We have been crazy busy lately. Yesterday we had an appt for TWS in big town. However, also yesterday was when Arkansas Pondstockers was supposed to come through our farmers co-op with fish that we could buy. You remember how we fished out those delicious mudcats from the pond? That was to prepare the pond for channel catfish. Additionally, our two back ponds are grassy, mucky, and reedy and we wanted more grass carp.
We ended up getting the schedule of the company and were to meet them in a different county. We quickly took care of TWS's appointment, ran to Lowe's, then tried to find this place where we were to meet the pondstockers. After some consternation with the GPS (who did not show the road we needed), we finally found it.
May I pause for a moment and encourage you to see if you have a farmer's co-op in your area? They are fantastically neat and filled with great information. They are all different, so you might find that one is more like a mini store, and another is more of a large-scale farming place.
Anyway, we walked into the building, right into a conference room, and saw an older couple also waiting for the pond stockers. Oh my goodness what a delight they were! Of course we got their life story (people around here delight in telling you their life stories...and are eager to hear yours in return :) ). They were retired farmers, charming, and both talked a mile a minute--at the same time.
We ended up waiting for an hour--the truck was very late! I asked the co-op if they had any information on crawfish farming in the area. You know I would like to start raising a few for personal use and perhaps for "crawfish and egg money". This is not Louisiana, and the people who worked there were fascinated, but could only print out a sheet they found on the internet. No matter, just means I am ground breaking, right? ;)
After the folk at the co-op offered us water and cupcakes, and after we chatted at length with the other couple, eventually a large, squat truck with "live fish" painted in blue on the sides showed up. The driver was alone, tired, had a very dry wit (which caught me by surprise), but was very helpful. As he started to load up fish, put water in tanks, etc, some minnows escaped with the water. It was running in our direction, and I told him that if he had a net, I could catch them for him. He said that if I caught any, I could keep them. All six of us (two other gentlemen had arrived, looking very dapper in their business clothes) sort of looked at each other for a few minutes. Mind you, I like to dress for town, and I was in a long black skirt, nice black top, and had a gorgeous pashmina scarf on, and I was not so much sure I wanted to be scrabbling in the parking lot for minnows. However, the look on the other lady's face, a sort of pleading "what should we do?" expression made me decide that someone was going to have to get the ball rolling :). So I bent down and started scooping up fish! I handed TWS my scarf (I did not want it to get fish-watery). As soon as I bent down, the other lady jumped right in. I was holding minnows in my hand, until one of the nicely dressed gentlemen handed me an empty water bottle. The lady produced her own water bottle and we spent a few minutes chuckling over us trying to rescue these poor, half dead minnows :). It was at this point that I started wondering about dignity vs doing things. Allow me to digress...
I believe in dignity. I think that composure and care presents well. However, there are times where practicality or gumption needs its turn too. Now, there are times that the choice between dignity and doing things is not a difficult one--for example, it is never EVER wise to get smashed at an office party, even if your boss is the one pouring shots. However, is it undignified to try to catch minnows while the hem of your skirt gets wet in the rivulets of a parking lot? Hmmm.... that is a toughy ;)
Anyway, then it was our turn to get our fish. We ordered 100 channel cats and 6 grass carp. He put half the cats in each of two bags, did the same with the grass carp (which are pretty durn big fish, by the way), and we were on the clock! One hour to get all the fish home, tempered with pond water, then fully in the pond. Here is how it went....
The grass carp in a bag in the cooler. He blew oxygen into the bag to help keep the fish alive.
TWS undoing the bag. The channel cats went into the front pond. Three grass carp went to the upper pond and three to the back pond.
Tempering the fish. I scooped pond water and poured it into the bag with the fish in it so they will not be as shocked as they would just being dumped in a pond. We waited for a few minutes as the fish acclimated.
Then we opened the bag and let them swim out...
Releasing the fish...
Can you see the blond catfish? We had a few :) I am sure they will be the first to be predated upon, but they were neat to see.
So now we have to let these grow and see how they taste!
So now we have to let these grow and see how they taste!
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