It seems I'm long overdue for an update. System is going well, although some of the plants are looking a little scraggly. Had a bit of white fly that I'm still mopping up onesies and twosies, and they devastated the bean plant I had going. While I was down in Florida at the end of last year, I picked up a stalk of sugar cane and some lemon grass from the Miami Fruit and Spice Park, and both of them seem to be doing well in my system.


Worms are doing fine in the basement, thinking of adding some more trays, and would like to reserve the top tray for something that eats fruit flies. Unfortunately our midwife toads all died, but I may try collecting a Woodhouse toad or two this summer.

Bees are wintering. We have had a couple of pretty cold spells this year, so I took pity and added a reptile heat pad under the roof of their hive. Had a couple warm days this weekend, so I took the opportunity to clean out the dead bees from the bottom of the hive, which were fed to the tilapia.


Lost both of the fancy goldfish, which I put down to inbreeding. A few of the white tilapia also somehow disappeared completely soon after adding them. I suspect the catfish but can prove nothing. The remaining 17 tilapia are doing fine, with several of them up to 4" or so now. I've been careful to throw some worms and meal worms into the fish tank once or twice a week to give everyone a protein fix.