to a regular PFAS installation:

  • The addition of micro-nutrients that include  iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium and 53 other vital minerals are supplied with organic FF-Mineral Rock Dust.
  • High performance greenhouse coverings that protect from weather extremes.
  • Insulation of all walls and roof that do not contribute direct sunlight to the grow trays
  • Grow lights capable of providing maximum full spectrum lighting for both greens and blooming plants.
  • Inert growing medium for planting seeds
  • Trellis installation for maximum vertical growing for blooming plants
  • Full monitoring system of all functions within the building that notify operator of any necessary adjustments required
  • Low cost fish tank heaters
  • Automatic water leveling system for fish tanks.

These controlled-environments-precision-growing-systems are capital intensive on the front end, but they produce income very quickly and continue to produce income over long periods of time with only operational expenses needing to be covered. The ROI on the Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems is only three to five years. Investors really appreciate these advantages and the new ‘farmers’ appreciate the opportunity to reap huge rewards for their efforts.

SUMMER IS COMING – Install your Shade Cloth Above Your Grow Tables TODAY

SUMMER IS COMING – Install your Shade Cloth Above Your Grow Tables TODAY
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

Note shade cloth mounted on the roof and sides of this greenhouse to protect the plants that will be planted in the gravel grow trays.

Note shade cloth mounted on the roof and sides of this greenhouse.

Plants can only utilize approximately 70% of direct sunlight. On the inside of a greenhouse, the temperature will rise very quickly as the sun climbs up into the sky. All greenhouses exhibit this rapid rise in temperature as the angle of the sun decreases. Even in very cold climates, the sun, on a clear day, can drive the temperatures from below freezing to the mid-60’s (15 to 20°C) very quickly. It most greenhouses, the problem is what to do with the heat and how to best utilize it for the good of the plants. Greenhouses are much easier to heat than to cool because the sun is the driving factor with the heat and that is tougher to regulate.

Shade cloth comes is a wide variety of blocking levels.

In installations using elevated medium (gravel in Portable Farms®) filled grow trays, the medium can very quickly heat up to killer temperatures for the plants if not protected from the direct rays of the sun. The advantages of the waist high gravel filled grow trays has to be tempered with the need to keep the gravel relatively cool. In raft systems, this problem is much less important because the light-colored ‘raft’ material does not heat up nearly as much as dark gravel.

Plants growing in a gravel medium in a Grow Tray in a Portable Farm.

Plants growing in a gravel medium in a Grow Tray in a Portable Farm.

Small plants growing in soil do not have much of a problem in full sunlight. The ground absorbs the heat and either passes it back to the air quickly or absorbs it lower into the soil itself. Even the lightest mulch will keep the soil cooler. With the use of gravel, the heat is absorbed and held in the top layer of unprotected gravel and this thin layer continues to heat up to over 140° F on a hot day. The seedlings will start to die if the gravel temperature exceeds 110° F for more than a few minutes.

 

 

This seedling stage of growth is the time the shade cloth is the most important in preventing the gravel from heating up faster than the air above it can remove that heat.

Organic Worm Casting Tea for Aquaponics

FF (Fish Friendly) Organic Worm Castings for Making Worm Casting Tea!

Brought to you by PFAS LLC, Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems’ Modular Aquaponics Systems

worm castings 2

FF (Fish Friendly) Organic Worm Castings are Now Available for Sale from Portable Farms.To Order FF Mineral Rock Dust: CLICK HERE. (Ships from San Diego, California)

FF Portable Farms® Worm Casting Tea – The Quick and Easy Method

We suggest you purchase a simple sprayer to apply the worm castings tea to your plants.

