 So, welcome to our talk. I'll get situated here soon and get into a good flow with you guys. Okay. So, I'm going to, the talk itself, I'm just going to give like a minute of background. I'm going to touch a little bit on permaculture because for me it's like a really important that I'm communicating the process and kind of the considerations and the decision making because everybody's situation is really different. So, I wouldn't expect that anybody would replicate exactly what we did. There's no way you would. So, I just want to touch a couple minutes on that. And then I'm going to give you guys a little bit of context about the whole water system on the farm and how the pond fits into that. And then we'll go through like our rehabilitation of the pond as we did it during the SAIR grant. And there will be a room to kind of discuss things as that we're planning to do going forward. So, that's kind of the really general thing. So, just a minute of background on ourselves. The farm is Purple Brown Farmstead. We started as part of the countryside initiative program in 2016. That's just a really general topo map of where a property sits. And it is on a ridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It is like western facing mild, gentle slope. And the whole concept for us starting this farm is that it was a permaculture design. So, we'll touch a little bit on that. But so it's a really diversified fruit orchard, like mulch and corn tour, you know, there's a lot of keywords that we throw out there underneath that umbrella of regenerative agriculture, but we just kind of really applied it to our specific landscape in our specific community. So, in 2019, we started in 2016, the grant for the SAIR for the actual pond rehabilitation was 2019 and 2020. That was the project cycle. Our farm was certified organic in 2021. I'm very proud of that. And we also opened up a Purple Brown Farm Store in Peninsula, Ohio. I'm just going to do a shout out if you guys are looking to see how local food is being done in Northeast Ohio. We've got a thing going on. So we'd love support and feedback on that. So we're going to talk mostly about the activities in 2019 and 2020 as they relate to the pond. That's going to be like the bulk of the talk here. So, what is on contouring? So your contours is basically just your level lines. Anywhere your ground is level, that's your contour. It is perpendicular to gravity. So if you're on a hillside and you're walking a straight line without going uphill or downhill, that's your contour. Goal for this presentation. Oh, I should go to the next slide here is I would like to summarize and share what I have learned in five years of farmer research rehabilitating an old farm pond from virtually becoming a bog as an integral part of the whole farm watershed with a The key words here is that this is farmer research, aka this is not an advanced seminar. So if you guys are looking for like really deep technical stuff, you're not going to hear too much of that for me. Another key word is that this is a farm pond versus like a bog or wetland. We're going to touch on all of those things, but wetlands are very valuable. They're very diversified ecologies. So again, this is not like a defend the, you know, pond seminar. Our situation is that the pond is the right solution for us. So, you know, that's just for consideration that there's other parts of like water conservation and other tools like swales that we're going to discuss. The watershed is that you know no pond lives alone. The water is in and water goes out. It is a part of a water system. So it's really important for us to think of it in those terms. I would like to give a shout out to Sarah acknowledge that as the sustainable agriculture research and education program. They funded our two year project. It was really great. They really incentivized me to take this project very professionally and seriously. And I do the appropriate research and, you know, kind of have that external accountability to do it right. And then the fact that they really validate farmer research is really important because farmers do make great researchers. We do it all the time, whether we think we do or not, we're always observing, we're always reading the landscape and nature and responding to it. So that is an essential part of research and it's really great that they publish this kind of stuff. On that note, I will also thank OFA for partnering with Sarah to allow me to present here today and share this. Hopefully somebody everybody will learn a little something that they can take away. And, you know, so for me why it was really important to do this research and share this information is, you know, we moved on to an old farm, you know, that had this old farm. It's agriculturally zoned pond. And, and I didn't know anything about water or pond management and as I really wanted to do a good job, you know, like permaculture design right like we're doing this whole thing. There wasn't really a lot out there for me to go on right like we're not a conventional farm so there's plenty of research about like well if you've got livestock and you've got a lagoon you know this is how you manage it. So you finance it, etc. right and on the other hand, we're not just a recreational ecological pond and we would, you know, have like