The pond builder has always liked the Konishi Karashigoi ever since he watched a Youtube video in 2015 or 2016 about this variety. The koi in the video were 40+ inches long. He would often comment “I just want to grow a little porpoise in the koi pond.” In the summer of 2016, we purchased two 17″ male Konishi karashigoi through Kevin Pham, Genki Koi. Augustus and Woodrow stayed with us about two years and then we decided they should be re-homed because they were males. I don’t recall that they grew exceptionally large while they lived with us.

Eight years later, I am thinking that I still want a yellow colored koi in my pond. I had purchased a lemon hariwake tosai earlier this year which met an unfortunate fate minutes before moving to the big pond. I decided that purchasing a large koi was the way to go. I asked Taro Kodama, Kodama Koi Farm if he happened to have any female karashi from Konishi. Well he found one and JoJo arrived in Charlotte Friday afternoon. JoJo was born in 2022 and is currently 21″ long. I hope she will be a good eater. The karashigoi is a rather plain looking koi but with size, clean coloring, and a good temperament, it could become the pond favorite.

I did have a mystery koi death earlier this week. When I lose koi, it’s always because they have been sick for a while and the signs of illness are pretty clear. This was a total surprise. It was starting to rain at the end of one day and as I walked past the pond I saw a koi belly up. Sadly it was my 33″ inch kujaku, Bourbon. She was only 7 years old and generally the best eater in the pond. I am not sure if the pond roof construction noise was stressful for her. We did wonder if she could have eaten any wood or nails and we did a quick autopsy. No sign of foreign objects but a lot of fat on her.

Hopefully none of the other koi are affected with pond roof construction. Most of the work has been completed and we’re on the home stretch with contractor work. This week the roof was finally shingled and concrete projects were poured.

We will be sourcing some dark 3/8 crushed gravel that will go between the edge of the concrete skirt and the side wood panels of the pond. The shou sugi ban project is a little behind schedule. The contractor has to move one of the columns, install corbels, and reshingle the water pump house to match. Long term we have a lot of painting to do as well.

We have a new little amoeba shaped sitting spot. Some people might think we just didn’t want to weed this area so often. Maybe. I would like to have some sort of stove or fire pit in this area. This concrete pad will need to be stained and sealed.

And we went ahead and poured a little concrete in the interior of the barn where the pond builder parks his tractor. It would be nice to finish more of the barn interior with concrete. New interior lighting is also on the to-do list.

This week we have a stay-vacation with our grandchildren on the farm. While they are only 7 and 6 years old, I think we will have some extra hands with all the projects around the farm. Maybe we’ll make a dent in our endless list of projects.