Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: #throwbackthursday, Best Friend, Boulders, Carters Nursery, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Design, Design Ideas, Designing Waterfalls, Dogs, Fun, I Love Animals, I Love Dogs, Koi Pond Designer, Love Your Pets, Mans Best Friend, Pets, Pond Design, Ponds, Professional Water Feature Designer, Puppy Dogs, Scout, Show Dog Champion, Throwback Thursday, Training, Training Koi, Watch That 1st Step, Water Garden, Water Garden Design, waterfall design, Waterfall Thursday
Here’s an Awesome Throwback from 6 years ago today! The day Scout learned to cross the Pond the fun way 🤩
Now, she runs the place… 😊
Scout ’The Pond Pup’! 🐶
Everybody Loves Scout!! ❤️ 🐶
Have an Awesome #Throwbackthursday!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Hummingbirds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Videos, Waterfalls | Tags: Austrailia, bird call, Bird Feeders, Birds, Birdsong, Blake, Blakes Exotic Animal Ranch, CAC, Carters Nursery, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Certifed Backyard Habitat, Certified Aquascape Contractor, CEU’s, exotic bird, I Love Animals, King Fisher, Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra, Marty, Master CAC, Master Certified Aquascape Contractor, Monday, Monday Evening Moment Of Zen, Monday Morning, Monday Morning Moment of Zen, Monday’s, Personal Trainer, Training, Training Day
I am an animal lover! That love of animals is where I got the motivation to start our Annual Parade of Ponds to raise money for our local Humane Society. Earlier this year I found myself in South Florida to earn CEU’s (continuing education units) for my company’s Professional Pond Certification (CAC). The class was at a really cool place! Blakes exotic animal farm! This place has so many different animals! Lizards, fish, otters, turtles, birds and more! We spent 3 days there building some really cool Water Features! But todays video is about a really cool bird I met there… His name is Marty, he is a Laughing kookaburra and he is from Australia. Check him out as Blake tells you a little bit about him and shows you HOW he got his name 😊
We always have fun designing and building Water Features, but having animals like Marty around is just Awesome! We have native Kingfishers all over Tennessee, but they are small compared to this guy.
Have a great ’Fun’ Monday!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: #Theresnoplacelikehome, Allman Brothers, Best Local Nursery and Garden Center, Blog, Blogging, CAC, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Cats, CEU’s, educational workshop, Ernest Hemingway, Florida, Fun, Fun From Home, Garden Center, Garden Show, Garden Tour, Georgia, Greg Allman, Happy, Hemingway’s House, Hemmingway, Homemade, Jackson Tennessee, Jackson Tennessee 38305, John Denver, Master CAC, Mississippi, Mobile Alabama, Nursery, Parks, Pictures, Pond Workshop, Road Song, Safe Travels, Saturday Fun, Tennessee Aquarium, Tennessee River, Tennessee Weather, The Keys, There’s No Place Like Home, Training, Training Day, Virtual Travel, West Tennessee
I have been absent from my Blog for a couple of weeks now. I was surprised at the # of people that sent comments to me about my absence… The messages were mostly concern that something was wrong since I write something every day… Thanks for that! But, No, there was nothing wrong! I abstained from posting in order to be totally present during a LONG road trip with my wife Jo. We were on a business, training, buying… ‘adventure’, that took us all across the South! Down thru Mississippi, across the Panhandle of Florida, along the Florida Springs trail, across to the Atlantic side and all the way down historic Coastal Highway A1A to the end of the road “Mile Marker 0” in Key West! Then back up through central Florida into Georgia exploring Nurseries and HUGE Ornamental Plant Growing operations! We even spent the night in Greg Allmans bedroom and visited the graves of some of my (and probably your) musical hero’s… Climbed a mountain, and finally ended up back home in the middle of an Ice 🧊 Storm ⛈!!!
Thank God that we were spared from a repeat of 94 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 But it was a shock to the system to come back to heavy winds from the north and 18 degree temps 🥶
Over the next few days I will share some pictures and stories of our recent travels and some news of things to come 😊
To boil it down – I’m back & I am excited about 2022!
And, I’m so glad to be back home again!!!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, Pondless Waterfalls, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Daily Blog, Designer, Happy Pondering, I ❤️ My Art, I ❤️ my Customers!, I ❤️ my Family, I ❤️ My Friends!, I ❤️ My Pond, I ❤️ This Country, I ❤️ Waterfalls, I Love ❤️ My Job!, Keep The Faith, Landscape Designer, Learning, Master CAC, Peace ✌🏻Love ❤️ & Waterfalls, Personal Blog, Pondemonium, Professional Pond Builder, Professional Water Feature Designer, Throwback Thursday, Training, Training Day
One of the things about running your own business is that things get, VERY busy! The old saying “If you want something done right, do it yourself” rings true daily… LOTS of hats 🧢 to wear… The daily grind can get overwhelming & you loose that line between your personal time/life and your business.
