This year I drew a cow elk tag and again hunted the Cave Valley area.   Driving up, I begin to feel a calm and quietness as Mt. Grafton comes into view.  Rocky ridges surround me and the smell of sage brush permeates the air.

I was fortunate to fill my tag.  This was the first elk I have harvested and was completely amazed at the size and weight of such an animal.   There is no moving one of these like you do a deer.   You clean and quarter it right were it lies and pack it out.  Fortunately for me, the road was very near by.

I estimate I have at least 4 or 5 times the amount of meet from this animal as from previous deer.   As such, I’ve reached out to family to come and stock up as well.   Even with spreading the bounty around, I doubt we will have finished this off in a year and so, next year, I will probably just put in for points and not hunt… we’ll see.

Like last year, we spent a lot of time just having fun….shooting our bows,  plinking with our .22s, quading, fishing, and all sorts of other camping activities.

Quading through the trees — heading for the peaks to hike around and scout for elk.

After a successful hunt, we decided to head a little south and camp in Eagle Valley and spend some time fishing.  While there, I met a neighboring camper who was spending some time with his daughter, traveling from camp to camp, fishing and sort of hunting, but mostly just getting away with his daughter.

While talking with him, he mentioned he was setting up an aquaponics system.   Typically, no one ever knows what that means, but out in the middle of no where, the two of us happened to meet.   I told him about my system and experiences and he shared some of the things he had read and learned.   I was especially excited to learn he had some thoughts on why my system would grow so well, but not produce a lot of fruit.  More fish may be needed he told me, so, I will add more fish and see how it goes this season.

At Eagle, we would typically spend the late afternoon hours fishing.  The first few days, were pasted quietly floating on the water with my fly rod.  But then, after coming back from cutting firewood one day, my float tube had deflated.  It had begun to come apart at the seam.  As a result, I waded in for a couple of days. This wasn’t nearly as fun.

Lucky for me, before my tube had a problem, I was able to get some pictures and video.   The fly was able to attract a lot of rainbows, but also browns and large mouth bass.

The last night, I decided to trade my fly rod for an ultra-lite spinning rod and throw some spinners from the shore.  My goal was to limit and bring home fish for my girls.   As the sun started to set, the fish began to surface.  I couldn’t see what they were feeding on, but it was game on.   Nearly every cast would get a hit and hook up.   In short order I was able to bring in 4 rainbow and 1 big brown.

I look forward to next year hunting or not, the get away is the real prize.

See the entire gallery of pictures!

The post Cow Elk Hunt – 2014 appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

With the nice weather here, our chickens have started laying again this week which we are really excited about.  The fresh eggs are so much better than even the expensive organic ones from WholeFoods.

I took a minute today when the sun was partially out and snapped a few pictures of the garden.   This is about a week after planting.

I planted a bunch of purple and white onions this year.

Lettuce on the right, strawberry center and heirloom tomato left

Chinese cabbage

This Swiss Chard is from last year — still going strong

Yellow Corn

Broccoli & Kale

Sugar Snap Peas

Here are a couple of the girls in their favorite dust-bath spot.  The other is in the nesting box ready to lay an egg.

The post It already feels like Spring appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

This past week when it was 115°+ for two days, was too much for one of my poor chickens.   The other 3 seem to be doing quite well though.   The fish in the aquaponics pond are really growing.  Some are close to 3″ now, nearly 3x the size of what they were when I first got them.

My neighbor gave me this great old lantern and ironworks which I hung in my yard.

The hidden cucumber

The pepper plants are taking off too now!

Swiss Chard

Tomatoes

The post New Pictures appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

The post Garden Gone Wild appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

Have a look at the plants — the tomatoes, squash, and cucumber plants are running everywhere.  In the back you can see my lettuce has gotten so big, it is going to seed.  In the middle of the growth is a cilantro plant which also has gone to seed.   I’m interested to see if anything will sprout on its own.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Swiss Chard

Lettuce Going to Seed

Vines Going Everywhere

So far, I’ve only eaten lettuce and strawberries from the garden.  Soon, I expect we will have lots of tomatoes, squash and cucumbers though.  I’m looking forward to the summer harvest.

The post Aquaponics Garden Growing Wild appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

I was lucky to have  a friend who helped with the landscape design and more so, the labor!

This is what it looks like now that it is all done

The fish have been in the tank for 2 days now.

The post Its done! 1 Year later appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

I’ve been cycling my system for 10 days more than what is on the chart below.  I’ve been surprised that it never really cycled — no real rise in Nitrite and Nitrate never increased at all.

Here is what it looked like when I opened the shipping box.

It’s hard to tell, but there are 50 or more in that bag.  They are about 1″ long right now.

Here is a clearer shot once I removed the outer bag.

Floating the bag in the aquaponics tank

Have a look at how the heirloom tomatoes and lettuce are doing.

The post Adding Fish to the Aquaponics System appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

Have a look at how the aquaponics garden is doing 3 weeks after I had to remove all the plants and empty it.   All but 2 Armenian cucumber plants made it, and those two were always in trouble.   I picked up another cucumber plant this morning which I hope will do much better.

Fish are on order.  I expect they will arrive next Thursday.  I can’t wait to see how things change once the fish are in the system.
All that is left is to add the rock which will give a finished look to the ground.   I plan on putting in a redish/brown crushed granite.

Couldn’t pass a shot of the girls waiting by the door of the run.

The post Tending to the Garden appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

Here you can get an idea of the lighting I put in for a little night time ambiance.

The post Spring Day & Chickens Scratching in the Yard appeared first on The Best Things In Life.

By the time the weekend came around, there was nothing to do but empty the garden bed and drain the pond.   So, that’s what I did.  I searched all over for the leak, but found none.  The ground under the liner was also only the slightest bit damp.   This left me thinking that the water was spilling over the side when full and under the full weight forcing the one corner down.

Since it is apart, I took the opportunity to clean things up.  I put in footer blocks to support the pond and garden.  I also modified some of my electrical to make servicing in the future easier.  The last thing I’m going to do is screen my rock and try and clean it up.

I currently have my plants in a kiddie pool I picked up down the street.  I loaded a bunch of the rock and water from the garden into it this weekend.   The rest of the rock as you can see is piled up where ever there was space.

2.5 Tons of rock moved with a 5 gallon bucket

The post Where’s the water going? appeared first on The Best Things In Life.