You aren't always eating what you think you are (long post so be warned lol)

@gordon Just for my own curiosity Gordon . , Is there any reason you chose to farm Rainbow Trout over Browns and Brook trout ? You seem to be into aquaculture . How long does it take the fish to grow to maturity ?
Mike

Thereā€™s a rainbow trout farm about an hourā€™s drive from here, other varieties of trout would have to be transported from somewhere much more distant, making the transport more involved and expensive. I think rainbows generally grow faster too.
Currently I have about 430 rainbows in my aquaponics systems- veg, fruit and herbs etc as well as fish. This batch went in at the end of Feb, and some will be ready to harvest by Sept/October. The water can be too warm for them from about November, depending on the weather, until about April, so I run a water chiller to extend the season, so that the slower growing fish have time to get to a decent size, say 400g+, and the larger ones can get up to about 1200g.
I have a few pics and info at http://gunagulla.com

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Thanks for that link :slight_smile:

I especially liked the interspersed humour, and the phone number cloaking that reminded me of tenjuberrymud

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Looks like a great setup you have going there on that site, and with minimal environmental impact as well - nice job. Will have to hit you up for a visit with my 5yo son in his continuing education on where real food comes from lol. Pretty hectic at work at the moment and finishing off our new house, but will shoot you an email. You on the Taste of Tamworth farm trail?

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@gordon Thanks Gordon very informative . You have a great set up there . Thanks for letting us into what you are doing .

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Maybe so. Thanks for that. Whatever the reason for the smell, it was revolting.

I try to minimise the environmental footprint, the fish pellet supplier says they use sustainable fish products in the pellets, but I also grow slaters and worms to feed the fish, and it is all solar powered. Also in discussions with an organic stock feed producer in Qld for fish pellets, but their minimum run would be 8 tons, rather more than I need per year!

Not on the Taste of Tamworth farm trail at this stage- still have stuff to finish here before weā€™d want lots of visitors, but family sized groups are fine :slight_smile:

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Good to see you arenā€™t taking it all too seriously @gordon !!! :laughing: surely growing all that amazing looking food and having such a small environmental footprint canā€™t be legal? (someone from the government will be out shortly to give you directions to your local supermarket and a re-training programme) ā€¦ thanks for sharing your site with us!

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:laughing: Lets just say that I like to mostly know what Iā€™m eating :slight_smile:

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Great pictures on your landing page @gordon.

We are trying to do some similar things on a smaller scale within our small suburban block: We have the solar PV panels, hydroponics, some chooks, grow as much as we can, and try and be as self-sustaining as possibleā€¦

Thanks also for your informative comments.

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Thanks :slight_smile:
You could probably convert your hydroponics to aquaponics and put in a few dozen fish, as it would only take a little more space :slight_smile:

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Student study indicates that 10% of fish is not the type or species on the label:

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Interesting. You have to wonder why it took 2-3 years to get into the news.

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Yeah, I thought the same thing. I hear anecdotes about this issue relatively frequently, it would be good to see some renewed energy to crack down on the behaviour.

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This opens up another risk that not many of us may be aware of. It depends greatly on exactly which species of fish is in the meal, where it was caught and age or size.

A now common cause apparently of seafood poisoning in Australia.

Nothing to worry about?
Only if you donā€™t fall victim.

Is it unpleasant?
In our instance incredibly so, abetted by at the time medical professionals who did not have any awareness of the symptoms or toxin! 3 months of extreme misery in my instance, 6mths to normal, no sympathy required, although there is one fish market off the list. Townsville, nearly a decade prior to the already old ABC news item Iā€™ve noted.

Iā€™m now extremely cautious of what fish is on the plate, and note that fish carrying the toxins have been caught as far south as NSW and sold into the food chain.

For a more detailed view of just how complex and bad it can get.

P.s.
Yes, itā€™s also true drinking alcohol can cause a relapse of the symptoms. Makes for a cheap night out!

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Wow, thatā€™s a truly awful thing to go through. Thanks for sharing the warning :+1:

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Unfortunately I have zero confidence that anything will be done about it. Our governments have already proven multiple times that when it comes to truth in advertising regarding food products in Australia, the dollar beats all. Secretive free trade agreements aside (a misnomer if ever there was one), one only has to look at the Free Range Eggs debacle or Health Star Ratings to see how they feel about what Australians should know about their food intake lol.

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An article regarding choosing or avoiding restaurants you are unfamiliar with.

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Had a good giggle reading through that, but there was some truth mixed in with the fun :). A basic rule of thumb my family uses which hasnā€™t let us down is to look in first to see who is eating. As an example if you are looking for authentic asian but the restaurant is full of westerners only, you are probably in for disappointment.

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However a slightly (and only slightly) mitigating factor is that most ethnic cuisines are modified to fit into the preferences of the locals, eg us.

Eg. What a person from rural China might find fabulous many of us used to a not quite so authentic rendition could be sadly let down on expectations by seeing what appear to be 90% Chinese.

My last statement is coloured by my first ever day in Australia where the ā€˜Chineseā€™ cab driver spoke Kings English. These days appearance is guidance, but a fallible one.

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