 

We recommend you spray the plants in your Portable Farm once a week with Worm Casting Tea to create healthier plants. There are tremendous benefits from the foliar application of Worm Casting Tea in your Portable Farm:

  • Safe for your fish (a very big advantage)
  • These worm casting are pure organic worm castings and not vermin-compost.
  • The worm casting tea is non-toxic to plants, fish, pets or people.
  • By spraying the worm tea on your plants (under the leaves as well as on top) and over your seed trays (seed nursery), you’re adding nutrients directly to your growing plants and making them healthier and minimizing any potential problems.
  • Since you’re spraying the leaves and fruit/vegetables, pathogens are less likely to attack your plants because you’re adding beneficial microbes (very important to healthy plant growth) to the surface of the plants.
  • Worm casting tea used as a foliar spray is beneficial and controls many fugal problems like black spot, black mildew and tomato blight, to mention a few.
  • Testing proves that there are microorganism properties in the worm casting tea that act as an insect repellent for many insects such as aphids, white fly, spider mites, and other small bugs that eat plant juices. This is due to enzyme released in the worm tea called chitinase which will dissolve chitin which is the exoskeleton of an insect.

To Order FF Mineral Rock Dust: CLICK HERE. (Ships from San Diego, California)

The Portable Farms® Worm Casting Tea method works much faster than standard methods and produces tea of equal or better quality. You can make your Organic Worm-Castings Tea in as little as 4 hours and 98% of that time is allowing the tea to brew or sit and brew prior to application in your aquaponics system. Easy to make. Easy to spray. Great for your aquaponics system.

For an Aquaponics system with 200 sq. ft. of grow space, use one cup of FF Worm Casting Tea. You only need 10 cups of fish-friendly water from fish tank or aquarium to make the tea and apply it on the same day. 

 


Adjust amounts for your grow tray size. The Portable Farms® Worm Casting Tea Method makes two assumptions:

  1. You have an aquarium or fish tank water or water that has been in an open container for overnight.
  2. Here is a quick and complete way to remove chlorine from water – Vitamin C (just plain water-soluble ascorbic acid with no fancy additives such as Citrus Bioflavonoids or Rose Hips, etc.) at the rate of 1 mg per gallon of water. We picked up this trick for curing water from our work in Portable Farms®.

Ingredients and equipment:

  1. 1 cup FF Portable Farms® Worm Castings which is 100% organic and supplies a natural source of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and iron for your plants.
  2. 10 cups of water from your aquarium or your fish tank. Use tap water only when it has been treated with Vitamin C to remove the chlorine.
  3. A bucket that holds 14 cups of water (make sure the bucket has had no chemicals in it in prior usages).
  4. Let a kitchen blender to do the work to mix and aerate the worm casting tea.
  5. Use a wire mesh strainer (mesh strainer works better than a spaghetti colander) or a cloth (cheese cloth or old hosiery) to line the strainer (the tea has to pass through your sprayers nozzle so make sure the filter is smaller then the particles in the brewed tea, so strain well). If the worm casting tea is not well strained, it will clog up your sprayer. 

Process:

  1. Pour four to five cups of water which has been taken from your total of 10 cups into a kitchen blender  (this process is tough on blenders, so it’s best to buy a cheap one to use only for this type of work) and put the lid on before you blend.
  2. Turn on the blender and let it run for about a minute at a relatively high speed to entrain air into the water oxygenating it.
  3. Remove the lid and then carefully add the one cup of FF Portable Farms® Worm Castings.
  4. Put back the lid back on the blender and run it at full speed for one to two minutes, turn off and then let the mixture sit for 2-4 hours in the blender.
  5. Set up the strainer with the cloth liner to drain into the large bucket with the rest of the water.
  6. Very slowly and carefully pour the mixture through the strainer/cloth into the bucket with the remaining water. The drainage gets slower and slower so you may want to stop and change filters to speed up the process.
  7. Stop pouring when the heavier remains start to flow out of the blender.
  8. Stir the worm casting tea thoroughly.
  9. Pour the resulting liquid into sprayer. Note, the color of the Worm Casting Tea can be VERY black.
  10. Now you can spray your plants on the top and underside of leaves.
  11. Use all of the mixture within a day. It may start to ferment if you leave it in the sprayer longer than one day.
  12. BIG BENEFIT: FF Worm Casting Tea can be made in HOURS not days!

Note: Use the remaining casting residue left in the strainer cloth and blender on your indoor or outdoor plants, or your yard, at the base of a plant or tree. DO NOT PUT LEFT-OVER WORM CASTING RESIDUE INTO IN YOUR AQUAPONICS GROW TRAY.

