Our  October Meeting...

Our meeting was Sunday, October 15th on the premises of Clark Properties in Port Orange.  The Clarks have restored a 1930's era riverfront home that has extensive garden ponds with a connecting water trail. A small "Snow White" cottage similar to the one at the Gamble Estate is in the garden area. The property is home to the Chapel in the Gardens and the Tavern in the Gardens. Everyone enjoyed the garden and ponds. See Photos

It is time to elect officers for the coming term beginning in January 2007.  If you would like to be a club officer or have a nomination, please contact Joe (see contact info below).

Our newly appointed club reps to the planning committee for the Central Florida Koi Show are Randy Hess and Michael Wheeler.  A special thanks to Diane Talley and Jack Dunlop for serving as reps during the past two years.

Saturday October 14th, the First Coast Koi, Goldfish, and Water Garden Club  had their koi show at Jarmon's on Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville. Joe and Henry Culpepper of the Orlando club were the judges. The Grand Champion and runner-up Reserve Grand Champion went to koi entered by David and Karen Hardcastle from Starke. See Photos

Thanks to Kit and Ben Knott for hosting our September meeting.
Meeting Photos Here
Photos by Sherri White

Meetings and events coverage moved from Home Page

September 2005

   Randy Hess Receives AKCA Koi Person of the Year Award

October 2005
Orlando Area Koi and Pond Club Young Koi Show
Check out the show, a beautiful location and great Koi. See photos and links at the Pondhopper's website.

September 2005
DeLand Middle School Aqua Cultural Program
Our September meeting at DeLand Middle School was very interesting and informative.  Our hats are off to Instructor Gene Dulac for the aqua cultural educational program he has developed for DeLand students.  Gene gave an overview of the program and the various species of aquatic farm raised fish and shellfish produced.  The program includes a research component for sturgeon that is a one of a kind project.  These pre-historic looking fish are grown out in 10ft diameter tanks and data is collected by students pertaining to water quality, food supplied, growth and reproduction.  A special "thank you" to Susanna and John Trittschuh for bringing drinks and helping to arrange our visit to the school farm.    More photos!  Visit the farm website

November 2005
November Meeting
Thanks to Jack and Kathy Dunlop for hosting our November meeting and a specail "thank you" to Jay Thurott who presented an excellent talk on use of bromeliads for our pondscapes.
November Meeting Photos!

December 2005
December Meeting at the Art League

Our speaker this month was Rafael Torres, well known local freelance photographer and instructor.  Mr. Torres teaches classes in digital photography at the Art League. He shared information with the group about digital photography beginning with some basic information related to the use of light and arranging screens to take advantage of the light spectrum to bring out the features of flowers and other subjects that one might wish to photograph. Mr. Torres answered our questions and inspired many of us to try some new approaches to our digital photography. 

Several of our members from time-to-time have submitted photos for publication either on the web site or in the newsletter.  Members are encouraged to submit photos of their gardens and fish. We are looking for some roving reporters!

To learn more about instruction offered by Rafael Torres, visit his adventuresome website at:http://www.suburban-explorer.com/

The Art League Garden Pond

January 2006
January Meeting wit OKPC; Outstanding and great turnout by our Florida East Coast members!
Visit OKPC Website
The meeting was at the home of Mike McMahon.  Mike's new koi pond employed a special new construction method using concrete covered with a tough spray-on poly urea shell. Carl Forss of Keirin Koi from Allentown PA built the pond. He has returned to the area to do work on two other Orlando area ponds and spoke about koi pond construction.  Actually, Carl gave two talks, another one about how the koi are prepared in Japan for shipment to the USA.

Mike's pond was featured at the KoiBito board. See photos at the thread "Polyurea Spray Liner Pond."  Registration at th KoiBito board is free http://www.koi-bito.com/forum/.
 

Our January 22nd Meeting in Orlando was well attended.

Our January meeting was a joint gathering of the Orlando Area Koi and Pond Club and the Florida East Coast club.  Our club had 19 members in attendance to visit Mike and Susan McMahon's home and pond.  In addition to the koi pond, the yard featured Camellias in full bloom, and a greenhouse with orchids and numerous varieties of bromeliads.  Carl Forss was our speaker talking about modern pond construction methods and equipment, and after refreshments, another interesting talk on how fish now are prepared for shipment from Japan.  Please note, our February meeting will be on the 12th at the Volusia County Courthouse. 

