"Real" Spinach & Arugula - The Plan

"Real" Spinach & Arugula

Part 1 - The Setup

The Problem

We're spoiled with dark, rich, fully savoyed spinaches and spicy, nutty, deeply lobbed arugulas from our organic, biodynamic Aspen Moon farm-share, except in winter!

The smooth, mild spinach and lettuces we're able to get get at the grocery left me wondering if I could grow better in my closet?!

The Plants 

I decided to start seeds in 9 cubes and would select the best 4 at the end of germination.

• Bloomdale (Spinacia oleracea)
•  Heirloom from 1826! High in vitamins A and C, and iron!
  
• Rocky (Diplotaxis tenuifolia)
•  Fast growing, wild-type heirloom. Complex and nutty flavor.
  
• Astro (Eruca vesicaria)
  
•  Peppery. High-yield! 
  

While I'm at, I'm going to start some microgreens in coconut coir!

(Will add germinated photo!)

The Aeroponic Setup

For simplicity and (hopefully) fast, high yield I opted to create a small low pressure aeroponic (LPA) bucket. These are often used for cloning but it works equally well from seed.

5 gallon bucket; 2" holes, baskets, collars, and rockwool cubes

Submersible pump; 1/2" vinyl tubing/tee + 180 degree sprayers; airstone/pump

The Aeroponic Test!

Before adding plants I ran the system for several days to verify setup and tune schedule.

Cheap Cycle Timer to manage continuous spray schedule

There are lots of opinions on the optimal schedule for your LPA but the main issue I was worried about was water temp! The submersible pump generates a lot of heat while pumping and bucket and carpet I intend to run on offer plenty of insulation...

I setup a simple sensor to allow monitoring the temp. This will be useful now and when the system is in use. Details can be found on GitHub here: Ardruino Uno WiFi Rev2 Cayenne Water Sensor

Continuously running pump for three hours, and cool down

A bit of testing revealed 3min on and 13min off could be run continuously without heating the water and nutrients.

Up Next: The Grow!

Apple Privacy Feature?!

How to quickly disable Face ID (until unlocked)

Hold Volume Up + Side Button until Shutdown/SOS screen appears, then hit Cancel. “Your passcode is required to enable Face ID”

Once you enter your passcode, Face ID is back to normal.

iPhone Privacy Disaster (Mostly) Mitigated

Not So Hidden Tracking ID(s):

For years I've been periodically resetting the evil tracking identifier, included in every request from an iPhone (there's more than one, but more on that later). Android and others have the same ID, and often less transparency. On iOS, its existence was only implied by the ability to "Reset Advertising Identifier", buried deep in the iPhone menu.

A search for 'Advertising' prior to iOS 14 reveals evil ID For Advertisers (IDFA)

 

 

 

This identifier, known as the ID For Advertisers (IDFA) or Global Device ID (GAID, etc.) was sent with every request from an iPhone, allowing tracking user across apps, media, and the Internet.

I've long wondered how Apple, who has claimed to be concerned about privacy would allow this to happen. Benevolence to Google and Facebook? Government pressure?

Either way, privacy is finally popular so with iOS 14, scheduled for release Sept 2020, Apple will finally require apps "to obtain user permission before tracking." It's hard to believe it took them 14 released, but hey they did it!

Identifiers Persist...

A search for "Identifier" will reveal Apple still maintains related IDs for it's own purposes, which perhaps hints at their initial complacency--they need to track users for monetization as well...

While these Identifiers are less sinister in not tracking users across the internet, I'm still not a fan.

At the very least, I frequently reset the News identifier. My browsing habits are my own business, but I also like to think this helps avoid the "echo chamber"--I don't need to be served more or only news I enjoy.

Search 'Identifier' to see four of Apple's tracking IDs                   

Blog Moving Eventually...!

This blog will eventually move to a less intrusive host (than the world's largest advertiser). I apologize for my laziness...

Upcoming Posts: 

1. 29er Bike Tires! 
2. iPhone Privacy Settings! 
3. Ultra-High Performance (UHP) Tires for Colorado! 
4. STOP USING PESTICIDES! 
5. AIY Vision Kit (Google Raspberry Pi Vision Machine Learning)! 
6. Google Coral Tensor Processing Unit!
7. PiCar-V + Coral!!
8. Raspberry Pi "Smart" Sprinkler "Rain Sensor"!!!
9. 700c Bike Tires for ALL "Roads"!
10.