Very Beneficial Additional Ingredients:

You can add The FF Portable Farms® Mineral Rock Dust at the rate of one teaspoon per batch at the time you add the Worm Castings, now you have a great Mineralized Worm Casting Tea.

This FF Portable Farms® mineralized Worm Castings Tea is quick, elegant, the perfect nutrient foliar spray, a strong insect spray for the plants. It’s fast and easy to make and is applied the same day.

This Portable Farms® Worm Castings Tea or Super Tea is quick, elegant, the perfect foliar spray, a strong insect repellent for the plants and can be made and applied in the same day. One more product and service from PFAS LLC.

Adjust amounts for your grow tray size. The Portable Farms® Worm Casting Tea Method makes two assumptions:

  1. You have an aquarium or fish tank water or water that has been in an open container for overnight.
  2. Here is a quick and complete way to remove chlorine from water – Vitamin C (just plain water-soluble ascorbic acid with no fancy additives such as Citrus Bioflavonoids or Rose Hips, etc.) at the rate of 1 mg per gallon of water. We picked up this trick for curing water from our work in Portable Farms®.

The Real Cost of INDOOR Aquaponics is LESS


The Real Cost of INDOOR Aquaponics 
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis

This article carefully explains indoor growing with aquaponics so you can successfully convert your basement, garage, workshop, spare room, etc. that is currently sitting idle to grow some food and have some fun! This article is not about commercial aquaponics, it is only about utilizing some existing space into a small INDOOR aquaponics system to grow food for you and your family.

Here are the figures everyone wants to know regarding the cost of indoor aquaponics. No matter what size space they have available, they want to know, “What will it cost me to get started?”

The real answer:

  1. The Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems Course© includes the Portable Farms Kit containing the Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems technology.
  1. The cost of the materials to build one Module that can feed eight people (up to 200 sq ft of grow space) is approximately $700 anywhere in the world.
  1. Full spectrum grow lights to make your plants really happy so you can grow healthy plants (both greens and blooming plants) – about $300.

This is a total of $3,500 plus some labor and adding in cost variances, you will be in the $4,000 range. This cost DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY TYPE OF GREENHOUSE. This quote/information is ONLY for indoor growing spaces.

portable-farms-grow-trays-constructionCaveats to be aware of in this conversion process: 

  1. The numbers above apply to spaces up to about 450 sq ft. Above 450 sq. ft., you will need two Grow Tables and the cost will go up, but not much on a per sq. ft. basis.
  1. Any space that you utilize will require excellent ventilation and some way to reduce the humidity in the space. In most cold climates, this means you will be venting some the oxygen and humidity into your very dry house or outside your house. Think of it as an added benefit.
  1. You will probably have to clean and paint the space before you use it. The area needs to be clean.
  2. The Grow Tables are HEAVY so the floor must be able to support safely 30 lbs per sq foot of dead load.
  1. Water may be spilled (occasionally) and the floor space must be easy to clean up.
  1. Square spaces are actually much harder to plan and build than rectangular spaces.

The total cost to you for converting an indoor of 25’ x 12’ or something similar, will be exactly as described above. The cost per square foot will be in the range of $12+ per sq. ft or close. 

Here are the basic parameters to determine how to utilize the space:

  1. Grow Tables are normally 5’ or 6’ wide and up to 40’ long. The most effective way to utilize space is to subtract 4’ from the length of the space to see how long your Grow Table can be and then see how many Grow Tables and aisles you can fit into the space.
  1. A Module (Grow Table and Fish Tank) is 7.5’ or 8.5’ wide, 5’ plus 2.5’ aisle or 6’ wide and 2.5’ aisle plus an outside aisle.
  1. The formula to use to find number of Modules that will fit into your space = Space width minus 2.5’ divided by 7.5’ or 8.5’ = number of Modules that will fit.

aquaponics is fun and eays

 

Feeding a Family of Five with a Portable Farm in 125 sq ft

Feeding  a Family of Five with a Portable Farm in 125 sq ft
by Colle and Phyllis Davis

How much food does a family of five consume in a year?

