good food | Life and Day to Day things by a Pond Lover

Koi Person of the Year for 2017 – Alejandro Villa

The Austin Pond Society held its September Meeting at the Zilker Park Meeting Room on the 18th of the month attended by almost forty of its members. There were several new faces in the group and a couple that we hadn’t seen in awhile. Always glad to see new and returning members.

They were treated to a meal of chicken, potatoes and gravy, rolls, salad and desserts, lots of desserts most of which was consumed by the hungry members, me included. Thank you Stephen. Following the meal, Jeannie Ferrier, the President, awarded the Koi Person of the Year Award to Alejandro Villa . It was originally voted on way back in the summer but Alex had missed a few meetings and this was the first opportunity to present the award.

Below is a video of the presentation.

Koi Person of the Year 2017 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Following this presentation, Barbara Lenhardt, our Programs and Special Events Rep introduced the speaker for the evening, Jeff Price of Price Landscaping. His subject matter was the plants in and around our ponds and how to improve the appearance of our yards. He generated a lot of interest and there was a lot of Speaker/Audience participation. His presentation was well received.

Below is a video of Jeff and his presentation.

Jeff Price of Price Landscaping 2017 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Jeannie then moved on to the Business Section of the meeting and discussed many things including the equipment for both the Mayfield and Zilker Park Projects which was delivered to her house yesterday, toys for Blue Santa who will be the Beneficiary at this year’s Thanksgiving/Christmas Party, AAGC and the survey that had been circulated and filled in by the members to name a few of the items.

As it is almost time to vote on the new 2018 Board. Julienne Smith, the current Secretary and head of the nomination committee took the floor and went down the list looking for nominations for the different Board positions. Even though she received nominations for most of the positions, many of which will be filled by returning officers, it was very noticeable that there were no nominations for the Pond Tour Chairman which, next to the President, is arguably the most important position each year. Without someone to lead this effort, there won’t be a Pond Tour and although the Tour is not called for in our by-laws, it is our main money raiser for our chosen charity. Without the Tour, we will not be making any donations or providing several hundred people a weekends worth of entertainment or at least twenty pond owners their opportunity to be famous for a day with a spot in the limelight. We will vote on the Board positions at next month’s meeting with final votes for any outstanding positions closing at the November meeting. The Nominating Committee is Julienne Smith as the Chair and BJ Jenkins and Philip Smith making up the Committee. If you are interested in any of the positions on the Board, you can contact Julie at secretary@austinpondsociety.org . For more information regarding the various positions use this link.

Following the Nominating Committee, Jeannie then moved on to discuss the survey that we all filled out regarding the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy (ZBGC) taking over Austin Area Garden Council (AAGC ). More can be read on this subject by Pam Penick. You will need to scroll halfway down the page to read about the interview between Cat Newlands, executive director of Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy and Pam Penick. The membership approved by a show of hands their approval of the agreement. This was the last of the business and the meeting closed following the drawing for the door prizes.

The Business Video of the meeting