Obviously there is more 'free' time, or down time in the Winter months around here,... a little more,... which gives me an opportunity to look closely and absorb the previous years' work. Most of the Koi are up out of the mud now and in clean filtered water, and I spend hours looking at the details,... body lines, skin, color development, results of oyagoi pairings, results of mud pond tweakings, food, etc.
Here is a group of 12 sibling Kohakus, all female, all 30 months old,... born here in May of 2007. These 12 Kohakus are among the cream of the crop,... whittled down over 30 months from approximately 100,000 fry. Though some excellent siblings have already been sold, and some excellent siblings were surely taken by predators over the past 30 months,... and the group of the very best male siblings aren't included in this 'Class photo',... this single view is the culmination of 2 and 1/2 year work,... condensed. So much of the aura of 'Koi' is the very long journey,... with no destination in sight,... just views that please us along the way!
I'm looking forward to seeing this class again next year.