More Photos

February 2006
Gainesville Koi Show at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.Results and Show Photos
Hear Don Hellard and Joe White's show interviews on Koi Club of the Air
 

February Meeting

For all who attended the meeting Sunday it was a special treat to see the newly renovated historic Volusia County Court House building and to hear the talk given by Tim Augustine.  Following the presentation of the pond, the group enjoyed a tour of the building beginning with the pond's custom designed filter system in the basement immediately below the pond.  We especially enjoyed seeing the art work depicting historic Florida scenes (did you know Ma Barker was hiding out near here in a cabin on the shores of Lake Weir?) and Tim's guided tour through one of the original court rooms. Congratulations to Tim and others for their effort to restore and maintan the pond in its original condition. Take the tour...Photos
See Ma Barker and other paintings by Jackson Walker   Go

March 2006
Central Florida Koi Show March 10-12 On I-Drive Orlando
Our club is one of five sponsoring clubs for this major show held each year in Orlando.  Volunteers are needed to help with setup on Thursday before the show and for the breakdown on Sunday afternoon.  This is a great koi event for our area.  The show includes a vendor area and ongoing seminars.  For all the information visit: www.cfks.org Contact Joe White to find out more about how you can help or if you would like information about showing your koi!
 

May Meeting: A Relaxing Afternoon Around the Koi Pond
Our June meeting at the Joe and Sherri's residence was well attended.  Thanks to the everyone who brought plants to give away and for all the yummy side dishes for our potluck meal. Photos and other information in the June newsletter.  Download the newsletter!

It Was a Beautiful Day For a Pond Tour!
Merritt Island Ace Hardware sponsored the pond tour. Michael and Angie Wheeler of north Cocoa (mainland) hosted our group by welcoming us to their pond between 9 and 9:30AM Saturday morning.  We left the Wheeler's place to caravan over to Merritt Island to sign in for the pond tour and receive our directions. The pond tour is our "meeting" for June.

Interesting article on Perfect Water.  J.R. Jones discusses some uses of inexpensive, easily found chemicals for the pond. See "Articles" page Go.  More at his interesting website:
More New Club Websites
Orlando and South Florida clubs have new websites.  Visit www.orlandokoi.org and www.tropicalkoiclub.org.

Barrels, Barrels, Barrels
Where to buy plastic 55 gallon drums?
From time to time people have asked where to buy those blue 55 gallon barrels.  Several places carry them including the feed store on east New York Avenue in DeLand, the used and recycled items place on Flomich Avenue in Holly Hill, and in New Smyrna off of SR 44.  The New Smyrna number to call is 386-423-0746.  Use caution when buying and using used plastic drums. 

Try to find out what was in them and be sure to wash and rinse the barrels before using them for filters or plant containers.  Several of our members have used these  barrels to make pond filters. Incidentally, the optimal water flow rate through a 55 gallon barrel filter is 750 gallons per hour.  One barrel can house enough bio media to handle a small pond but additional barrels usually arranged in a parallel configuration are needed for larger ponds.

Announcement

Many of our club members will remember Penny and Robert Rogers, former FLECKA club members in Deltona. The Rogers hosted several meetings for the club at their home and Robert worked to help set-up for the koi show in Orlando several years. I had just spoken to Bob a few weeks ago about equipment he wanted to give away from his pond as he indicated he was closing the pond when shortly afterwards word was received that his son was killed in action in Iraq.

According to an article in the Saturday Daytona Beach New Journal,  the funeral  for Pfc. Nicholas Rogers will be Thursday November 2nd at 10AM at the Deltona Alliance Church at 921 Deltona Blvd. 

A trust fund has been set up through Wachovia Bank for his widow, Kelly, and their daughter, Jocelyn (age 3).  Checks can be made to the Rogers Family Benefit Account at any West Volusia Wachovia bank. 

Checks may be sent to:
Attn: Jeannine Rape, Financial Center Manager
Wachovia Bank
1130 Deltona Blvd.
Deltona, FL 32725

Koi Shows
Below left, at the Naples show Joe attempts to recruit the Red Hat ladies into the koi hobby.  Joe and Sherri's Shiro Utsuri won Reserve Grand Champion (right).

See more Naples photos (OAKPC) Go

November essentially is the end of the koi show season until February.  The next show in Florida will be in at the Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach in February.  This is a nice outing but lengthy drive for us down to south Florida.  The February show is sponsored by the Tropical Koi Club. Read more ....

 Chuck Shifflett elected as our AKCA Koi Person of the Year 2006

This award is given to a member who has rendered distinguished service to fellow hobbyists and has contributed to advancement of our hobby of pond keeping. 

Our April Meeting
Our April meeting at the Trittschuhs was enjoyed by all.  Thanks to Susanna and John for their hospitality. Now that John is retired, those present can attest that he can always start a second career as a chef.  The BBQ was really tasty and all the other favorite dishes brought to the table.  Sherri White, club president, led the meeting giving us a run down of plans for the club for the remainder of the year.  Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and kind offers to open your backyards for our future pondside get togethers.  Herb Mulack and Diane Kardisco became the proud new owners of the koi from the Trittschuhs' pond. Thanks to John and Susanna for donating the fish with proceeds to the club, and thanks to Joe and Chuck for catching the koi and koi handling demonstration. More to follow in the May newsletter. More meeting photos here