ODNR as a resource even though their, you know, their guidance is relatively conventional as well. So, I thought that this is really a good fit just so the next person can maybe have a little bit more basic information to go on. What I'm doing here is rocket science but it seemed like it was a bit challenging to just get those, you know, pond management 101 with a regenerative focus like it didn't seem like there was a lot of useful information out there to go on. So, again, you know that's kind of the value of what we're doing here. So a bit on permaculture. I think, you know, there's a lot of those keywords that we can talk about for me why it's useful is it gives us a shared language to talk about really interdisciplinary things. So this isn't again like something new is just a really useful way to think of your design process whether in this case it's a pond or whether it's your whole farm or whether it's one tiny enterprise on it. It's a great methodology for working from big to small and really getting to a, you know, most correct, I guess, for you, you know, conclusion quicker so I'm just going to talk about some of these design principles in permaculture that I thought would be most relevant to note here as we talk about the pond. Let me see. These are the ones you'll see really play out as we continue to talk so let's observe and interact right I have already mentioned it and I'm going to mention that a lot. That's what we did for two years, right we moved in in 2016 our grant project was until 2019 we applied for it in 2018. So those first two years it was really a lot of observation and interaction, watching the water flow, seeing where the problems are, see where the, you know, like, what are those patterns. And before you really start embarking on solving problems you really need to understand, like how they work, you know, catch and store energy. An example of that in our farm would be like, you know, installing swales and like holding water higher on the landscape, before it gets to the pond or causes erosion. But anywhere like, you know, just like rainwater right like would you have a rainwater catchment system. Maybe it seems like a small thing but are you finding those opportunities to store and catch energy where you can and where it makes a small difference. Obtain a yield, you know, again that's a principle that's really useful. In terms of water. What can we get out of a pond right just an example of obtaining a yield would be pumping water for livestock pumping water for irrigation right these are like basic things but as you start thinking about it you really identify much more nuanced opportunities as you keep developing that system. It turns to details again right like I didn't get on this farm and start working on the pond you really observe the large picture, you observe your patterns of like sunshine and weather and wind right like for example, why does wind matter and as far as a pond. I'll give you just one simple example of if you have trees you need a couple trees for shade on the pond so you're going to plant a tree, do you plant it upwind or downwind on the pond. So when the wind blows and the leaves fall do you want those leaves to fall in the water, or do you want them to fall ashore, right like those just small examples really add up to making a really big difference of whether your system is going to function efficiently or whether you're always going to be working against the tide, so to speak. So, small solutions again right like you make small mistakes, every system is scalable so if it doesn't work on a small scale it's not going to work on a large scale. You know, and especially with something like water, you know it's really powerful so if you put in a wrong solution, and you really invest a lot in that, you know your solution you're you're going to be fixing expensive problems down the road. So really like testing those things and, and you'll see how this will come up throughout the presentation so I won't get stuck here but you know if this doesn't sound right you guys. If you have more questions on this please feel free to interrupt at any point stacking functions. You know, again like no on a farm we know if you're walking to the barn like you better carry a few buckets right like you're not going to go somewhere empty handed. It's the same premise you know what can you get out of a pond with least amount of inputs like what they so you'll see that play out but really it just means like efficiency and we try to do that all the time on a farm anyway we're not wasting time and energy. We don't have much to spare. It's great and don't segregate I mean this is just such a general universal thing. In this way we're really just mimicking nature, we hear this in many workshops I see familiar faces from other workshops. You know, like nature doesn't like monoculture regenerative farmers we don't like monoculture same principles apply you know permaculture kind of just let you look at it in that lens. I'm just under the understanding that everything is interconnected and working in the economies straight lines and monocultures is not the solution we need today. So like companion planting and as an example, another would be to integrate water conservation into all aspects of your farm and not just put your pond far away