Keeping Koi in Little Siberia | January 2020

I haven’t posted for some time now. The holidays and work have been keeping me busy. Plus the koi have been low maintenance and boring.Here’s a quick look at what’s been going on in Little Siberia… Yes, we booked our trip to Japan in early spring 2020. We will be visiting family and the three…

Budo Goromo #1 is here

A little over a month ago I was noticing the advertisements for Koi Fest 2018 at Mystic Koi, Upland, California. It always looks like a lot of fun with free lunch, music, koi breeders from Japan and of course lots of great koi to buy. (Even better is that there are deals to be had!!!)…

It’s finally hot in Minnesota

Busy three day weekend. It was fun to see all the koi kichi photos from the Louisville Koi Show and while it would have been nice to be there – I got a lot of gardening done. Almost all of the dahlias have sprouted and some plants in the yard seem to grow two inches…

Spring 2018 has finally arrived

Twenty days ago we had a lot of snow on the ground and the pond builder was lamenting the thick layer of ice on the upper pond. Since then, the temperatures have gone up and spring has arrived in Minnesota. Along with the warmer temperatures, my pair of showas came in from GenkiKoi this week….

Tosai Thursday and the Impatient Pond Builder

Spring is here according to the calendar but it’s been delayed a few weeks in Little Siberia (Minnesota). Today we actually got some koi and pond work done. Kevin Pham shipped some tosai to me and they all arrived in great shape. I still have two Kase showas swimming around in San Jose and they’ll…

Koi keeping and gardening is still on hold (sad face)

While much of the world is enjoying the start of spring, we are still indoors this weekend. A little snow fell last night and temperatures are only in the 30s. My cousin sent me a photo yesterday taken in the Mihara area of Japan (east side of Hiroshima). The cherry blossoms have started blooming a…

Checking on the Koi

Since I last posted, I have traveled to Virginia, watched the Vikings miss out on the Super Bowl, heard a lot of celebs were in the area for Super Bowl (I did not see any), had a few inches of snow, a few days of a spring temperature tease, had a few days of really…

Learning to love the kohaku

All my koi keeping friends love the kohaku. I must be a slow starter since I really avoided buying or liking kohakus until the last year or so. Truthfully, it’s very difficult to learn all the nuances of kohaku appreciation. There’s so much to learn about this variety and it’s difficult to find all the…

Showa koi and an indoor bakki shower

In 2013 I described koi as red and white, red/black/white, black/white, yellow, copper, tea colored or sparkly. No real clue about varieties, what to buy, where to buy – just interested in some pretty colors swimming around the water feature. Have things changed in the last four years! I have been on a crash course…

Birthday fishes are always better than birthday stitches

Last year, the pond builder took me to beautiful Lake Louise for my birthday and I ended up with 26 stitches due to a horse riding accident. This year the pond builder gave me some beautiful koi – fishes are better than stitches. The beautiful koi from Mystic Koi, Upland, California flew in today via…

The pond builder is too tired to watch fireworks

The pond builder is exhausted. This weekend he toiled under the hot sun around the lower pond. I can hear the local fireworks outside, but the pond builder is falling asleep. You might be wondering why we’re working outside all the time but it really is our hobby. We enjoy puttering around the yard and…