It’s hard to believe that three weeks ago we had our first koi event on the farm. Pond builder and I are definitely game for hosting a few more koi gatherings here. We had help from local koi friends and a koi vendor from Florida, Bristol’s Koi Farm. Some of the AKJA judges were here to give seminars and some showed up just for fun. Yes it’s kind of geeky but we all love koi keeping.

The pond builder always loves an auction. Alex and Parinaz Bristol donated two Isa Showa koi towards fundraising for the ZNA Carolina club. Steve Zimmerman offered local azukari (think babysitting for a year) for these two koi. Pond builder won the auction for the female showa. We’re excited to have Steve and Sandy grow this little koi because the 10″ koi will return to us in a year at 20-24″! I have a koi in their pond that they picked up for me early this spring when I did not have a koi pool running. While I could bring the gin asagi home, it’s enjoying cooked sweet potatoes, tofu and the occasional cherrios on top of quality koi food. It would be seriously depressed coming to our koi food (which is very good JPD) after Steve and Sandy’s pampering.

Our garage pond needed a new control box for the RDF. We noticed it was not always running and the water did not look as clear as it should. Since we had an extra control box in Minnesota, the pond builder brought it back with our grow lights as well. In just a day, the water clarity has improved.

We closed down our 5000 gallon small pond in Minnesota for good last week. It was very difficult to get someone to demolish it at a reasonable price within our timeline. Our sideyard pond has been many things – a pondless waterfall, a waterfall into a beautiful pond with rocks, a rockless version then a concrete build. Each time we learned something new. I used to worry about starting a new pond build but the pond builder says everything is a process.

The pond builder has endless energy and is always on the lookout for felling dead trees. We have an area near our house that always looked very dense. Dense with wild raspberry, weird vines, old tree trunks – just your typical farm jungle. This was definitely work for the chainsaw and tractor. Pond builder pulled out many dead trees that had fallen over and were covered with vines. We made a few bees and hornets mad but progress after two days has been phenomenal.

As we cleared our jungle, the pond builder remarked that we should plant bamboo. This is why I love the pond builder – thinks big. Who wouldn’t want their very own bamboo forest??? In Japan there is a famous bamboo forest near Kyoto – the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove.

Our bamboo grove will need to be on a smaller scale since the area where we will be planting is only .25 to .33 acre. We will be planting the Moso bamboo which is the primary bamboo species found in Arashiyama. In a few years we should have a delightful area to walk through and listen to the sounds produced by wind and bamboo.

It’s a little stretch of imagination but here is our future bamboo forest. There’s still more clearing to do but we’ll have to do that another weekend. We will also need to get back to the pond site clearing. So many tasks – but we love it. 😊

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