A year of neglect and a new challenge.

Sadly yes.
 The fish all died, I sum it up to having the tank where a toddler can reach it and tap on the glass.
 The end of September was rough as my partner and I split and it's been one hell of a rollercoaster since then. Mistakes have been made on both sides, it happens. It may have worked out for the best as in fighting for my son has shown me a lot of things about myself and challenged preconceived notions, not to mention the fact that I was accepted into school early and unprepared as I was for that my son and his mother have been living with her parents on the mainland so I know they were not in need of the basics.
 Yes, I started school in January instead of August, which was awesome but has also been a strain. With my new born son and his mother on the mainland and being in school full time money has been exceptionally tight and if it wasn't for the unquestioning generosity of family and friends I would not have been able to see him most every weekend like I have for the past 8 months or so.

 Where does that leave the aquaponics? Right now, at a cold hard standstill. Firstly I need a job so I can afford space to setup the rig, school will be done August long so that means work will be soon to follow. Once I've found a stable employer to be indentured to and have coaxed some financial wiggle room then I'll be looking for a place where I can start a garden and set up an archery practice range.
 That's right. Archery. Range.

On my last visit to the mainland I stayed with a friend of mine who is an archery instructor and we got to talking about archery, which led to the Turkish thumb draw. Of course it had to happen, sooner or later I'd flap my jaw and out would come out something about shooting a 60# turkish bow, which made my friend laugh. she said I would be able to draw one in 5 years.

...challenge accepted.

But the challenge isn't to just draw a 60# Turkish bow in 5 years time. Digging my grave like I always do, I flapped my gums some more and said that in 5 years time I would not only be able to draw said bow with good form, but hit a traditional "puta" from 100 meters. I'll have 10 arrows and will have to hit the target with all 10. My friend is still killing herself laughing I'm sure.

This is going to get interesting....
                    .....No proper instructors over here......
                                  .......I'm on a very limited budget........
                                             ........my ability superhero-esque quality to never finish something I start?






..........balls

This guy should have some good info......
                                                      .........and this guy will have some especially useful training info......



At least I have this guy

to keep me motivated

Quick Update

 Just a quick update here, have 14 feeders in a 25L tank started and just planted seeds for 2 types of lettuce and broccoli. Systems aren't connected yet but I should be able to get that done this week.
 The fish tank was donated by my Ma, who's moving and needed to get rid of it any way, and i found a couple large rubber-maid bins that I'll be cutting to size. The fun part is going to be setting this up on my porch and plumbing it together.

 In other news:
 -Ogre's father in-law has agreed to let us set up a small barrel-ponics system and build a greenhouse in his land next to existing grow beds. That will give us a bench mark of how well we're doing compared to a conventional garden. Current rate of development is enough to satiate the pallet but keep us wanting more.   Also my have an 'in' with a 200 acre, 2nd stage rehab farm that needs some help- more on that later.
 -Budget for the system has dropped significantly due to lack of work combined with car trouble (seriously, my car died on day one of having no work...talk about timing) so most everything is going to be done even cheaper than possible.
 -The search for an Aquaponics app is underway. so far all i can find is an ebook, and that doesn't cut it. Checked hydroponic apps as well and mainly found apps for growing marijuana, which ain't my bag baby.

Points to consider:
 -growing fish and filtering the water through beds is easy, the difficult part is tuning the system to the plants. What are the plants we want to grow and what is the best system for them? Will have to do more research in hydroponic aspect.

that's all for now, more later.

Initial Findings

 So after doing some initial research I've come to the conclusion that in order to get this project up and running it may be best to run everything as a business.

 This of course has it's pro's and con's. One pro being that after the initial concept and business plan are laid out and investors found, the start up could be streamlined. The con to that being having to pay people back while giving a good return on their investment, which, leads to another con: locating a larger market sooner rather than later as the system matures (a theme which will become apparent as this blog continues).

 The other issue is risk management. The main idea is to not put my budding family at the mercy of impartial business practices but to break free from that, however, the greater the risk, the greater the payoff. Everything must be balanced, another theme.

