March March Happenings CLUB ORGANIZATION

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1 March 2009 CLUB ORGANIZATION President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Board of Directors Meeting Coordinator , newsletter Web site master Audio visual Pond Tour, Holiday party Dealer Relations Speakers Librarian Julaine Mullaney (408) Terry Denevan Cal Hansen Eduardo Massa Ken Snarr Larry Templeton Terry Denevan (408) Larry Templeton (650) Larry Templeton Larry Templeton Rita Hughes (408) Cal Hansen (408) Bill Mundy Cal Hansen March Happenings This month we re introducing a new newsletter feature, Meet Our Members. In the interests of introducing our members to each other, we re going to do a monthly page with a short bio and photos on the selected members. This month, it s Eduardo Massa and Michael Muston. We chose Eduardo and Michael because Eduardo is a new Board member and we want to make sure everyone knows the club officers. Our intention is provide a simple illustrated narrative of the most interesting aspects of the members pond and activities, much in the way you might tell a friend about another friend. Terry Denevan deserves special kudos for the photography and text for this new feature. This month s speaker is Dan Rutledge, a name familiar to everyone. Dan will speak on watergardening. Dan and Mike Perret have been designing and building ponds as a team for many years and have both contributed mightily to the activities of the club. We re making progress on our campaign to get the Club s name in front of more pond hobbyists. An information card describing the Club and its activities has been designed and is in the print shop. Cal Hansen will place and maintain card holders in cooperating koi and watergardening businesses. Here s what it looks like: Club Reporter Membership Refreshments Club equipment Koi Health Advisor Marifran & Bill Mundy (408) Ken Snarr (650) Sanjiv Kapoor (408) AKCA Representative Larry Templeton Art Director Emergency Pond Services Meeting notes Mike Perret (408) Ken Snarr Charity Lloyd (408) We are also going to begin sending the Club newsletter to all Koi-related businesses within 25 miles of San Jose. Every little bit of exposure helps bring in new members. We are all enthusiastically looking forward to the May meeting with Momaru and Taro Kodama from Kodama Koi Farm. As you will read on p.5, Kodama Koi Farm is one of the largest Koi grow-out facilities in the world. We are fortunate that Sanjiv Kapoor was able to arrange for them to speak to our Club. The season s first pond social will begin at 2pm on Saturday, May 16, and will take place at Cynthia & Larry Templeton s in Los Altos. Following a private pond tour earlier that day, the Kodamas will attend the pond social as special guests. This is indeed a rare opportunity.

2 Meetings & Events Monthly Club Meetings 7:30pm The third Friday of each month. American Legion Hall, 1504 Minnesota Ave, San Jose March General Meeting Friday, March 20, 7:30pm Speaker: Dan Rutledge on watergardening. He ll touch on the differences between Koi ponds and watergardens, spring cleaning maintenance, fall preparation and vegi filters. Pond Q&A as usual Refreshments by Marifran & Bill Mundy. We all look forwqrd to their special intermission goodies. $95 attendance drawing prize Board of Directors Meeting The March board meeting will be held immediately following the regular monthly general meeting on March 20. All Members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Club Activities Our Club provides a wide variety of experiences, some to help people learn about designing, building and maintaining Koi and ponds, some to bring in new members, and some for just plain social enjoyment. For example: Monthly meetings with speakers, Q&A and refreshments Annual Pond Tour Pond Socials in the summer Holiday party A library of pond-related videos Representation with the Associated Koi Clubs of America Booths at events such as the Cherry Blossom Festival and several Home & Garden Shows. Many of these activities are effective at bringing in new members, which is essential for the continuing existence of the club. A Multicultural Pond There s a WHAT in our pond? The ducks swam around for about 10 minutes, paying no attention whatsoever to the fish. The fish, on the other hand, were intensely interested in the ducks and followed them wherever they went. The ducks apparently had better things to do than ignore silly fish, soooo...

3 February Club Meetings General Monthly Meeting San Francisco artist Carole Moore provided us with a wonderful evening of Koi art and some insight into our own activities. She began the program with stories of her 6 months in Japan as a teen-ager and how this experience infected her with an enduring love of Japanese art, temples, scenery, and Koi. Carole came to our pond tour last summer and was inspired to do a number of beautiful koi paintings, which were on display. Then she turned the tables on us and interviewed a number of members about how they got into ponding and what they love about it. I think we were all surprised at how individual and interesting our stories were. Storytellers included Larry Templeton, Ginger Drapchaty, Ken Snarr, Bill Stoye, Marifran Mundy and Terry Denevan. Carol has promised to provide us with written copies of the stories so we can incorporate them in our newsletters. As usual, we enjoyed Marifran s very special intermission treats. We re so lucky to have her generous spirit in the Club. The attendance prize winner was Wayne Kuhfahl, but he wasn t there to collect. Board of Directors Meeting Another excellent Board meeting. Attended by Board members Terry Denevan, Ken Snarr, Eduardo Massa, Cal Hansen and Larry Templeton as well as members Barbara Snarr and Charity Lloyd. The following topics were discussed: 1) Holding board meetings immediately following general meetings. The consensus was to continue with the experiment as it seems to be beneficial. 2) Decided to prepare information cards to be placed at cooperating Koi businesses. Larry will provide a draft design for approval by the Board. 3) It was agreed that we ll have a booth at the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival. Ken Snarr volunteered to handle the logistics, as he has in past years. Larry will contact Lucille Honig at CBF admin and will also prepare the volunteer signup sheets. Cal will see if any vendors are interested. 4) Barbara Snarr suggested a monthly newsletter feature called Meet Your Members which would incorporate photos and a brief write up of a member and their pond each month. All agreed it would be a great way to get members to know each other and a definitely worthwhile addition. Terry agreed to do the photo shoots and interviews for a years worth of Meet Your Members pages. Eduardo and Michael volunteered to be the subject of the first one, to be published in the March newsletter.