Starting with USDA data for a healthy diet and accepting that most carbohydrates will come from grains and root crops, the table vegetables for one person can be grown in 25 sq ft of aquaponics grow tray space. So a family of five will need 125 square feet of grow tray space or a Grow Tray 5′ wide by 25′ long.

A climatically adapted greenhouse that is 10′ by 30′ will feed the family of five year-round, forever. That space is only slightly larger than a modern living room. Some of the protein source for the family will come from the fish that are grown in the Fish Tanks of the Portable Farm and the settling tank waste can be used to grow other crops and fruits outside the structure. Plants love the nutrient-laden settling tank waste water and reward the Portable Farmer with exceptional crops yields. The waste water can also be added to compost to speed up the process.

The average family of five consumes one head of lettuce per day for salads, garnish or sandwiches. The lettuce is planted on 8-inch centers in the Grow Tray. The lettuce needs approximately 30 to 40 days from ‘planting to harvesting’ which means there will be 40 lettuce plants in the Grow Tray at all times. 40 lettuce plants require 27 square ft of grow space. Each time a lettuce plant is harvested, a new seedling is placed in the same space to be ready to harvest in 40 days.

What other favorite vegetables are enjoyed by your family? Zucchini, any variety of peppers, eggplant, basil, Swiss chard, kale, cucumbers or maybe you would like a little space beans or bok choy. Find the spacing needed on the seed packet and begin planning out ways to fill up the rest of the Grow Tray.

With 90 square feet to fill up, the space that is 5′ wide and 18′ long will be beckoning to you even in your sleep.

Here is the trick that is the hardest for new Portable Farmers to grasp: THINK AHEAD AND PLAN LIKE A FARMER! Refrain from planting all of the space at once.  That is 27 square feet of open space for lettuce will tempt you to fill it up. Don’t do it. Plant a new baby lettuce plant every day into the gravel. Yes, it will be incredibly hard to do until the entire Grow Tray is finally full and you can stop buying vegetables at the store. It will happen, be patient and know that you are doing the best possible planning for your family’s survival.

Before and After Photos – 40 Days Growth in a Portable Farm

Before and After Photos – 40 Days Growth in a Portable Farm
– by Colle and Phyllis Davis


This small Portable Farms® Aquaponics System feeds TEN adults . . . FOREVER.
The greenhouse (below) is 16′ x 33′ (528 square feet) and contains 264 square feet of Grow Tray space.

CLICK HERE for images of What You Can Grow

 

PFAS LLC  is proud to show you Before and After Photos highlighting the 40-day progress of our Portable Farms® Aquaponics System constructed in our Experimental and Research Center in San Diego, California.

CLICK HERE to Feed 8 People FOREVER in ONE 40′ Grow Tray!

Because of improvements in our seed choices, planting methods and technology, our farm is exploding with fresh food after only 40 days. The 400 tilapia fish in this system know our voices and ‘frenzy’ when we walk into the farm (a good sign because a happy fish eats well and POOPS A LOT and that’s the fertilizer for our plants). In case you didn’t know it, the Aquaponists’ Daily Prayer is, “PRAY FOR POOP.”

BEFORE: Gravel Grow Trays in a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System with Colle Davis, Inventor, Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems before planting

AFTER: 40 Days After Planting with Colle Davis, Inventor, Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems. Many green leafy organic vegetables are already READY TO HARVEST and other blooming plants already have blossoms and are ready to produce organic fruit or vegetables after only 40 days (such as tomatoes, peppers, green beans, zucchini, and cucumbers). Portable Farms grow enormous amounts of healthy, organic, nutritious food in small spaces.

