Oklahoma Redbud tree

Elina has begun to plant her vegetables; spinach, swiss chard, kohlrabi, cauliflower and cabbage.

Meanwhile, Buddha and the Peacock, discuss the activity in the garden and how happy they are that winter is nearly over.

Our guests love the setup and the only logical solution is to go bigger and deeper to be able to keep the temperate down and provide a good home for the Koi and a nice setting for our guests.

We start laying out pond shapes and sizes with a rope and once we know how big we want to go we get the equipment: a rubber liner which is 40×50 feet (12×15 meter) and a kit that includes 2 skimmers, waterfalls, two pumps, and three UV lights!

The digging starts: the first 2 feet are done with the little bobcat, but the rest we have to do manually, we dig down to 6 feet (1,8 Meter) and shape the pond with ledges at different levels – we move tons of dirt!

The digging doesn’t go without surprises: we find old copper pool pipes, drainage pipes and concrete walls from the old pool. All obstacles that take some time and effort to be removed but they don’t stop us.

At the end we stabilize all the critical walls with a layer of cement, then a layer of fabric is laid out and eventually the rubber liner. Then the pond is decorated with rocks. Tony, a local business owner, and his team are moving 16 tons of rocks in 2 days – a backbreaking task, especially in this heat.

Three months after the actual launch of the project, the new pond is fenced in, the plants are moved from their temporary containers and placed into the shallow areas around the pond and the about 25 Koi fish have been moved into their new luxury home, a huge pond with approximately 15,000 gallons of water (56,800 liter).

It looks gorgeous, the water is clear, the fish seem happy and the guests just love the new setting – an oasis in the New Mexican desert.

We are offering a special rate for participants:

• 1-2 person : $69.95
• 3-4 people : $84.95

Please call 575-524-8627 and mention “BATAAN” to reserve your room.