Archer Aqua Farms

07/05/2024

Here’s a throw back pic from when we started the system. It’s been a long and fun journey learning the ins and outs of an aquaponics system and meeting a bunch of amazing people who were not only customers but became friends. As much as I complained to Chris on Saturday mornings that it was too early to get up, we always enjoyed and looked forward to catching up with our customers/ now friends every Saturday. It is a sad day that we have to say we aren’t going to do this any longer but we appreciate and are grateful for all the support we had on this journey.

07/05/2024

Apparently I didn’t explain to the plants what my plan was before we shut down in August. So 25% of them are bolting, and the other 30-40% are way undersized which has been going on for the last few months. At this point sadly we are just going to shut down so I can spend time with Barbie in Texas.
My feelings are mixed. I’m going to miss seeing our customers! Sharing what we’re doing and how it works. The sense of accomplishment as we watched something we grew from a seed turn into a beautiful vibrant head of lettuce. We were just getting into growing tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, and zucchini’s in our media beds. The micro greens were just starting to get popular. Having our own Nile Tilapia that we raised for dinner gave us a sense of self reliance. The whole thing felt more like an adventure than work. We did purchase a used commercial system that is still sitting in a container. Hopefully in a few years we will be back to start that adventure.
I hope everyone has a good 4th and thank you for the support again!

06/28/2024

No lettuce again this week.
We have been using the pink zip grow cubes (on the left) for around a year now. We had good results while the system was running normally. The green rock wool cubes (on the right) were what we started with. They have been a good grow media, but it isn’t biodegradable. That is why we tried the switch. The interesting thing is the zip grow cubes are 17 days in and the rock wool cubes are 10 days old. If you can notice the rock wool cubes are growing better and bigger than the zip grow cubes.

06/22/2024

I gave her the old college try on this rainy morning. There won’t be any lettuce this Saturday at the Blair Farmers Market.
I know it’s hard to tell, but the sweet green crisp on the right is starting to bolt upwards. The problem is they haven’t filled out. Just like the green butters to the left. My plan was to double things up, but they still don’t meet what we consider a full head.
I believe this is happening because all the tilapia we have at full size don’t produce as much ammonia as the fingerlings as they grow through our normal rotation. If this keeps persisting because of the lack of nitrate conversion we may have to throw in the towel early for up and coming travel adventures.

Again sorry for the disappointment to all our loyal customers!

06/10/2024

https://youtu.be/G1LSg1B1g9A?si=JH5QuQbaWgxFKaUG

A vital investigation of the economic and environmental instability of America's food system, from the agricultural issues we face - soil loss, water depleti...

06/05/2024

Well it finally happened after well over a year. Guess I’m doing an autopsy and extensive water testing I don’t normally do this morning.

05/31/2024

We only have like 5 heads big enough to harvest, and or microgreens. I’ll be skipping this weekend again.
The reason I think is we quit purchasing fingerlings and butchered a few to many 2+ pounders. We have about 60 lbs of feed left. After the feed is gone we will be shutting down the system. My guess is we’ll have stuff till the end of July. We will be traveling a lot after that.

If anyone would be interested in purchasing a Zip Grow Micro Green System, a 5 tower Zip Grow Vertical Tower System, Nelson Pade Family Plus system, Nelson Pade Purge System a Nelson Pade Large Commercial system feel free to reach out. We don’t need to sell, but are entertaining the idea.

05/24/2024

Unfortunately the pump that runs system water up to the top of the NFT system finally went out about 4 weeks ago. I didn’t notice it till the lower plants had started to wilt. Subsequently it stunted their growth. We won’t have enough to attend the Blair Farmers Market this Saturday the 25th. I guess it kind of worked out because now I can attend a graduation up in Orange City.

05/18/2024

Our first day back at the Blair Farmers Market!!! Looks like it’s going to be a nice day for seeing all the goodies everyone’s got, or flying a kite!

05/11/2024

Today will be our last day at S&S pumping’s location. Saturday the 18th we will be at the farmers market in American Legion parking lot in Blair. Looking forward to seeing everyone down there. Barbie says HI from Croatia!

05/04/2024

All this rain should do them good. We’re here at S&S pumping location again this Saturday from 9-12. I’ve got some new Swiss Chard and Beet micro greens, and all the usual suspects of lettuce.

04/13/2024

For the first time I’ll have about 20 cherry tomatoes for taste testing tomorrow. The strawberries still have a little wait before we can try them.
See everyone tomorrow morning at our Farmers Market! S&S pumping location from 9am to noon.