Water, Water, Everywhere

Imagine trying to pasture animals on land that is underwater much of the year. We bought our little one-acre plot of land intending to homestead, to become self-sufficient. We accepted the selling realtor's claim that only known defect (which she was required by law to disclose) was in years with "heavy rain a small puddle forms by the garage." In truth, large puddles form every year and in heavy rains we actually have ponds that form, a small stream that runs the depth of the property and up to 1/3 of the land has standing water to 2 or 3 inches.

Naturally, we discovered this only after we had fenced in and placed our chicken coops in that one third. I have spent the years since them slogging through mud so thick it would literally pull my boots right off my feet. Two and three times a week I would muck the wet straw out of the coop and replace with dry. And even though I hate using heat lamps due to the fire danger they present, I sometimes put one in just to fight the damp.

The last couple of years I have studied the yard, where the rain pools, how it drains. Finally I have a plan. I am installing french drains to hopefully direct all the water to the naturally forming stream and then into the biggest of the ponds. Last month when my son was visiting, he dug out the pond to a depth of 15 - 24 inches, but only about half the circumference. I have spent the time since then, putting in the liner, gathering stones from around the property to landscape the edges, and researching what is the best filtration system.

Yesterday I drained the pond, reset the liner which I had put in a little cock-eyed the first time, and ran to the store to buy pavers -- the oh-so-many rocks I had gathered turned out to be oh-so-not-enough, they only filled one side and my attempts at making my own is another story for another day. Today I set the pavers and am waiting on a delivery from the post office, the final materials for my bio-filter. Once I have the filter assembled, I can place it and fill the pond.

I am in a race against time because we only have 2 months a year without rain; in just a few weeks the wet season will start and I need to have this done.

The picture at the top is my chickens and dogs supervising the start of the project. Here is a photo of the progress to date. The pavers in the pond? Looks like the goats got curious and did some remodeling.

The bio balls are here. I am off to make the filter, will update when done.

If you have installed your own pond, I would love to hear from you.

8/11/2017