One single leaf of an organic zucchini plant measured after 40 days of growth in Gravel Grow Tray = 10.5 inches wide

Height of the same organic zucchini plant (above) after 40 days growth in a Gravel Grow Tray = 20.5 inches tall

Organic India Mustard plant (a spicy lettuce) after 40 days in the Gravel Grow Trays = 19 inches tall

Organic Cos Romaine Lettuce after 40 days of growth in a Gravel Grow Tray = 12.5 inches tall

We’re growing a variety of organic seeds in each of these categories in this farm:

  • Basil
  • Swiss Chard
  • Kale
  • Cucumbers
  • Mustard Greens (what we call Wasabi Lettuce – hot hot hot)
  • Dozens of varieties of Lettuce
  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • India Mustard
  • Long Green Beans
  • Dozens of varieties of Asian greens
  • Boc Choi
  • A variety of herbs

Growing Tomatoes in Aquaponics

 Growing Tomatoes in Aquaponics
-by Colle and Phyllis Davis

toms may 17 2013

(Photo above) Each of these tomatoes weighs approximately 1/2 pound. We harvested them from a Farms® Aquaponics System. THEY ARE DELICIOUS.

Tomatoes are the single most requested crop to grow in the Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems. The expected yields in this article are based on growth from a single Grow Tray (shown below) and are very conservative. They are based on the lowest yield per plant, the shortest harvest cycle and the longest time a plant will remain in the Grow Table of the system. The actual production and yield is often two to four times the stated amounts in most cases especially after the operator becomes more skilled.

tomatoes colle may 3 2013

Colle Davis harvesting tomatoes

Tomatoes that have been planted and raised from a Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems can be sold as locally-grown and pesticide free and after certification can also be called ‘organic’ meaning the grower can receive higher prices based on their growing methods and further reducing the ROI than stated in this article.

GFIA Portable Farms® Aquaponics System - Tomatoes 6Tomatoes present an interesting opportunity because of two factors: The first is that all tomatoes must be staked or trellised (vertical growing) to maximize yield. This keeps the plants upright and allows the utilization of the entire column of growing space from the Grow Table’s surface to the area 2m (6 feet) or more above the Grow Tables. Trellising can be seen as a type of natural vertical gardening. Trellising also makes harvesting much easier because the fruit is more readily accessible. Pollination is also easier due to the open access to the blossoms. Circulating fans are very effective in the pollination of most plants and reducing the humidity and heat when the plants’ blossoms are opened up on trellises.

To successfully grow tomatoes and other blooming plants (peppers, cucumbers, beans, etc.) year round requires the use of Grow Lights suspended above the Grow Tables in a climatically adapted environment. The investment in the Grow Lights and electricity for the purpose of growing blooming plants is offset by the increases in both variety and production.

One of the challenges with tomatoes is to determine how long to leave the plants in the gravel before removing them and replanting in the same spot in the gravel. The recommended spacing on tomatoes is 30cm (12 inches) and not to offset the rows for maximum outreach of the plant’s growth. Our research discovered that the plants begin to produce tomatoes at 81 – 89 days (depending on conditions) but after approximately six to eight months of growing in the gravel, the tomato plants develop such a large root ball (the size of a football) that they began to impede the effective flow of water through the Grow Tables. This is especially true when a Grow Table was planted with only tomatoes. This root ball’s large sized necessitates the removal of the mature tomato plant after the sixth to the eighth month. The immature tomatoes can be harvested before the plants are removed to add to the overall production. The gravel in the area is then cleared of root fragments, and a new plant is immediately placed in the same spot. This process is thoroughly and carefully covered in the Operations Manual© provided with each installation.

Colle Davis, Lead Inventor, CEO of PFAS LLC, standing in front of a few tomato plants (10' tall) that supply hundreds of tomatoes while they're planted in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System. We generally leave the tomatoes in the grow trays about six months and then replant new tomatoes because their root systems grow too large (size of a football) for the grow trays.

Colle Davis, Lead Inventor, CEO of PFAS LLC, standing in front of a few tomato plants (10′ tall) that supply hundreds of tomatoes while they’re planted in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System. We generally leave the tomatoes in the grow trays about six months and then replant new tomatoes because their root systems grow too large (size of a football) for the grow trays.

