One of the nicest features of Soul Farm is the ponds. Not only are they pretty, but going to sleep to the sounds of bullfrogs at night is one of my favorite things, ever.

Here we see Grandma and the girls. The girls are in “Lil’ Ben”, the boat my dad named after my son Ben. Lil’ Ben leaks a bit, but stays afloat just fine. 

You can see there is a little algae around the perimeter of the ponds. Ponds may be pretty, but they do require work to keep them looking pristine. Spring is the hardest, as everything grows so fast.

Our ponds are naturally spring fed, and also accept water from the fields, namely the pasture. Over time, ponds need to be re-dug deeper again. A nice deep pond is a cleaner pond. 

An empty pond is irresistable to children who love mud. My girls loved mud.

Sylvia and Eva clearly are not afraid of a little dirt! As I was snapping this picture, I said to the girls, “I think I’m going to have to throw those clothes away.” Eva cries out, “Oh! But I LOVE this shirt!” Go figure.

Now, I know after that last photo, you spa-loving yogis are thinking, “Ooooo! Mud wraps!” But, there are other fun things to do with the ponds. Like fish! Look at this whopper!

We do stock the ponds, but rarely pull anything out permanently. There is a story about Ol’ Mossback. My dad used to tell my son Ben about a big, old fish called Old Mossback that lived in the pond. Well, one day Ben was fishing and he pulled out a grass carp as long as my leg. Well, as long as my leg up to the knee. It was big. We did release that old guy, but the legend of Old Mossback was proven to be one of the few stories my dad told that was actually true. I’m sure he was as surprised as the rest of us.

Just when you think the ponds can’t look any better, there is one, last thing that we occasionally do. Not very often, but sometimes conditions are just right for a nice little swim. At a birthday party I hosted for myself and some gal friends a few years ago (no, I’m not going to tell you which birthday!) the ponds looked so good that a bunch of women jumped in and went skinny-dipping! This caused the fish no end of stress, and a couple of the women said they felt the fish nipping. That ended the revelry, but the water felt delicious. Anyway, here is Sylvia giving some serious thought to jumping in one hot, summer day.

I think she’s gonna do it!!

Look at the height! That form!!

What a clean entry! It’s a perfect 10!!!!