and drain all your water to it because that's your water and this is your farm. So if you're thinking about integrating water conservation and all aspects of the farm, please. We'll talk about like site selection, for sure. And using the edge and the marginal, you know, like just a small example is apple trees thrive best on the edge of a forest. You know that's where your ecologies are most diverse that's where you get the most of the forest ecology and the field ecology. So on the edge of your pond, you have so many more opportunities it creates warm spaces and cold microclimates. It creates a much more of a complex ecology that you really might have opportunity to take advantage of. So those buffer zones they're not to be overlooked, they can really be quite useful and produce no waste, you know, this is just like general guidance. But again, if you think of it from the beginning as you're designing your solutions, you know, build that in so you can have fewest amount of inputs for the most outputs. So, we're going to talk about landscape design. Let me see hold on you guys, what do I want to do next. What's our next slide. So, oh yeah, so I'm just going to give you guys these are just pictures from the farm so these are examples of how these principles play out before in relation to the pond but before you ever even get to the pond part. On the left we have an example of just planting on contour and mulching beds is the smallest and most basic way to slow the flow of water on the landscape. Organizing your plantings in relation to your contours is a basic acknowledgement for the flow of water, especially with perennial and deep rooted plants. I'm going to discuss those additional measures like swales and ponds right and more depth but just to mention that like holding, why do we want to hold water higher on the landscape like why do we not want to drain that away. That's right. That's right. Soil is the most efficient thing at holding water. If you have good soil, it holds a great amount of water. And in doing so you're really stabilizing your water table and helping to eliminate or minimize the drought flood cycle. In time of flood, your soil can has great water holding capacity. If you drain all that water away your soil won't hold that water and then when it stops raining it won't have that water for use that gravity will take your water downhill eventually anyway. So if you're able to hold your water higher on the landscape, you're like that's your most efficient long term passive solution for building soil and minimizing like drought and flood cycles on your property. So the mushrooms on the left. Let me see. So I'll show you guys on the map. This is the next thing I'm going to do. If you notice like our mushroom production tunnel, it's outdoor caterpillar tunnel. We're strategically located downhill from the pond in the swale for the overflow. It is an example of integration into the larger system where we're taking advantage of gravity and water flow from the pond to create a yield and grow mushrooms using that surplus. And then finally, the picture of the pigs and ducks that's really to show that, you know, a pond is a great resource so because of it, we are able to take on more water intensive animals and livestock it's an opportunity that somebody without a pond might not have. For example, for ducks and pigs, they take up a lot more water than like goats and chickens. So without the pond, it would be less feasible or more expensive I should say to for those considerations. So just another small example. Mm hmm. Yeah, so I'm going to talk about it a little bit but that we you we rotate grays like everybody so nobody gets to stay anywhere to like more than they should. The ducks on the pond, it falls in that same category. Yeah. So this is just an excuse for me to include two cute pictures of the pond and the farm, but it's to orient to orient you I'll show you guys the map next. The one the picture on the left that's looking westward. So we're standing like by the barn, looking westward over the pond. And then the other we're standing on the looking eastward toward that bond toward that barn. So that's the barn is uphill from the pond. So just as you see pictures it'll like maybe help you orient a little bit. This is pretty cool. This is a Google Earth map of our farm and it's at a random year but also just to give you guys an idea of this farm that we designed using permaculture. And now you can see like the pond on that farm. So this here is the barn, looking westward toward this pond. This is our project. That's also downhill. Yes, that's right. So the overall span are I should say slope from this is the edge of our property. The secondary pond here is really above, and it is like, I think a long time ago was established as like the overflow pond. So, in theory, the, well, the water kind of flows that way so you can see right here that their caterpillar mushroom tunnel. It's in a swale where all of this access overflow ends up and also from the road and feeds into the secondary pond. So, the overall slope from the edge, all the way to the top of the property which is here is, it's about 2000 feet and it's about 100 foot rise total. So it's gentle, but there's like, you know, some flow to it it's not still. And the picture of here is really