Don’t let your business run YOU! Take time to stay organized & to train your employees and yourself 🤔
I am switching my focus for the next couple of days to ‘organizing and training in my Business. As a business owner you find yourself constantly Performing! Work work work, perform, perform, perform! DON’T forget to train some as well! That is most of our (small business owners) biggest downfalls…
I made a commitment long ago to stay on top of Technology and of advances in my field. I also try to invest in my Team so that we ALL stay on top of our game! | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
I’ve got to go to my next “Zoom Room” meeting now, so I want to wish everyone a good day!
PS: I will be sharing a few things I’m learning now with you soon.
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Cartercountry, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Color Enhancing Koi Food, Consistency, Feeding Koi, Feeding Time, Fish Feeding, Hand Feeding Koi, Koi Feeding, Koi Feeding Schedule, Koi Food, Koi Health Tip, Koi Health Tips, Koi Snacks, Koi Supplies, Maxi Growth Koi Food, Patience, Pavlov, Pond Supplies, Pond Tip, Pond Tip Tuesday, Quality Time, Snacks, Summer Pond Tips, Training, Training Koi, Weekly Pond Tip
So many people come to the nursery and just Love to feed the Koi!😍 They will swim right up and take the food from your hand 🖐🏻 So many people say “I can’t get my Koi to eat from my hand… What can I do”? So, I thought I would point everyone in the right direction on ‘How to get your Koi to eat from your hand”! 💥
Koi actually love to interact and eat from your hand. You just have to work with them a little bit… | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
The easiest way to explain how to train a koi to eat from your hand is to go Pavlovian on them… ie; Conditioned Response! Pavlov used a bell 🔔 or buzzer in his work. He would make the sound & then give the dog food… Eventually just making the sound would make the dog slobber with anticipation. It kinda works the same way with Koi!
Consistency and repetition are key to train your Koi. Oh, and watermelon 🍉
#1 – Feed at the same time EVERY day! Be it morning or evening, be Consistent!
#2 – Repetition! At first, feed at the same time, in the same place and with the same food! Make a little splash sound with your fingertips, then throw a little food out. not to much at first. Doing it this way doesn’t really take that long. You just have to be committed to the process!
#3 Only feed for a given time. 5 minutes at first. Once they catch on, you can improvise with snacks and fruit 🍉 🍊 🥬
Once you break the ice, you can move closer and closer during feeding time, until your right on the edge with them and they will be literally eating from your hand!
So there you have it. Be consistent, be repetitive and ❤️ Your Koi!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: #Theresnoplacelikehome, CEU’s, Master CAC, Master Certified Aquascape Contractor, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Reflections, Sunday with Family, Sundays, There’s No Place Like Home, Training, Training Day, Waterfall Master, Waterscape, Watershaper, Watershaping
My son and I have been on a business trip for the last week & I think we both learned a lot & had a great time to boot! But, there’s nothing like going HOME! Home is where the ❤️ is 😍
Jacob sure had fun on this learning trip! We earned CEU’s to keep our Master Certification up to date. AND they had Koi to feed😊 NOW we get go home and feed our own Koi babies! #Theresnoplacelikehome
“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realized what’s changed is you.”
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
Have a a great Sunday!
Mark Carter
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: CEU’s, Designing Waterfalls, Friday blog, Friday From The Road, Friday Radio Report, It’s Finally Friday, Learning, Learning The Ropes, Master Certified Aquascape Contractor, Pond construction, Practice Makes Perfect, Training, Training Day, Water Garden Design
Most every Friday I blog about the radio show I do with the 180 Crew at WNWS 101.5fm. Friday’s between 9-11am we talk outdoor living, gardening, Koi Ponds and the like. But, this Friday I am not in the studio with Dan & Sea Bass… I will be calling in between 8:30 and 9am to give a report from the road.
Every year I drive up to Chicago to train and earn CEU’s to maintain our Certification, Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio are Master Certified Aquascape Contractors. We are ranked in the Top 100 Water Feature Contractors in the world 🌎
This year is extra special to me personally because I brought my son, Jacob Carter with me to take part in classes and training for the 1st. time! He is working in the family business now and wants to learn!
Jacob is one of the youngest guys here for training. He is a much better student than I was at his age 😊 I’m a Proud papa!
I will give a full report next week on all the goings on in the big city and all the new technology that’s available 😉
Tune in for my Report & have a Great weekend!
I’m on with the 180 Crew – Dan Reaves & Sea Bass- every Friday from 9-11am Call in with ALL your gardening and Outdoor Lifestyle questions at 731-423-8101.
OR you can TEXT us at 731-277-5155. Listen LIVE at 101.5 WNWS – FM Talk Radio – on your smart phone using your TuneIn app.!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Carter's Water Garden 