Not from his day job, just koi pond building. This past weekend our koi finally moved to their new outdoor pond. It’s been about a two year process getting this pond built. While there are a number of tasks left to do, it’s a relief to have a real pond again. The new pond is…
Japan 2023 – Gardening Lessons
We visited the three great gardens of Japan this June: Kenroku-en (Kanazawa), Kairaku-en (Mito), and Koraku-en (Okayama). My takeaways are: (1) My farm does not have the same climate and we really could use a running stream somewhere in the middle of the farm. (2) My dream garden would require a full time gardening team…
Japan 2023 – Visiting Konishi Koi
A trip to Japan doesn’t seem complete without a specific koi-related activity. When we were planning our cancelled trip in 2020, we were doing a full koi day in the Hiroshima area. Fast forward to 2023 and our trip was slightly shorter and I made no plans to see koi except in castle moats and…
Judging an International Koi Show
If only every show was like Euregio 2023! I had a wonderful time in the Netherlands this past weekend as a member of the judging team. The judging team included US judges Larry Gill, Michelle Gravenish, Ray and Teri Alexander…Dutch judges Ruud Besmes, Richard and Anja Albertsboer…British judges Kieron Burns and Gary Hillier…and Indonesian judge…
Still not done
We had a goal to move the koi into the pond by May 15th. That would be about two years after we started cutting down the first privets in this area. Unfortunately life interferes and we do have real day jobs. When I pout, the pond builder pointed out that our jobs fund the pond….
Staying busy with koi, pond and the farm
I feel this spring we are racing around, busier than ever. My “to-do” list keeps increasing. I’m taking advantage of a long plane flight to catch up. Japanese Black Pines and Japanese Maples. Japanese black pine, matsu, symbolizes endurance and eternity in Japan. These pines are featured in kabuki and noh theater as background scenery…
Black is my new favorite color
My painting shirt has a lot of flat black exterior paint spots now. We have made a lot of progress on the pond equipment house. I have been painting rafters, battens and trim on the water pump house. Our idea is to make these little structure look a little on the boring side so that…
Two steps forward
A lot of progress has been made on the equipment house for the pond. I was really hoping to post a photo with a completed roof but we had some very rainy weather that our contractor wanted to avoid. If he had not decided to skip one of the sunny days earlier in the week,…
More spring projects
The fun never seems to stop on the farm. More progress towards the pond with the delivery of the second profi-drum. We will have two profi-drums and two bakki showers in our equipment house for pond filtration. There is a fair amount of room so we will not be crowded and can add a bead…
We are making progress!
A few days ago we had our last frosty evening, kind of like winter’s last hurrah. With temperatures in the 70s and 80s, the whole farm has really turned quite green, plenty of pollen and so many things starting to bloom. We had a busy weekend on the farm getting the vegetable garden ready for…
It’s feeling like Spring
I am so thankful that I no longer live in Little Siberia (Minnesota). Earlier this week, Minnesota was shutting down under the threat of 20 inches of snow. Meanwhile, on the farm, the chickens were enjoying 70° weather…and the pond builder and I were almost uncomfortably warm in Fort Worth, Texas. Punxsutawney Phil may have…
I won some koi food …
which is really a nice thing since the koi food I purchase is about $8.00 per pound. Last month I was texting a koi dealer, Taro Kodama to thank him for letting us use a reference chart on the Kodama Koi Farm website. A few days later he texted me that he had found a…
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