The learning begins

We have done so much research on ponds, well, septic, cold storage structures, pole barns, propane appliances that I feel like a first time home owner.  Everything is so much different.  We like the ability to be self sufficient, but we quickly learned that we did not know the first thing about some of these very country things.

I scheduled an appointment with Steve Naus from Affordable Well and Pond. He had some videos on his site and I liked the way he approached a problem. I have some knowledge about how ponds work because we have a 7′ x 15′ koi pond. It is rubber lined with a skimmer and filter system.

This new pond is covered very thickly with cattails and totally overgrown. I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Steve gave us a great plan to recover the pond. It will take time, but with patience and maybe some help from the grandsons (fingers crossed), it can be done. We need to remove the water sitting in the bottom of the pond. Heavy equipment cannot be brought in until it dries out. Drill holes in a 5 gallon bucket and place a sump pump inside. Lower it into the pond and let it do its job. As the bucket fills up the sump will kick on keeping the pond dry.

As for the cattails, they need to be removed root and all for a long term solution. One thing Steve said that has stuck with me, “Every body of water is trying to become a swamp.” Once we get the cattails dug out, we will still need to stay on top of the pond, keeping it weeded and keeping other vegetation such as tree leaves and grass cuttings out of the water.

If you just pull up the cattails, the roots will remain. Steve recommended I shake the cattails firmly to jar them loose. Its neighbors will begin to shake. Continue until you can pull up a whole section of the cattail network. This seems do-able now but I’ll keep you updated.