Winter is coming

A long overdue update!

My trout order is on hold. The fish supplier tested positive for a specific bacteria last year, and they need a clean test before the DNR (Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources) will let them sell to me.
The tests have been taken, but the results aren't back from the lab yet.

Which is kind of a bummer, because my tilapia died last night and today. Two died overnight, and I took out the remaining four today:

On the other hand, I'm still working on getting my aeration system up and running:

So until the aeration is up, I couldn't take the trout anyway.

The biggest problem I'm having with the aeration system is how to keep the PVC pipe sunk in the troughs. I'm using 2" pipe, because the runs are so long. Filled with air, those things are seriously buoyant! Currently, I'm using sandbags filled with my gravel. Any other ideas? I don't want to strap them down, because I don't want to add more holes to the liner, and I want the pipes to run underwater so I don't have to insulate them, and because I don't want the rafts to rub against the air lines.

Since my last update, I've also built my first seedling table.
The location:

It's just made of 2x4s and plywood, and it's insulated:

I'll get a pic of it populated by seedlings soon.

I've also prepped the other side of the greenhouse for the other two troughs. Hopefully, I'll build one on Monday, when I have a friend coming out to help:

With the end of Daylight Savings up here in the northern Hemisphere, I've started having to work in the dark:

And a couple more friends:

This is Geyser, a stray female 3-week old kitty I found at the greenhouse. I took her to the St. Paul humane society on Lexington. I named her Geyser, because she erupts (hisses, spits) on a regular schedule. Poor girl, she's had a tough life already.