Day 1 of 2024 – bright, sunny, and a little on the cold side. I’m looking forward to a lot of new projects this year! The koi have been doing well in their unheated pond this winter. The water temperature stays around 52° F, dipping to 49° F on really cold evenings and rising to 54° F on warm days. They are eating less but remain active.

  This year we will be doing the wood trim for the pond and possibly starting on the pergola. There is a lot of landscaping to do which is complicated by the chickens digging everywhere. One of my black japanese pines has died so we’ll have to find a different tree for that spot. We also have a few things to finish on the equipment house.

  I purchased two koi this past fall. A female shiro utsuri to replace Natsumi and another female kohaku. They were both around 20 inches at purchase and should be in quarantine n the United States by now. I believe I will only be showing koi in the Atlanta Koi Show this year since I will be judging the South Carolina Koi Show. Taking my koi to the South Carolina show is the easiest in terms of driving distance and I love that everything is indoors.

  Since this is the last koi pond that the pond builder plans on building we have been trying to downsize parts and pieces. We finally had someone in Florida buy the profi drum so that’s out of our garage. Then we had a boatload of 3″ and 4″ fittings, valves, and stuff that was taking up space on our shelves. I advertised on Facebook as free to anyone who was willing to come pick it up on the farm. The nicest guy from Charlotte came and picked up the whole lot. I think he helps other koi keepers build /repair their ponds so I’m confident that most of the items might be used someday.

  Now we have more room for our other projects. I’m using the profi drum area for my seed germination station this winter. I am determined to start seedlings on time this year (meaning in January rather than late February). I still have more clean up to do on the shelves but we need space for our ten or so chainsaws and the surplus of axes that we’ve been accumulating.

  Winter gardening is going well but I really need to put a heater in the greenhouse for the evenings. It gets quite warm during the day but the temperatures at night fall as low as the surroundings. Not seeing that my indoor compost bins are putting out passive heat.

  We also have a new compost station next to the garden. The pond builder had built two large compost bins behind the barn and they really were not effective. A little bit of compost but we’re trying some new open barrels. The vegetable garden is just waiting for spring but I’m thinking about planting some of the winter crops. I have four raised beds on the south side of the house that are great for winter crops but the chickens have found them. I just purchased some fencing pieces to keep them out of those beds.

  The chickens are very cute but they are challenging around any vegetable garden beds and new landscaping.

  The pond builder spent the last day of 2023 taking down a tree. We had a leaner that partially fell in a storm and he needed to bring it down for safety. It was an 80-90 foot pine. He’ll be spending a lot of time in the woods the next two months cleaning up trees that fell over the last few months, cleaning up the forest floor and thinning out a bit.

  Which leads us to a surplus of wood to chop and split. The area behind our barn is often filled with logs waiting to be chopped. We’e now using the old compost bins to hold firewood. Not that we use any of the firewood in our home…

  So that is spurring a potential new project in 2024 – a little outdoor woodburning stove near my sunset chairs. I send little pictures like the one below to the pond builder and this one is on the ugly side but I’m sure he can make me something fun and attractive. It will take me decades to get through the firewood we are amassing. Not to mention the firewood piles the former owners left us.

  The gardens are waiting for spring and new trees. I have five apricot trees coming in this year and I might put two or three in the side garden.

  We are also going to put up a beehive. The pond builder purchased a flow hive for me. We’re still putting it together and it will need to be painted. The flow hive allows you to extract raw honey straight from the hive. Beekeeping should generate a few amusing stories. Hopefully not too many stings.

  While I would love to be starting out 2024 doing farm work – I am starting a cross country trip to Los Angeles with my daughter. Happy New Year 2024!