LOL! Come on, be ornery! Once I found the little froggie, I realized that your pic wasn't THAT blurry, FTM. It was my sense of size (things may appear larger than they are) that had me thinking the leaf-with-eyes was the mack daddy frog. :D It's great to hear they love crickets, since I moved some pots the other day, and found a multitude of them, large and small. The frogs have been singing their hearts out all over the yard, and I know they come up to where the crickets were, since that's where my watering can is. :D I love yummy tummies! Brenda

The pump was put in two weekends ago, and the waterfall has been sounding just so lovely. Before that I had the little skimmer pump moving the water around while we did water changes. All our fish survived, the only casualty of the winter was Bubba, the big frog. So now Wannabe is going to be called Bubba, and Waldo will be Wannabe, and any one of the smaller ones will be Waldo. They all look the same to me except for relative size... The goldfish are jumping out of the water, and our lone big koi is cruisin'. The had cheerios for a while in April, then spring/autumn food. Today the water temp was over 60, and I gave them summer food - mostly because I'm almost out of spring food... I have to order some. They sure didn't mind. The day the ice melted from the pond surface, was the day that the first lily leaf poked its head up. There are many lily leaves now and the pickerels and grassy marginals are all starting up. They all need repotting - but, no rush... We took the sediment filters apart last fall, they were working well but too large and unwieldy when wet. And the screws had rusted through. So we have to design a lighter weight version now. Meanwhile the double settling chamber is helping a lot even without the filters. Maybe we'll get that done this weekend. Weekends without ponding are hardly worth staying home for! :) Mary

It sounds like you have had your soil tested. Is this correct? If so, did your lab provide "base saturation" numbers? Base saturation is the amount of each nutrient in the soil within the context of "how much" your soil can hold. "How much" is determined by your soil's CEC. Because you have a soil with a high CEC, your calcium levels may be "good" but they may not be "good enough." If your lab provided base saturation numbers, your calcium should be roughly 68%. Magnesium--which goes hand-in-hand with calcium--should be about 12%. The relationship of these will affect your soil in two ways. First, calcium will "open up" a soil and promote better aeration and drainage. Magnesium will have the opposite effect--it will tighten the soil. Second, if the relationship between Ca and Mg is out of whack, it will affect the availability of these nutrients to the plant. The common wisdom suggests that if your pH is low you add lime (calcium) and if it's high you add sulfur. However, in addition to calcium, magnesium and potassium (and sodium) affect pH. In fact, magnesium affects pH 1.66 times more than calcium. So, in other words, it is entirely possible to have a high pH and still need more calcium. I suspect this is your situation. One indicator is that many grasses (including wheat) are good at foraging for calcium. If you're growing good pasture grass but other crops are faltering, it could be a sign that you have inadequate available calcium. Another indicator is your poor drainage which suggests a "tight" soil. If your soil (mud) builds up on the soles of your boots when you walk in it, this is a sure sign of high magnesium. If your lab did not run a "base saturation test" I would find a lab that does. I use Logan Labs in Ohio, but there are others that will provide the same service. Then, if you find you have low calcium and/or high magnesium, you'll need to address the problem. When, and if, you have to use lime, remember that dolomite lime contains magnesium as well as calcium. If you're Mg levels are high already, you'll want to use a lime that does not include magnesium--Ag lime or calcium sulfate. If you have your base saturation numbers already--or any other information from your soil test--I'd be happy to make more specific suggestions. As an alternative, if you don't have the info and/or don't want to re-run the test, ask around at neighboring farms or an nursery/garden center. They might know the predominating soil conditions in your area and be able to make an informed recommendation. If possible though, I'd start with the soil test. BTW, this test was developed (?) and promoted by the soil scientist, William Albrecht. If you Google "Soil Fertility and Animal Health" you can find much more information about the method. I've also included a link to Kinsey Agriculture which is one of today's leading practitioners of the "Albrecht Method." There's a handy FAQ that provides some interesting information along the same lines. In any event, it sounds like you have a great plot--the soil just needs to be balanced a bit. Once that's accomplished, I imagine you'll be able to grow great crops. Here is a link that might be useful: Kinsey Ag