 Tomatoes from a single full size 5′ x 40′ (200 sq ft) or 6’ x 32’ [1.5m x 12m (18m2)] Grow Table:

  • Each Grow Table can hold 200 plants (1ft or 30cm centers) and be planted twice per year
  • Production (harvest time) is normally over a 60 to 85 day period
  • The plants require a three month growing period before harvest begins
  • Year round growing is accomplished with the use of grow lights above the Grow Tables and a carefully acclimatized greenhouse or warehouse structure
  • Tomato plants bloom to fruit ratio is increased greatly with the addition of FF Mineral Rock Dust. FF Mineral Rock Dust provides aquaponics growers the perfect balance of many trace elements not consistently available from just plain ordinary fish poop. Now you can grow consistently blooming plants with the addition of FF Mineral Rock Dust, as your plants and your fish poop will now contain adequate levels of calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, just to mention four of the vital elements for successful growing in aquaponics.
  • Staking or trellising is required and can be installed permanently
  • No pesticides, fungicides or artificial fertilizers are ever used
  • Tomatoes yield is between 5 and 9 lbs. [2 and 4k] per plant depending on variety
  • Yield per plant is 25 to 35 tomatoes per plant, depending on variety
  • Yield 55lbs [25k] per week
  • This level of yield give one 880 lbs. to 1,760lbs [400 to 800k] every six months
  • Or in one year 1,760 to 3,500lbs [800 to 1600k]
  • PLUS 330lbs [150k] of Tilapia per year from the Fish Tank below the Grow Table

Each Module contains one Grow Table, one Fish Tank and one Clarifier. The components to make the Module functional include the Portable Farms® Kit with the special pump and valve system, a control panel, air pumps and related hardware and wiring.

Each Module cost approximately US$3,300 completely installed. This does include the growing medium (gravel), but not the seeds or fish because the owner will be in charge of the seed variety and the fish will be procured locally at best prices.  The Modules require being housed in a climatically adapted greenhouse with one or more thermostatically controlled exhaust fans. In cold climates, more insulation is needed and in the tropics, the sides can be screen or netting.

By using the lowest yield with the shortest harvest season and two crops per space per year the Return On Investment will be approximately 55lbs per week at US$1.00 (very low price) or US$55.00 per week x 52 weeks = US$2,860 or a 1.4 year pay back. This does not include the greenhouse. In most cases this number will be much higher and will continue to rise as the operators become more skilled.

Please note: The above numbers are based on the lowest expected yields from field grown crops, using the shortest possible harvest time, plus the longest time from transplant to finish harvest. In other words, the lowest possible output from the Module for this crop is shown. The actual output from each Module can, and probably will be, from two to four times as high resulting in a much shorter ROI.

 

Feed 8 People FOREVER in ONE 40′ Grow Tray!

Feed 8 People FOREVER in ONE 40′ Grow Tray!

by Colle and Phyllis Davis

— Build, own and operate your own backyard aquaponics system. 

—One module of Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems feeds a family of eight year round.

— Install twenty to thirty modules and sell the food you grow in a commercial aquaponics operation.

PFAS LLC offers a self-paced online course that teaches users how to assemble and operate a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System.  Most students dedicate an hour per day for a week or ten days to complete the course. Upon satisfactory completion of the course, graduates receive a Portable Farms® Kit used in the assembly of the aquaponics module that is capable of feeding eight people table vegetables and fish . . . forever.  
We’ve done all the work for you!
All you need to do plant some seeds, feed some fish and harvest fresh healthy food – FOREVER. A 5′ x 40′ Grow Tray to feed EIGHT people FOREVER (and forever means just that: ALWAYS.)
Enroll in our NEW ONLINE aquaponics course:  Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems Course© from Aquaponics University. It offers step-by-step instructions with hundreds of photographs that walk you through the entire course. This is a fast and fun way to learn how to build and operate your own aquaponics system. After graduation, you’ll receive a Portable Farms® Kit so you can build your own farm.  Enroll today!

 

Tomato and cucumber plants growing vertically in one grow tray.

Tomato and cucumber plants growing vertically in one grow tray.

