The Austin Pond Society held their monthly meeting last evening at the Zilker Gardens Meeting room. It was attended by about 40 members who got to participate in a pot luck dinner. The beauty of pot luck is as the name says, you never know just what you will end up with. We were lucky and all of the different dishes, and there were a lot, were delicious. At least the ones that I tried were very good and I know that even though I tried to take a little piece of every dish, my plate filled up and I had to miss some. I guess I could have gone back for more but I try not to do that if at all possible. What I like about pot luck is that many people bring their favorite foods which have recipes handed down through generations and I get to try once in a lifetime food.

Following the delicious meal, the Speaker for the evening was Chris Smartt, owner of Sol’stice Gardens in Dripping Springs. He entitled his talk, Lemons and Lemonade and focused it around some of the ponds he has worked on either reclaiming ones that have deteriorated with time or because of owner error either in the construction or the complete lack of maintenance. He also talked about using difficult spaces and what can be done to either fill or brighten them up. Unfortunately, the memory card in my video camera was playing up and I lost some of the presentation. If, you have never been to Sol’stice Gardens you really need to make the 15 mile trip to Dripping Springs and view this wonderful place. There is so much to see especially in the art works that are on show there. For more pictures on their art and other items click this link.

Below is the only part of Chris’s presentation that I was able to capture.

APS Chris Smartt 8-17-2015 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Following Chris’s presentation, the group launched into a discussion on bogs and water filtration for the ponds. It was very interesting listening to the various questions and discussions and we hope that some of you have a better understanding of what a bog  or filtration system can do for your pond.

Below is the video of this discussion. I had to split it into 2 parts as it was too big to run through the Vimeo process.
Part 1

APS Business 8-17-2015 part1 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Part 2.

APS Business 8-17-2015 part2 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

The meeting closed out with a threat from Jeannie, our President, that unless someone steps up to fill the Hospitality position on the Board, next months meeting will be Pizza for dinner. The threat doesn’t carry much weight as personally, I like pizza as do many others but if anyone wants to volunteer for the Hospitality position, I can guarantee you will be the most loved and most popular member of the entire organization.

With the drawing for the door prizes the meeting closed out.

Next month’s speaker is Sara Earl from Blue Gold Systems. http://www.bluegoldaustin.com

Blue Gold Systems