As long as they use "breather plastic bags" designed for fish transport, I had excellent luck getting Tadpoles on line with 100% shipping survival via priority mail, 3x last spring and early summer. One order was lost for 2-3 days (5-6 day total shipping duration) and they still arrived happy. Plan on about $1 per Tadpole. Agree ... DO NOT buy or locally catch and move Bullfrogs!! I've had them before from a nearby lake and they do very well, but eat anything that they can get into their greedy mouth, including other frogs, fish, bats, snakes, small birds. Theyre born desperately hungry! Mine have grown from 2.5" to full 6 to 8" mature size in one summer! DNR will hate you, because they roam and often get out. They successfully track water can go a couple miles to find a new area to invade. If you like big and beautiful, look instead for Leopard Frogs. They are native to much of US but are getting rare due to loss of habitat and Bullfrog predation*. How can a Frog Person not like this green beauty? Semiaquatic frogs like Leopards and Bullfrogs will jump all over your yard at night (so must seal fence excape areas!) They quickly learn where the pond safety zone is and can take a series of rapid leaps across your yard or greenhouse and disappear under water. Mine can do this the moment I open a sllding door to go outside. If you are trying to introduce frogs from a wild gathered egg cluster(s) note that the clusters might be salamanders instead! Frog eggs within the cluster mass look like little rounded clear jelly spheres, especially visible when the cluster tears open. Whereas salamander egg clusters look like a jelly mass with no visible clear spheres inside, just the growing amphibians. When they tear open, no clear rounded spheres are evident. Both animal embryos within the eggs mass look rounded at first and then enlarge over time. Near to hatching time salamanders embryos elongate and show an arrowhead shaped head with little gills zones on the sides of their neck. It amazes me that a frog or slender little 5-6" salamader can lay a 3-4"+ diameter egg mass. The masses are not large when laid but swell afterwards. When ready to hatch, enzymes are released to largely dissolve the gel, almost in unison, releasing the babies to roam. * WARNING do not put small tadpoles or tiny frogs into ponds with Goldfish of any size. Unless there is a ton of water vegetation to hide in for instance along shallow pond margins, the fish can eat them about as fast as you eat popcorn (and at $1 per amphibian kernal). Even with cover the fish will hunt them constantly. Instead use a 5 gallon tub to the side or partially submerged, partially shaded from hot sun, and a wire cover to stop raccoon, bird or adult frog attacks. Hatched Tadpoles of any kind grow fast and very healhy when using a pond fish food. Suggest floating a few Goldfish or Koi food pellets, which they nibble on as these softens. A few 'Tads often gather around each floating pellet. Thus, you get to see the 'Tads better and little food is lost or spoils. This also helps indicate when to add more food. Make sure to also have some fine leaved pond weeds therein to hide in and nibble on. 'Tads can mouth breathe if the oxygen gets too low in the container water. However, if there is prolonged or marked frantic gulping for air, spread the 'Tads between additional containers. It is warmer in a bucket than in a pond. Avoid full sun locations unless the bucket is inset deeply into the pond or ground. Obviously, do not add 'Tads to your pond until they are large enough to NOT fit into the mouth of your largest fish! If they do not mature into adults the first year in a cooler climate they will overwinter on the pond bottom and finish their cycle the next year. If the pond can potentially ice over, use waterfall flow or small fishtank air bubbler to stir the surface and keep an open zone for air exchange. Otherwise decaying plant matter consumes the oxygen, and excess carbon dioxide and ammonia fumes can build up, killing 'Tads and fish. Much like goldfish, 'Tads will hunt out mosquito larvae in buckets or ponds. In ponds I suggest having 3-4 of the same frog species in hopes of getting a breeding pair so that the cycle maintains. Frogs can live several years and overwinter well. But for a Frog pond to stay "frogged" you are going to need a fenced yard with board blockage to 2-3' high and enough yard and vegatation to support the insect and earthworm levels needed to support the mature frog population. Fish in the pond are important to stop over tadpole = future frog population. In our yard, we keep a lotus tub with lotus to the side of the pond without fish. This is so we can put in egg clusters there when frog populations are low. If you live near a lake or bog lands and hear frogs in mating season, don't fully board fence your yard. Just BUILD IT (the pond) AND THEY WILL COME. Treefrog populations are especially mobile to the right habitat. The above is A LOT of detail and several years experience working to get frogs established in our yards at two different locations. Based on hard won experience it can take years to get right, and is easy with the right match of mostly the right habitat and then frog species. Bullfrogs are easiest but don't do it unless they surround your yard anyway. Local Toad species might work better if you don't have enough cool leafy forage zones for Semiaquatic Frogs. They still need 'Tad growth ponds to sustain.