from, I think like a year or two ago so this is actually the windmill is not up quite yet so this is like during during the project. But here I just want to point out to you guys. The, and I'll come back to it when we talk about the swales like our plantings here this is an orchard field they're all on contour, these plantings here, they're all on contour. This is one of our biggest swell here. It's on contour. I don't have a better like topo map but you would see like you know how kind of like these hills roll and flow like into these areas. There's a little swell right here, and that's to catch really mostly the barn roof flow, and there's a swell right on top of here, and that catches the rain from the house the driveway and like this more compacted area. Our farm is mostly all open land so the trees is basically the edge of our property. You know, something like right here there's you know this patch is ours what not but it's just like standing dead ash. That was part of our proposal is like we're growing a cider orchard on contour we're planting like everything from locus to chestnut to oak. We found a ton of well just over 100 little white seedlings in one acre on the kind of a color back 40 like on the other side of the mushroom tunnel like it's northwest facing it's far away like wildlife predators not much we can do there. Like on contour just really more more or less like that's the forest that we're growing that has like oaks and alder and pine. And we're envisioning that like in 10 to 20 years to be like a really cool perennial medicinal, you know, like mushroom landscape. And next so now we're going to get into like, what is a healthy pond. I mean, I guess the first thing you could say is like why do you care if your pond is ecologically healthy like how does that relate to my farm but if we have to go that far back you know that's like a different presentation so. I mean we're going to say that our values are that we want an ecologically healthy pond, right because. Well that will stop there because we got a work yeah alright we'll keep going. So, what is a pond a pond is a fresh water still body of water smaller than a lake in essence it is surface storage of fresh water, especially on a farm and on a permaculture farm is a pond is a tool in the tool kit. What are its features ponds can are mostly man made or spring fed. It has oxygen levels to support fish life and consequently like a healthy pond out to support the whole food chain. So like in a small example, you know we have turtles, they might eat the fish that eat the insect or like zoo plankton that is the phytoplankton which consumes carbon dioxide and sunshine it produces oxygen. And like they're right like that whole complex ecosystem that exists in a pond, if it has the right conditions. So a healthy pond supports a complex ecosystem. And if anything is out of balance, there is a chain reaction. Good pond stewardship involves observing for symptoms of imbalance and managing to restore this balance. Too many cat tails or duckweed. What does that mean, and what could that lead to if left on managed. So there's important considerations for building or managing a pond construction is one. The picture on the bottom right is just supposed to demonstrate. You know, this is not like an all is just an example of good pond construction and the things that you think about like, are you on a slope, you know do you have fill for damn like how do you construct it. So like the construction it's like the bones the skeletons the structure the foundation of the pond is a designed and built in a way that this pond will easily support pond life. It's depth relative to the surface area for like a one acre pond you would want a 12 foot deep pond in his deepest area for example right the slope, you want gradual slope on one side for example you want to steep drop on the other side. You create diversity of habitat for plants for fish for temperature etc you're diversifying your pond with its construction. So considerations go for the edge of the pond, you know if you have one tree down when from the pond and a few cat tails that's great, but if you have like 80% coverage by trees and cat tails this creates an imbalance. And what could that lead to right what are the consequences of that. Is if you're constructing a pond like we are pond, you know it has a dam, is it wide and tall enough to be structurally sound, and what safety measures are built into that, like do you have a proper overflow pipe. And these days you know if you have like what's the watershed feeding into your pond is that is it right size, and then you know like in these catastrophic times right and the rains that we've been having you really have to think about that like even more. Is your overflow pipe sufficient you have a secondary overflow opportunity. Well your pond stay full, or is it going to dry out like that what are the consequences of having a really intense drought season. So, you know, and then the second thing that's really important is diversity. It is the surest symptom of health. We've been hinting at this, you know leaving room for different depths in the pond allows for varying temperatures to satisfy various forms of life, some critters like shade, some like sunshine on the surface of the water. Managing for diversity is