Quiet time

I am not really sure what to say. I know it has been a while since I posted. Everything happened so fast. My mother passed away March 2nd, we laid her to rest on March 5th.....those are the dates I know.

She was my greatest cheerleader and believed in me very much. This month has been very busy taking care of things I didn't know needed to be taken care of. I have found solice in the nursery, though it seems I have been out there very numbly....going through the motions. But despite it all I am hoping the nursery will be open the Saturday following Easter.

Numbly I have planted what I can. Other plants are ordered and I will be picking them up Friday we will quickly have them planted and ready for you. I hope that I can get everything cleaned to my expectations in the next few weeks if not please understand.

A Personal Note

I stand upon my desk to remind myself
that we must constantly look at things
in a different way

--John Keating, Dead Poets Society

Many of you, my beloved customers and friends often ask about my mother, and I thank you for that, she and I have always had a very strong relationship. Tuesday morning I received a call telling me that the doctors have concurred it is time time to start hospice. Obviously my mind is reeling in many directions.

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1999 just two years after I opened the nursery to the public. I kept her here at the place for 6 years, and many of you were blessed with meeting her. She now resides in Lydia's House, the Alzheimer's unit at the Mennonite Village. She has received wonderful care, and we will continue to try our best to make the remainder of her life as comfortable as possible.

My hope is to run the nursery as usual, we have began planting and preparing for the upcoming season, but please be understanding if there are unforeseen delays, lat openings, or short closures this year. If this should happen I apologize in advance.

I am currently hoping to open the weekend following Easter.

Thank You for your support.

Love and Light to All,

James

This weekend was a blessing, bright sunshine and warmer weather, not only helps the plants to grow, but brightens my spirits.

I got lots of quality time at the nursery, separating plants and planting them. I managed to get three more ponds cleaned, and things are beginning to look a little more inviting out there after a dark winter.

The plants emerging from their winter dormancy of course is dependent on the temperatures, and many of them are still lying dormant as our nights are still rather cool keeping the water temperature of the ponds low.

I cleaned the bog pond on the large display pond to ready it to receive plants. I started the water flow to it and started the skimmer back up for the spring. I noticed I had string algae forming in the creek so I turned the system off and applied Green Clean, I want to stay ahead of the game on that and hopefully have it taken care of before the warmer weather arrives.

A little mowing time was a must as the grass was looking quite ragged. I didn't manage to get everything mowed, as the nursery was my first focus for the weekend. But all in all things are beginning to look a lot better.

As the days grow longer and the weather warms I find it harder and harder to sit myself down to write on the blog, but I will do the best I can to keep you informed of the progress.

Loving this Spring!

As the weather begins to warm the plants are beginning to spring to life. I got some things trimmed back today, and have began cleaning ponds to prepare them for the newly planted plants. I managed to plant three types of plants today. Got Moss Killer down on the yard and in general had a good day.....being outside with sun always has that affect on me.

Yesterday someone came by wanting fish food......once again I will tell you IT IS TO EARLY, feeding cold water fish or any fish when the temperature of the water is below 50-60 degrees is not good, and even harmful to them. As the sun hits the water they will begin to come to the top where the water is warmer, but they are still not active enough to be eating. Remember last summer when they swam and played. Until the water warms up feeding them is actually harmful to them. Their Digestive system is still dormant.

But back to your pond, now is a great time to clean it, early spring when the temps are still cool allows nutrients to be used up before the summer heat arrives bringing Algae. Also with the water temperatures cooler there is less chance of causing shock to you fish.

GEARING UP FOR A GREAT YEAR.

This weekend has been all about getting ready for a great year. I spent yesterday gathering supplies, items such as soil and gravel for planting, and getting them put into the shop. Today I prepped a couple hundred planters. This may seem early to many, but when you stop to think about the number of plants we carry, and getting them all planted and ready to go it really isn't.

I also got the filters cleaned in the large display pond and cleaned out the pumps. The fish seem to be enjoying the increased flow of water, as I didn't clean the pump last week. It would be nice to have the door open on the house so I could hear the water flowing.

I took a few minutes to take a look at the Sarasas and Shubunkins that were spawned here last year and am pleased with their progress. I also noted that the water lilies are putting up their first feeder leaves.

While most of other plants are lying dormant waiting for the water in the ponds to warm up a walk through the yard showed new growth on many plants. Daffodils are breaking the ground and both the irises and day lilies are shooting up quickly. Sprouts on the Gloriosa Daisies surprised me. Many of the ground covers have also began to grow. I received a very nice moss last year, that is almost fern like, I was worried it wouldn't take as I got it in November, but it is doing nicely. I guess I shouldn't have worried about it so much as I also noticed a beautiful crop of moss coming up in the yard.

Thanks!

I received a letter this past week from Google. I was a little surprised to say the least--they know What Finch Family Water Garden is? Yep, they do, it was a congratulations letter for being a favorite place on Google. It went on to tell me the number of times google users found my business and also how many times they requested additional information between July 1st and September 30th of 2009 (Seeing the statistics stacked up was shocking as I can only see the last month at any given time).

I have to Chuckle some, as I watch the statistics and what people are searching for when they find me daily, and I know this quarters statistics will blow the ones that got Finch Family Water Garden noticed by Google out of the water even now that the nursery is closed for the season.

Thanks to Google for acknowledging it, but Thank You for searching for Finch Family Water Garden. You are the ones that have made Finch Family Water Garden a favorite place on Google and your favorite place to go for all of your pond needs.

December 2009

After several days of lows hitting 11 degrees the pond is masked by a heavy layer of ice. I tried to check the thickness of the ice yesterday, but couldn't get a good reading. Since the water remained flowing through it the edges of the ice where the water was moving are tappered. The best I could get was about three inches, but I have a feeling in the center it is much thicker. In the preformed ponds in front of the house where there was no water flowing I can see that the ice goes all the way to the shelf, 6 to 8 inches deep.

The water in the main pond continued to flow quite nicely durning this cold snap. The waterfall gathered some ice on the sides, but kept the upper pond open where it went in, and also where it flows out into the stream.


I did worry some about the stream getting clogged with ice and running over, but the water continued to flow under the sheet of ice. That movement kept the lower pond open where the water entered it.



The fish hudled at one end of the pond and seemed to be suspended as their metabolism has slowed. I easily managed to count 26 fish in this one spot at the foot of the pond.