Mother's Nature - the mystery of life or Why are my plants growing if there are no nutrients in the system?

[M Cosmo]

 

We have all fallen under the spell of our Mother Nature.  Ah she takes many forms. The clantily gowned seductress, all three forms of the goddess Mother, Mate, Crone. We learn from her every day in path.  For  me she has always been Gaia - Diana - Rhiannon many of the forms we know as Mother Nature.  So why do I bring her up now on this often Scientific fact based community forum.  

Well! here is a lesson from the great one that we all have to learn when we ask that inevitable Aquaponics question.

Why are my plants growing if there are no nutrients in the system?

A few days ago I say some great improvement in my plant growth and figured it was time I finally had some readings again for those elusive nutrients. But once again I was schooled by the lady herself. Often my revelations and enlightenments come from the lesser sprits which I some time call fairies or devas, but no this one came from Gaia herself.  So I ask again.

Why are my plants growing if there are no nutrients in the system?

I am a Astrologically triple Capricorn.  As I was told this means I like the scientific answer for the esoteric. All my life I have pursued what I call the Neo-Pagan path of Man Myth Magic in science.  A true Alchemist by heart.  I ask what is the plan? The formula? 

Here I bow once again to my lady.  She instructs me in such gentle ways.  She seduces my scientific mind with my existential quest. So what do I mean.  So what the puck!  How are the plants growing with no nutrients in the system? It is mind boggling. Scientifically impossible.  Being the information addict that I have grown to be and love.  I bought almost every book I could find on the Science of Aquaponics. Yet hidden in each of these treaties on our near religious endeavors of Aquaponic research.  Sure we call ourselves Gardeners, Hobbyists etc. but our spouses and significant others often call us obsessed.

All is not know in the world.   As I told my daughter Gaia, when she was an Infant,  now in her thirties, the secret of the Grail is "You and the Earth are One"  All that is science today was magic in the past. Some of what is magic today will be science tomorrow.  

Sure I bought the test meters DO and PH and the test kits.  I wanted the proof.  Foolish man.  Mother has such a sense of humor.  You can almost hear her chuckling when we are bewildered when we can't explain why.  It is just easy for man to find a myriad of reasons why things don't grow but why it does without the "necessary nutrients". 

So I beseech you fellow tribal members. Be in awe of Mother and her Nature. Ours is not to ask why but why not. Go commune with your fish and plants.  Be one with the bacteria in your "system" but don't forget that in our own bodies these micro creatures are plentiful part of our own personal ecosystem.   

Ask yourself?

Why are my plants growing if there are no nutrients in the system?

The answer can be found in a smile.  The Zen of it all. 

 

 

[TCLynx]

Ah it looks to me like a good balance.  I see the faintest tint to orange and if the plants are doing well seems to me Perfect.  My nitrates are usually in the red and my plants don't grow any better for it.

[Kobus Jooste]

But Cosmo, you do feed your fish don't you? 

[M Cosmo]

Ahh1 yes the scientist have started weighing in with the philosophers. So here is a pic of my most recent readings of my missing nutrients.  I know before you answer that there is of course an explanation for why but I will still wonder. By the way I adjusted the PH and no change. 

[Kobus Jooste]

The mischevious scientist in me wants to suggest that you get yourself a photometer - you are bound to get readings out of it even if they are very low.  I can very much understand and respect people's desire to feel some kind of mystic kinship with the earth.  I do not want to spoil your Zen feelings you get in a greenhouse by being overly scientific, so I won't even go there.  I think though, that for many people, the desire to enjoy, respect and nurture is enough, and thus the unscientific approach to how nature functions sits well with them.  Kind of like me and electronics - being colourblind, I could not even build the simplist circuit board as a kid because of the colour coding of the components, thus I lost interest.  I do not know much about how these things are pieced together, so if you hand me one now, I just see a whole lot of bits and pieces I do not know the function of.  On the flip side, there is little in an ecosystem that I do not know the function of, thus if you hand me one to look at, I instinctively break it down into energy flow diagrams, complexity and species interaction.  Like an oceanographer I once knew that lamented the fact that he cannot enloy sitting on a beautiful beach any more - he ends up analysing current dynamics.  The profile of the beach offers up clues as to current strength and direction.  The texture of the sand tells you how strong the currents are.

 

I hope you enjoy the blessing of aquaponics for many years to come, even if you never ever feel the urge to know about the nutrient sources and sinks during different seasons in your local estuary!

[RupertofOZ]

What makes you think you have no nutrients Michael... my systems run with readings of 0,0,0 ... all the time...

 

If they don't, then I get worried that something is out of balance...

[Sahib Punjabi]

Dear Cosmo Sir,

 

Mother Saraswati has blessed you the wonderful gift of communication. These enchanting posts that you provide for us to share are truely inspirational :-)   Thank you 

 

Yes "Mother Earth" in all her forms is indeed Magical! I am taking the liberty of sharing some of my feelings on this subject but do have to use words of another wonderful soul who is also blessed my Mother Saraswati re communication :

 

Extract from Alakananda Ma's message on the occasion of the 2004 Gurukula Graduation :

 

"The Earth is mother, I am child of Earth. Born from her, I will return to her. And though my body will become dust, the force of life of which I am a manifestation will continue, like a river. To live in this way is to be delivered from daily fear, to relax into the continuity of the Whole. With every inbreath I receive from the Whole, with every outbreath I die into the Whole.

Abundance is the movement of the breath—hold it and you die. As Jesus said, if we try to save our life, our prana, we lose it, if we die into each moment, we live in the eternity of the Now. Abundance is not to have, it is to receive and give and receive again. To live is to trust, to trust our mother, the wide-flung Earth, adorned with four directions, to trust the cycles of time, the seasons of growth and decay marked for us by the sun and moon, to trust the flow of life from which we come and into which we shall return. This sitting lightly to life enables us to relax and live rather than cling and survive. It is described by the great Mahasiddha Tilopa as resting like a hollow bamboo and by Rumi as waiting like a reed flute for the breath of the Beloved. This is to live like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, taking no thought for the morrow. This is simplicity, resting in the care of the Whole as a child rests in its mother’s arms." 

 

God bless

[LogicalHydro]

I love this message! I too have found my interest in aquaponics sparked by the mutual love shared between Gaia and I. Nature never ceases to amaze me and I love every minute of it. I'm so glad that you could so eloquently describe your experience.

 

Namaste

[TCLynx]

And the sounds of chiming bells with rays of sunshine proclaim perfect Balance