Over 300 varieties of plants grow well in aquaponics. Of all the garden-fresh foods that people enjoy growing in our systems, the favorites are:

  • All varieties of lettuce (romaine, red leaf, butter crunch, etc.
  • Many herbs such as cilantro and mints
  • Most greens such as collard greens, etc.
  • In an acclimatized greenhouse with seasonal grow lights, you can also grow blooming plants year round such as tomatoes (large tomatoes or cherry tomatoes), most varieties of climbing beans – green beans and even peas, cucumbers (large crisp farm-fresh cucumbers), all varieties of peppers (green and red peppers, and all varieties of hot peppers)
  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Swiss Chard
  • Asian greens
  • Bok Choy
  • Eggplant
  • Plus, don’t forget the HOME GROWN FISH in a tank only steps away from your kitchen.
WOW!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT THAT KALE! Phyllis Davis, Co-Inventor, Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems harvesting 8 kale plants with leaves averaging 47" in length. This kale was grown in 42 days in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System

Phyllis Davis, Co-Inventor, Portable Farms Aquaponics Systems harvesting 8 kale plants with leaves averaging 47″ in length. This kale was grown in 42 days in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System

Growing produce in Portable Farms is easy and nutritious and food is grown YEAR ROUND regardless of weather conditions anywhere in the world.

Picture perfect greens.

Aquaponics Grow Tables GOLD ebook and Automatic Trip Valve 

Aquaponics Grow Tables GOLD ebook and Automatic Trip Valve 
from Portable Farms®

Aquaponics’ Grow Tables raise healthy, fresh table vegetables.

Portable Farms® Grow Tables never overflow and are now fully automatic.

Aquaponics Grow Tables GOLD ebook – US$59.95: CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION – The sale of this ebook does NOT include the Automatic Trip Valve (ATV) that regulates the water level in the grow tables, but the ATV is available with the purchase of this book for an additional US$20.00 in offer below.

Aquaponics Grow Tables GOLD ebook and Automatic Trip Valve – US$79.95: CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. This sale includes the ebook and the Automatic Trip Valve (ATV) that regulates the water level in the grow tables. The shipping for the ATV is free within the US. The shipping for the ATV is US$12.95 outside the US. You will be contacted to pay shipping charges prior to shipping.

 

Portable Farms® Grow Tables become more valuable over time because their production increases over the first two years after the operator learns what plants they enjoy growing.

The valuable content in this Aquaponics Grow Table GOLD ebook has emerged from more than ten years of success in the marketplace. We have continued to refine our Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems and are now growing food in twenty-five countries and in all fifty US States.

The design and function of our Grow Tables incorporates our experiences, the feedback from our global customers, engineers, universities and from many of our own odd mistakes and failures.

The true success of an aquaponics system allows its operators to take a weekend off occasionally, and never worry have about watering or feeding the plants to grow delicious, healthy and pesticide-free food.

Here are the many benefits of the Portable Farms® Grow Tables.

  1. They do not leak if constructed properly.
  2. They do not bulge or distort when full of food.
  3. They have adjustable legs to level them on uneven surfaces or for special needs (such as building them to be wheel chair accessible).
  4. The tray depth and water flow can be modified for growing kitchen or medicinal herbs.
  5. The grow trays can be flooded if insect control is required.
  6. Each grow table can be sized in width and length to accommodate your location or the food for family or group needs.
  7. The grow tables are easy to keep clean.
  8. The crushed gravel in the grow tables never needs to be cleaned [if you use a clarifier].
  9. The plants in the grow tables strip out the nutrients as the water flows through the crushed gravel.
  10. As the water flows through the grow tables, it becomes re-oxygenated during each cycle before it returns to the fish tank adding to the health of the fish and fish tank.
  11.  Crushed gravel, the least expensive substrate is used to grow the plants. Think cheap and local.
  12. Growing food from the waist high grow tables makes it easy to plant, care for the plants and harvest the food.

Measure the space you have and use the formulas provided and the near future the world of self-reliance starts.

 

PLEASE NOTE: A competent carpenter can build the entire grow table in about 6 hours. We make the assumption that whoever is constructing the grow table has several years of construction experience using power tools, hand tools, and common building materials. Even though the construction is very straightforward and uses common building materials, a high level of precision finish work is required for the grow table to function correctly. A hobbyist without construction experience is very seldom capable of building this level of precision without some excellent help and support.