A Chinese proverb states “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” That is not the end of the story. It turns out that every fish story is oh so personal.
My brother Joe’s fish story starts with “Teach a man to fish and you’ll get rid of him for the weekend.” Fortunately, he throws most of them back, so his story does not include “Give your wife a fish to clean and cook and you will be sleeping on the couch again.” His interest has progressed to “Teach my brother to fish and he’ll buy a summer home on a lake that we can all enjoy.” and “Teach my brother to fish and he’ll teach his grandkids.” I like that fish story.
Our fish saga includes the miraculous appearance of fish in our little pond. They literally ‘surfaced’ when Mike was cleaning the pond out at summer’s end and something brushed his hand. Something living. Something moving on its own. Something with fins and a tail. God put them there; perhaps as eggs on the feet of a bird or on pond plants from Dawn. It certainly wasn’t me or Mike. We weren’t planning on having a fish family. Plans change.
Problem is, our little pond wasn’t deep enough for the fish to overwinter. They spent winters inside, complete with our cat’s approval. Those fish lived 5 years, and we now have new ones. 
Our story progresses to “Give a gardener a fish and he’ll build a bigger pond.” Mike has wanted a bigger pond for years. When the addition was put on our house, he sculpted the resulting pile of dirt into a berm. That was 15 years ago, even before our fish arrived. I claimed the berm a few years later, ridding it of his weeds, eventually getting it to look pretty good (if I must say so myself, and I must.)
He has also been collecting rocks for years, an activity that I at first did not understand or endorse. My exact words, as he oft reminds me, were “What do you want those for?” The words were uttered on our way back from our honeymoon in Door County, whilst my feet were rested on the rocks in the front seat of our red convertible. I was learning that marriage is about compromise. Turns out rocks are a good thing. Who’d-a-figured?
I used the rocks anywhere and everywhere. Now we’ve started consolidating the ones I can bare to give up for the pond that is being built. Yes, finally. And yes, looking back a few paragraphs, I did say his pond plan has been 15 years in the making. Raising kids and paying bills took priority.
The pond plan is now moving into the take action stage, complete with a waterfall and stream on the berm. Mike from the Hickory Group sent Noe and his team out to dig the pond. Absolutely a top notch team. We weren’t even home when they came, yet they did in a day what would have taken my Mike weeks. Dare I say they even did it better. Yes, I dare – They did it better. There are nice straight walls and shelves. It is even deep enough for the fish to be looking forward to a permanent home. I am so impressed.
Mike will take it from here. He bought pond equipment at Aquascape’s sale last year, and has the underlayment and liner too.
I’ll let you know how the project goes. Come back and learn from our experience. Soon we’ll be qualified to give pond advice.
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