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I just saw the forecast for the next week and they are saying the possibility for snow for Northern Iowa. The white stuff means big changes in our ponds. It cools down the water fast but a friend told me many years ago that if the nighttime temps stay above freezing then the water can warm back up. I always hope for those Indian summers but I don't get what I hope for most of the time. Take, for example, last fall/winter. It was one to remember for a lack of an Indian summer. When the snow arrived -- it stayed until spring. Of course, this is extremely unusual.
Hopefully, our program for October prepared you for winter. We had a good discussion of everything pertaining to winterizing our ponds. We all learned a lot from everybody's input.
Our program for November will be the talented Dr. Joe Morris presenting to us on "Methods of Controlling Algae in Our Ponds," Dr. Morris is a Professor and the Extension Fisheries/Aquaculturalist at Iowa State University. He has been doing extensive research on various aspects of ponding. Lately, his research focused on the Barley Straw method of controlling string algae and I know he will be able to set us straight on whether it works or not. Joe was at our first informational meeting last November and indicated way back then that he would be glad to do a program for us. Well, it's about time we invited him!! We are lucky to have his talents available to us. He is fun and experienced in the field of aquaculture. I know I'm looking forward to learning about the algae's in our ponds.
The meeting will be held at the Cambridge Fire Dept Building -- this is where we had it in September when Charlie Drewes spoke to us. Directions are under the Lilypad section of this newsletter.
At the October meeting we formally decided to go ahead with the formation of Chapters in Central Iowa. There is a lot of interest in our hobby but due to the distances some ponderers can't always drive to Ames for our meetings. A bunch of Mason City/Garner ponderers are putting together a Chapter already. They have met and are working on the details. On November 1, Doug Rieck, our Vice President and from Des Moines, will have a Des Moines Chapter meeting. So, the interest is there -- we just need to be organized so that all ponderers in Central Iowa are served by our organization.
If you're in a community that you think has enough ponderers to organize a Chapter, by all means, suggest it to some fellow water gardeners from the area. The CIWGA will assist you when you want and stay out of your business when you want. The Ames Chapter will put together our newsletter and your Chapter members will receive it. The news from your Chapter will be in it along with the other Chapters' news. This newsletter is one of the most difficult things to put together each month and, if we work together, this task will be taken care of for you and still have your news in it.
Another difficult item for a chapter to solve is to come up with enough programs for an entire year. The solution is to keep the number of programs to, say, 3/year and tour member gardens during the summer months. This is only a suggestion and your Chapter can be flexible from one month to the next. Of course, all Chapter members will be welcome to attend any of the other CIWGA Chapters.
Finally, I want to mention that I will be forming committees in the next couple of months and if you want to be a part of one, please let me know. If I don't hear from you, I may be calling. Some of the committees that we will organize are; program, hospitality, and yearbook.
That's it for this month -- happy ponding. The Big Toad, Jamie