Thoughts From The SSL Family Dad Whats This Place All About

New subscriber? Been around for awhile? What is this channel all about and why do we do what we do? These are a few of the questions that I hope to answer in this video.


A few years ago my wife and I decided to move into this small subdivision in small town America. Having both come from country roots it was a bit of a compromise for us to be in a community type setting. As we settled in those country roots began to take hold of our small suburban homestead.


We started thinking more about what we ate, how we got our food, how to save money and live a more simple life. We decided to have the SSLFamilyMom at home full time working on raising and caring for our family of five. Many decisions began being made that slowly turned this city lot into a small backyard farm.

During this transition we needed lots of information, repairs, cooking, gardening, aquaponics, chickens, and anything else you can think of. We started reading blogs, researching we articles and how-tos, and watching a whole lot of others on YouTube. We learned so much and used so many ideas of others. It was time for us to start giving back, it was time for us to share our lifestyle and our ideas with others. This was the beginning of the sslfamily blog and YouTube channels.


We are a family of five, often going in many different directions at once. Cooking, knitting, auto repairs, wildlife, hiking, aquaponics, chickens, DIY projects, home improvement, recipes, bible crafts, science experiments, inventions, sustainable projects, computer repair, and the list goes on and on. We decided on three YouTube channels to spotlight the kids, my wife, and my own projects individually and one blog to tie it all together.


We have been blown away over the past year at the response we have gotten, the lives that have been touched and the stories and projects that have been shared back with us. Our family has been truly blessed over the last year and much of it in part to those of you watching or reading this now.


So if you are a new subscriber what can you expect here? Well, just about anything! I try to release at least 1-2 videos per week on relevant topics ranging from home and auto repairs to gardening and sustainable living projects. Product reviews come around from time to time if I have a product that I feel would be good for that kind of thing. I always review honestly and never with a product that I have not used. I focus on aquaponics videos throughout much of the winter and to the outdoor garden in the summer. I also release computer repair and technology tutorials whenever they present themselves around the home as this is my profession. I always provide an honest outcome if I am trying something new and share the experiences I have had and what has worked for me or share what I have learned from others. Oh, and you may see a few bible verses shared on my channel, this is something that is important to us and our faith in Jesus is interwoven into everything we do here on our little homestead.


What not to expect? One thing you will not see here is us asking for money from you. We are not here to profit from you or ask for donations of any kind. It is always a turn off for me when I watch a YouTube channel or subscribe to someones blog to see them asking for money and that is not something I am interested in doing here. We also do not do unboxing videos. I will go ahead and open my own boxes off camera! I have not done anything in the way of Vlogging and do not really plan to do anything under this title (I hate the word myself). I may however, offer an opinion on a video or article if I feel it is relevant or feel the need to share with you.


What is coming up next? This is a long-winded answer so I will get to the point. I have so many things that I want to do that I will never be able to catch up. I may post an interactive list at some point for you all to be able to add things to as well but for now I have the following in the immediate works:


Improve the wood burning pool heater and the garage heater
Chicken coop watering system redesign
Fish "Pondaponics"
Indoor aquaponics redesign
Rain collection system
Automatic garden irrigation
Tire rotation
Cast iron seasoning
Chicken coop scraps feeding door and trough
Wireless network tips and tricks
Shop computer
and the list goes on............


How can you support us? This is a simple answer, do what you are already doing. The best way to support the SSL Family is to follow along with us and share your stories, your pictures and your feedback with us.  We couldnt do this without you!


Thank you for following along, have a good one!

The SSL Family Dad

 

 

 

 

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The IBC of Aquaponics

Backyard Aquaponics has released an awesome manual on aquaponics, featuring 43 (yes, forty-three) systems made with Intermediate Bulk Containers or IBCs, appropriately called The IBC of Aquaponics. Even though I dont have an IBC system, I think IBCs are great. In fact, Ill be helping teach an aquaponics workshop in May where well be creating about a dozen IBC systems.

Why the IBC of Aquaponics is Cool - A list.

1. The manual is free. Thats always cool in my book.
2. The introduction and appendix contain great (and pretty) information about aquaponics - all that stuff experienced aquapons have forgotten they ever had to learn.
3. There are great pictures and write-ups on all the systems.
4. Many of the articles about systems include hyperlinks to youtube videos, sketch-up models, and forum discussions about the systems.

Check out this cool chart, showing the relationship between nutrient availability and system pH. Ive seen charts like this before and simplified the message in my own mind to "6.5 is good." But this version of the chart is absolutely lovely.

This level of professionalism and beauty continues through the rest of the document. If creating an aquaponics system out of an IBC tote appeals to you, you can browse several dozen different configurations, and even create a 3-D version of how your system could look (Google Sketch-up required).

If you live in the DC area and would like to participate in the May IBC workshop, drop me a line. Totes will be provided as part of the workshop!

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Whats in a picture

This past week some of us were designing a T-shirt to celebrate World Water Day and Aquaponics. The T-shirt is now live at Cafepress, and its cool.

In the process, however, I came up with a slightly different logo, which Ill be using for my own aquaponics efforts. Thought Id explain what I was thinking, and why this is such a perfect logo for "365 Aquaponics."

The T-shirt slogan talks about growing more food with every drop. Since I often have to explain aquaponics to folks, I thought a design that showed the fish in clean water and the plants in fertilized water would be cool. Of course, the plant would have to be above the fish. Since the system cycles constantly, I decided to show the drops chasing each other - it would also look a bit like the yin yang symbol, which implies completeness. Super-excited about my concept, I shared a sketch with the team:

They were underwhelmed. Frankly, I dont like it, after getting a good night of sleep. The term "hot mess" comes to mind.

The official T-shirt went forward with its elegant and simple graphic, but I couldnt get the idea out of my head. Around this time I decided to research the yin yang symbol, to make sure there wasnt some weird symbolism I wanted to avoid. Thats when I found out that the original yin yang symbol was all about the seasons of the year.

Allen Tsai has a nice page describing the original origin, with plots showing the day when the sun shone longest (and cast the shortest shadow) versus the day the sun shone least and cast the longest shadow.

If you put a little white spot to symbolize the day the sun starts to "conquer," and a little black spot to symbolize the day the moon starts to "conquer," you get the familiar yin yang symbol. And its all about the seasons of the year.

I created my yin yang art, and drew a fish. The plant is supposed to be generic plant - neither lotus nor lettuce nor flower, but somehow representative of all of these.

The final touch is the curved white line of bubbles, suggesting movement and the need to oxygenate the fishes water. Voilà! An image that explains aquaponics and the full year, winter as well as summer.

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