the very busy pond builder

Our OCTAFORM PVC stay-in-place concrete wall forming system was finally delivered to the farm today. The original plan was that pond builder and the Kubota were going to meet the truck on the black top road, unload and he would move the oversized pallet back to the house. Thankfully our driver backed his straight truck for half of mile to our concrete driveway. Pond builder was able to maneuver the pallet off the truck but the pallet weight seems to be right at our tractor’s limit. He decided that the best thing would be to leave the pallet on the grass and we’ll unpack it over the weekend.

The forklifts came in just in time. There have been individuals on the waitlist for forklifts since last September. Pond builder called and it sounded like we would have to wait a few months. He was added to the list and two days later he received a phone call that the forks came in! God always takes care of us.

We have been planning to buy a 60″ bakki shower for our new pond. A gentleman in the local koi club is closing his pond due to age and health. He was selling two 38″ bakki showers that were 2.5 years old. We picked up one shower set and will get the other in a few days. The two showers are waterfall style and should be sufficient for our new pond. We have bottom drains coming in 10 days and a concrete guy identified. I’m thinking the koi will definitely be outside this summer.

For now, they are still hanging inside the garage. I am hoping that we have passed through the period when aeromonas bacteria can cause problem for the koi. The pool temperature has been going up and the koi are eating well. I decided to treat the pool with a broad spectrum because my shiro utsuri was looking a little off. She’s fine now and everyone else seems pretty happy.

Enjoying watching the bamboo grow. We purchased five Moso bamboo plants – 2 x tall, 1 x medium and 2 x small. The taller specimens have not put out any shoots yet. I’m wondering if they’re gong to or maybe they’re just behind the shorter ones? The new bamboo shoots are growing at least an inch per day. Bamboo puts out shoots in the spring and they grow for 60 days. After 60 days, its growth has ended for the year. There is some saying that bamboo really takes off during its third year of growth.

I also spend a lot of time planting. I have started some summer vegetables by seed in the protected garden and the cool weather veggies should be ready for harvest in a few weeks. Since I had a ton of zucchini, winter squash and pumpkin seeds – I have found other places to plant. We created another hügelkultur bed which the pond builder believes is another deer buffet. I also planted some Cinderella pumpkin seeds around my Farmhouse/Barn sign. I am imagining that in September I will be able to take a photo of bright red-orange pumpkins with a hayfield background. It will probably end up being another deer buffet. We love pumpkin pie but if all my pumpkin plants sport 5-8 (or more) ten to twenty pound pumpkins, a lot of deer are going to be happy.

Random chore – moved all the bricks from the pond site to behind the barn. They lined the original well on the farm. I was planning to do something by the pond with these bricks but it was annoying to see them sitting out there. Maybe I’ll use them for a different project. Grass cutting season has started. While it takes awhile, I enjoy cutting the grass areas on the zero-turn mower. Pond builder is happy because he really dislikes cutting grass.

So what kind of chores does he like? It’s been very windy so pick-up-sticks is a never ending task. (I don’t think he really likes this task…) The latest thought is to stack up all the sticks behind the barn and get the wood chipper/shredder out here. Burning out tree stumps is always a good diversion.

Our hay farmer also shows up at random to do something. Not really sure what he was doing…

Another farm task has been to move around the game trail cameras. My Army buddy and I have short attention spans so I am moving our cameras every few days. On the western edge of the property the regulars included deer, coyote, fox, skunk, opossum , raccoon, rabbit and turkey. My camera had a steady stream of opossum, raccoon, skunk and a very fat rabbit the last few days. I’m wondering why the fox isn’t doing more to control the population. This afternoon I moved my camera to a spot on the southern edge of my property. Seems to be the deer highway.

Mr. Steps Builder is using some cedar that he rough cut to make me some steps down to the bridge. Did we need the steps? Probably not, but I think they’re going to be very nice.

We occasionally leave the farm to check out what’s local. Taco Boss has excellent food and was just voted “Best Taco in North Carolina as chosen by readers of Strange Carolinas” 🤔. They set up their food truck about 150 feet away from a local dine-in Mexican restaurant.