G'Day everyone, Dutch here! Welcome to my little place in the Universe!

Been busy these days with the weather and trying to maintain the yard and garden, have some projects to finish and prep the house for painting this year.. Taking this time to do a small blog about my ponds, something I haven’t done in awhile…. Sooooooooooooo, put your troubles aside, pull up a chair, turn on the music and visit a spell..

.. I got interested in home ponds in 1994.. Home ponds was in it’s infancy and it was hard to find information on them and a lot of what I learned was by trial and error.. I wasn’t on the internet then and even the internet was in it’s infancy compared to what it is today.. I had made some phone calls in the area and they directed me to the Corps of Engineers.. Laughing.. I told the people I was wanting to build a small pond in my backyard, not a manmade lake.. Did find a book by Lilypons on the subject, dug a hole in the ground and started.. Most folks these days have what is called a “ornamental” pond.. Mainly for decorative purposes.. Fancy stone is put in the bottom with a fountain or water fall… my ponds are working ponds… the bottoms of the ponds are just like lake bottoms.. Muck and mire.. I use layers of plastic sheeting (often called visqueen) for the liners.. I have two types, one is the pond with the goldfish and the others are called wetland or bog ponds.. Will explain as I go.. This is my goldfish pond..

This pond is roughtly 8 feet by 10 feet and ranges in depth from 9 inches to 36 inches deep.. It is controlled by a circulating pump and filter, it’s main purpose is to put oxygen in the water for the fish, as well as filter out dead algae.. The pump runs year around.. 12 hours a day during spring, summer and fall and 24 hours a day during the winter… the fish stay in the pond year around..

the fish I have, of course, is goldfish.. Some people chose Koi but they need a great deal of care and heat in the winter if they are to stay in the pond.. Goldfish, on the other hand, is hardy and just need to be fed.. Although I do keep an eye out for and possible disease..

and now for my wetland ponds… there are actually three small ponds but made to look like one large pond..

another view…

the maintenance of these ponds are by a natural biological process.. Although I do have a chemical that is environmentally friendly and will not harm animals, insects, fish or plants, it will kill mosquito larvae but I don’t use it unless absolutely necessary.. The west pond..

the center pond with a water lily blooming..

and the larger East pond which is a favorite of frogs and the like…

all these ponds, wetland and goldfish pond, is used by birds, animals, insects, etc.. Also a picture of the arbor I built this week for the wysteria..

and as a final note.. While putting water in the bird baths, etc. encountered this young robin, who evidently just left the nest and still didn’t develop the muscle strength to fly..

I made sure the little bird was put in a safe location and left to the little birds own devices.. Sure the fledgling will be fine… well, that’s about it for this time.. Going to finish up the weekend and get ready for another week, Soooooooooooooo everyone have a smilin' gooooooooooooooooood day full of Peace Love and Happiness and I'll see you next time if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise....