Having a pond at Cockamamy Farm is really nice. The frogs put everyone to bed each night with a song, there is at least one massive, ancient turtle who calls it home, and we can water the garden from it if need be.

The downside of having water on the farm—mosquitoes. And the little (and sometimes not very little) bloodsuckers run to me like kids to cake and ice cream.

Last year, in a “What the heck? Why not?” move, we purchased gold fish from the pet store and set them loose in the pond. Soon, we stopped looking for them. And then, this spring, Ben saw something jump out of the water. Something orange. And went to investigate. Later, he said to me, “Come out to the pond with me. Now, climb out on this tree limb that hangs over the water. Look down.” I did. And I couldn’t believe my eyes! A whole school of bright orange fish each as big as my hand or bigger! I counted more than two dozen. And they’d been eating bugs and stuff all along. We had no idea!

Not long after that, Ben learned of a man who sells fish out of the back of his truck at a nearby farm supply store. Not fish to eat, but live fish to stock your pond. And to eat your mosquitoes! So…What the heck? Why not?

We ordered the “Quarter-Acre Mix.”

Ben was instructed to arrive at the store on a specific morning, in a one-hour window, with several 5-gallon buckets of water from our pond. He came home with this…

And he promptly set them out to discover their new home.

Here’s hoping our all-natural attempt at mosquito control works well! And, even if it doesn’t get rid of the little pests, at least we’ll be able to go fishing in a couple of years!