Plants and animals.

[sara]

An interesting bit from the NYT about "aquaponics" -- I don't think I'm going to give up my garden beds just yet, and I wonder about the electrical power consumption of these sorts of setups, but it's neat to read about nonetheless. I find the integration of the fish particularly intriguing -- we put goldfish in our rainbarrels last year, but I'm not planning on eating those for dinner any time soon.

Today did bring an opportunity to integrate animals into our local agricultural process, however; my son and I went out in the backyard and turned the compost heap for the first time this year, which is a stinky task for me and a momentous opportunity to munch worms and slugs for the chickens. They have been busily scratching away at the bits of the heap that weren't shoveled back into the bin.