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5 Future Speakers April In April, bonsai artist Steve Iwaki will speak on the art of Bonsai and his approach to growing beautiful Bonsai plants. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Steve is the son of a Japanese gardener who also has a passion for the art of bonsai. Steve learned from his father the keen sense for creating unique landscapes by shaping the plants with an asian influence. Steve is a member and president of the Sei Boku Bonsai Kai, club founded 25 years ago in San Mateo. He shares and teaches his knowledge of bonsai with his fellow members and is involved with the Golden State Bonsai Federation. May In May, we will have two most distinguished speakers. Mamoru Kodama is the President of Kodama Koi Farm, Inc. and a Director of Miyoshiike Co., Ltd, the parent company. The Kodama Koi company is one of the most respected and prestigious Koi dealers in the world and operates Koi grow-out farms in Menifee, California and Mililani, Hawaii. He will be accompanied by his son Taro Kodama who is Manager of the International Service Department. Mamoru-san is renowned in the industry for his abilities and accomplishments in selecting and growing champion Koi. He authored two books on selecting champion Koi that are considered bibles in the field. The Hawaii farm is one of the largest in the world. It has fifty 5,000 gallon quarantine tanks and seventy 37,500 gallon grow-out tanks. The Kodamas will speak at our regular Friday evening general meeting on May 15 and on Saturday, May 16, will be hosted by the Club on a private tour of 5 local ponds. Following the tour, Larry & Cynthia Templeton will host the Kodamas at the Club s May Pond Social. All members are encouraged to come and enjoy a very special afternoon with the Kodamas. June TBD. If you have an idea, please Larry Templeton at scvkwg@gmail.com.

6 Meet Our Members... Michael Muston & Eduardo Massa Beautiful! The pond and water garden of Eduardo Massa and Michael Muston have been a well kept secret. The four thousand gallon Willow Glen pond was built fourteen years ago - one shovelful at a time. Starting with seventeen koi, each six inches or smaller, their fish now measure about twenty-four inches in length, each stunningly beautiful. The pond is a formal rectangle and is encased in an attractive 18 inch brick wall. Water depth is six feet and as a result raccoons have had little success in their evening search for food. Of particular note is the above ground construction of the perimeter. The knee high element gives an added dimension to the pond. Many owners of koi ponds find this approach highly desirable, as opposed to yard-level designs. Prior to buying the home in 1995, Eduardo says, I always wanted a pond. One of the first things considered was joining the Santa Clara Valley Koi and Water Garden Club. Michael says, We wanted to do it right. Club members strongly suggested they think big, and they did. The filtration system is entirely home-grown and utilizes a settling tank and two biofiltering tanks with a very effective trickle filter. The Koi bring life and an added dimension to the yard, promoting relaxation in a peaceful setting. Eduardo and Michael are also avid gardeners and, in the summer, the garden is lush with roses and iris. Today, challenges are few. The fish are our pets - friends. We call and they swim our way. We enjoy petting and hand feeding our fish. Eduardo, a native of Argentina, moved to the United States in His training is in fine art and he owns and operates Burbank Antiques on San Carlos Street, in San Jose. He is also a member of the board of Directors of the SCVKWG. Michael moved from Texas to the bay area 24 years ago. He is an immigration attorney and a partner in the law offices of Muston & Jack, located on The Alameda in San Jose. In addition to their lovely home and koi pond, Eduardo and Michael enjoy traveling the world. They try to take several trips each year. Their sightseeing focus is always on the most beautiful botanical gardens and ponds.

7 Treasurer s Report The club remains in good shape financially. As usual, most of our income is from the pond tour and memberships. Both income streams are predominately in July. The rest of the year, it s mostly outgo, and that mostly for rent on the meeting hall and printing and mailing expenses for the newsletter. February expenses were higher than usual because the American Legion has asked for 6 months payment in advance and has raised the monthly rate to boot. Feb 9, 2009 through Mar 9,2009 Opening balance $6, Deposits 0.00 Outstanding checks Expenses Closing balance $5, In addition, the Club owns a CD with a value of $12, as of 1/5/2009. The CD was renewed on 2/5/09 for a period of 1 year at an interest rate of 2%. As always, our appreciation goes to Julaine Mullaney for all the hard work she puts in as Club Treasurer. Advertising Rates are for 11 issues (one year). All ads appear in both the newsletter and on our web site! Business card $35.00 Half page $ Quarter page $95.00 Full page $ If you place an ad in mid-year, your cost for that year will be prorated based on the number of months remaining until July 1. To place an ad, please send ad copy (.pdf or.jpg file or high quality printed form) to the or snail mail address below and we ll send you a bill. Membership Membership dues are $30.00 per year, payable on July 1. If you join in mid-year, your dues for the that year will be prorated at the rate of $2.50 per month to the next July 1 and $30.00 per year thereafter. To join, send your personal info (name, address, phone no. and address) either by or snail mail to one of the addresses shown below. Contact Us For details on either ads or membership, please scvkwg@gmail.com or come to one of our meetings. The latter is certainly preferred as we d like to get to know you! To contact us by mail, our address is: SCVKWG P.O. Box 9006 San Jose, CA 95157

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