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 A personal belief of mine is that everything is akin to a symbiotic Mandelbrot, at least on the basic level, and must be kept in balance for us to thrive. There are 3 basic things to be balanced: fuel, mechanism, and operator/manager. Our body must be fed the proper foods to fuel itself, exercised regularly to promote proper growth and to avoid stagnation, and managed by our brain/mind with healthy (lack of better word ATM) signals. Should any one of these 3 things fall out of balance the system is jeopardized. It may still run, but not as efficiently as it could. Poor fuel means more waste, the actual work done is less efficient, and the management goes into overtime and burns out. A poorly tuned body will require more fuel, not work as efficient or as long and again cause the management system to go into overtime burning everything out. An unhealthy brain will be unable to properly manage the processes involved causing neurological disorders to the umpteenth degree.
 The same goes for our more immediate environment. Work is food, we are the physical body and our bosses are the management system (obviously). No work and the system fails, no employees and the system fails, no management and the system fails.
 It all can be looked at through varying degrees of magnification and see pretty much the same thing...with it's own unique properties of course, but that's a bit too deep for this blog.

I think you get the point.

Where is this going?

Just stay with me.

-Balance. When everything falls out of balance it must slowly be brought back or else you will have chaos.
-Timing.  Only properly timed interventions of the right quantity will bring the system back into harmony.

 Start feeding an olympic athlete junk (food/drugs/etc) and on the basic level their performance will suffer, perhaps even causing confidence problems then later depression due to lowered self image, etc. etc. Shock the system by cutting off junk and the body will go into withdrawal there by causing more harm than good.

The same goes for farming. Too much fertilizer and you'll burn the roots killing the plant and the farm fails. Too many plants and not enough fertilizer will starve the plants and the farm fails. Poor maintenance and everything becomes overgrown, or whithers and the farm fails.

Everything comes down to management, really. Or conscious decisions really.

Our force of will makes us human and puts us at the top of the food chain. Only with our conscious interventions can we bring our systems back into balance and working at top efficiency....

Speaking of which it's time for an intervention of my own- sleep.

The beginnings of Project: Affaraon

So.

This is it.

A new beginning.

A beginning in blogging.
A beginning in the exploration of self-reliability.
  Self-reliability in the sense that the luxuries we have today won't last for ever.
  Self-reliability in the sense that I as a man, lover, and soon to be father can not wholly trust the outside world to take of my family.

Let me explain.
  Should a disaster strike and the city in which we live be without power, water, or ready access to immediate food. How do I keep my family warm and fed?
 Should the economy fail, in any way, or should I lose my job. How is my family provided for?

  "'The System' is not designed for thinking outside the box" my boss told me the other day. But thinking inside the box doesn't allow for the eternal welfare of my family.

The answer? Ancient ways that have worked for millennium combined with modern technology.
 'Ancient' as in we have been living off of, and on this little planet and it has taken care of us and we had been taking care of it until fairly recently.
 We have advanced far enough, technologically speaking, that our recent wasteful and reckless habits are no longer needed.

I intend to prove this by living it.

This is the log for my journey.

I believe that breaking out of the servile, zombie-like, rat-race of life should be the goal of every household.

I believe that we shouldn't need to work our fingers to the bone to make ends meat while our employers vacation in tropical countries. The world is a harsh and cruel place and we must shatter our bonds instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us...or worse, waiting for it to "just happen."

This is my journey to a place of freedom, a place of independence, where we are prepared to live come hell or high-water...and I wish to share it with you.

On/in this blog you will find my research in the various modes I wish to employ as they pertain to my geographical area and bylaws.

My journey through the hack'n'slash world of finances, loans, mortgages, and credit.

My journey into low-cost building of eco-friendly, off-the-grid housing.

My journey into the realm of business while doing my best at not selling out.

My journey into all of this and becoming a father.

My journey towards my goal of creating a place I will call Affaraon after Dinas Affaraon, a magical city inhabited by druids versed in the ancient ways, armed with tools of today creating tomorrow.