We were hoping to have the koi in their new pond this 4th of July. That timeline didn’t quite work out. Little things like work schedules, work travel and unforeseen difficulties getting the stuff together have delayed pond opening. Perhaps it will be ready when we host a local koi club meeting in early August.

Three koi came home today. I’m very lucky to live near some really great koi people, Steve and Sandy. For the last year (+), they have boarded two of my koi. I purchased a gin asagi from PS Koi and it was ready to come home in April 2021 but I had no pond yet. They kindly offered to hang on to the 8″ tosai. This koi turned out to be a male and a handful, chasing around the female koi. We’ve named him Romeo and while he’s much calmer now, he might be more on the high-strung side. I think when he was placed in quarantine before pick up, he spent some time trying to jump out. Romeo is now approximately 22″ long thanks to an excellent feeding program.

Another koi that enjoyed Steve & Sandy’s hospitality was a little Isa Showa that Bristol Koi brought to our farm event last July. Alex and Parinaz donated two koi to an auction and the pond builder won one of the koi. The icing on the cake was that Steve offered to take care of (grow) the winning tosai for a year in his pond. This koi is also about 22″ long after a year in their pond.

The third koi that came home was to be shipped from PS Koi this past week. The little Torazo kohaku would have been flying to CLT but my wonderful neighbors were driving up to Indiana to pick up some koi and koi food — and agreed to bring the peanut home.

The pond builder and I wonder if these koi are missing Uncle Steve and Aunt Sandy. There’s no tofu or sweet potatoes on the menu here. And the accommodations are like moving from a mansion to a tiny house… Steve and Sandy’s pond is 15′ x 30′ x 6′ deep with fabulous filtration. My trio will need to live in a 5′ x 5′ quarantine tank for two weeks before joining the rest of the koi.

Let’s hope fish memory is on the low side.

Pond progress? We appear to have enough pieces and it looks almost complete. There still some work ensuring all the pieces are together and the pond builder needs to put in the holes for the skimmers into the walls.

Another bobcat sighting!!! We have been hoping to catch a coyote and the cage is ignored by everyone. This morning, our game cam caught a bobcat wandering around the southern edge of our property. It looks like it’s been feeding well but between it, the coyotes and the fox – there are still plenty of rabbits and groundhogs. Obviously they aren’t trying too hard to keep the population in check.

OP Larry (AKA the treehouse). The pond builder has made a lot of progress on our treehouse / hunting and photography stand / random build. Our elevated platform is 11′ by 9′ , and stands about 8′ off the ground. We still have a lot more to do like additional supports, a rail and a permanent ladder but this afternoon we were able to check out the view. It seems pretty sturdy.

Squash bugs must die. I have been watching many of my squash plants fail to thrive. I suppose I should have taken a closer look a few weeks ago. I didn’t bother to identify the occasional beetle/bugs that I would see near my squash/gourd plants. Turns out, they are squash bugs and they basically destroy your cucurbit plants (like pumpkins, gourds, winter squash). I have neem oil spray, marigolds and nasturtium but it might be too late for this year’s plants. I’ll have to make a note of researching and using more companion plants to ward off some of the pesky insects. I’m going to try another round of plants in the hopes that I’ll have some winter gourds.

Taking care of the koi, the garden and the farm in general never ends. Good thing we love this life!