- Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
You can't be a farmer without faith, faith that all the money you pour into the ground in the spring will produce a crop in the fall. Faith spills over into other parts of our lives including restocking our farm ponds after two bad winters of fish kill due to low water.
Bruce's father, Leo, built up the 14 acre wildlife area we all lovingly refer to as 'Leo' Pond', beginning with digging a pond in the pasture with a Caswell loader in the 1940's and went from there. Today there are 5 ponds, one for each child I heard, and thousands of trees and bushes that provide food and cover for the wildlife. He moved in a couple of sheds and made them into cabins, built a firepit for cookouts and a boathouse and cement dock. Other than being at the MN cabin fishing, Leo's Pond was his favorite place to be.
As a side note, Leo's Pond' is on Google Maps, Leo's brother, Roscoe, worked in Washington, making US maps and put it on, it will be there for all eternity.
Bruce's father, Leo, built up the 14 acre wildlife area we all lovingly refer to as 'Leo' Pond', beginning with digging a pond in the pasture with a Caswell loader in the 1940's and went from there. Today there are 5 ponds, one for each child I heard, and thousands of trees and bushes that provide food and cover for the wildlife. He moved in a couple of sheds and made them into cabins, built a firepit for cookouts and a boathouse and cement dock. Other than being at the MN cabin fishing, Leo's Pond was his favorite place to be.
As a side note, Leo's Pond' is on Google Maps, Leo's brother, Roscoe, worked in Washington, making US maps and put it on, it will be there for all eternity.
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| Leo fishing |
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| Leo and brother, Howard, in the blackberry patch. A story about the patch, we were having a family picnic at the pond and went to pick blackberries. We were all eating probably as many as we put in a bucket, sister, Rosanne and husband, Peter, as well. When we took the collected berries back to the house and dumped them in a sink of water, 'picnic bugs' started crawling out! That ended Peter's love affair with blackberries. With the drought's we have been in, the water in all the ponds were sadly low and froze completely over in the winter, with little oxygen the big fish died. Bruce did not restock last year since they never recovered but with the rains we are receiving, he made the call to Beemer Fisheries at Bedford, IA and ordered white amur carp, they are sterile and keep the green moss down, hybrid bass and bluegills. There were delivered to our door the next morning by Speedy Delivery. |
The white carp, lively little devils....
....and ready to get in the water.
This guy stopped by to see what we were doing, one day I saw a dragonfly flying, carrying a butterfly, awwwwww.
Beautiful little baby bass....
...they, too, were ready to do the high dive into the pond.
Lastly, a bag of 200 hybrid bluegills...
....split between the ponds, they will grow fast and make for fun fishing for the kids.
We have high hopes that the timely rains will continue and keep the ponds full for the fish, as Bruce said, "I can't NOT restock, Leo would be happy."
I'm sure he was smiling down from heaven, watching his son carry on his dream.
Oh, Julie, Dad WOULD be so happy! I loved seeing the pictures of him..glad the rains came to restock the ponds, hopefully they'll kind of hold back a little now and there won't be any or anymore flooding. Who knew there could be sterile carp?? (Who has THAT job???)
ReplyDeleteJulie, love the first picture of your father in law. It reminds me of my dad. Hope it works out for your pond.
ReplyDeleteLeo is such a presence over at the pond, we always think of him there.
ReplyDelete