key, not allowing for dominance by one species or anything to like take over. So we have, you know, different types of diversity you're looking to establish depth, temperature, sunlight, species of plants species of animals. So, every pond. Oh, is so the other pictures I should mention you know, again they're just meant to show like the top right is that what are the different types of plants that you have like what's that diversity, you know, some grow on shallow water in the edges, you know, like the cat tails. Some don't even have roots to the bottom of the pond, you know they're just living on the surface, and they all have, you know the ones that grow on the bottom like they all have a different role to play some create oxygen, like etc. So it was just, once you start looking at ponds, you know they're it's like, there's so much to it so I'm just really touching the surface pun intended. And then the bottom left I'll come back to that in the references that's just the map of sepholders if you guys have ever heard of them like in Austria like you know a lot if that's a resource. So just an example of how complexly your water can fit into your landscape. I mean like you really like start thinking about the flow like that map is really complicated there's a lot of layers to it. It's something to keep in mind that you know it, the more nuanced it is the more fitting into the landscape it probably is. Okay, so we're going to talk about our pond now. This was not a healthy pond. There are plenty of symptoms to tell us this much. So historically, so this was common in the 1960s or so this was built as a fire insurance policy on the farm right it's really rural. Unfortunately, it was in fact used for that purpose to put out a fire on that farm in the 70s. But that was its intended use, it's only intended use and that is the only way that it was constructed and you know, it wasn't like, a lot of this was not taken into consideration right there is like drain tile that was fed into it. And that's about it so there are we have met folks that lived there in the past or like you know old time neighbors, and there's tales of like great fishing on that pond. You know that there was great like fish stock and all that but at some point the management sees and with time we really learned why there are not many ponds in nature. They fill in with organic matter trees want to grow like life happens and it will left unmanaged the conditions will inevitably lead it to turn into a wetland and in some ways that could be a good thing. But again, it depends on your goals. So, eventually, you know, like, but this pond was in fact, zoned agriculturally, and on our pond, or on our farm. The situation is that because of the historic pollution etc like there's no well. And we don't have city water so we have a sister and and our water gets trapped in. That's not very cost effective it's not very sustainable. So the having an agriculturally zoned pond is really valuable. So, and we are in thankfully, you know, surrounded by National Park. There's another wetland just down the road, you know, so there's plenty of wildlife habitat. So we didn't feel like too guilty that we really need to preserve this wetland for the wildlife habitat because it really has that potential. And so you know that's kind of like in defense of our pond restoration versus choosing another path is that for us it's valuable and I'm guessing it is for you and that's why you know you guys are thinking about doing it too. So, that's what it looked like we're standing like somewhere by the barn looking downward. I'm going to show you guys a few more pictures of what the pond looked like the before if you will. So on the left, you know, you, that's on the south edge, you see like the cat tails are like 10 foot deep into there, like the trunks of the trees are pretty, you know, hefty. Like that on the right there, that's the dam. That's like a giant tree among many other trees like growing on the dam. And why is that not a good thing to do to grow trees and shrubs on your dam. Anyone, like, yes. That's right. Yes, yeah, you are totally on that I mean, who would a funky it, you know, but there they are so now, like, now what do you do, right, like, if they're already there. How do you handle that. So, just a few more pictures here. So, now I'm going to share with you guys like our goals for our pond, right, this is a really important step, identify all of your goals. We want to sustain a fish population to generate yield with minimal inputs. We want to create recreation with a small dock of canoe swing rope, you know, the whole thing. Because we're dreaming big. We'd like to pump water for livestock and irrigation and for mushrooms and gardens, you know, in case of drought what have you. We would like to maintain or create some wildlife habitat as well with our pond, because we realize that that diversity in ecology is just going to be better for our yields throughout the farm for our cider for pollination for all of those things. It's valuable for the farm to have wildlife as well. We would like to manage a secure water storage for the farm as that insurance policy as well for ourselves. And we would like to create a whole farm water system that improves the environment around it. So, what's next in 2016 to 2018. We observed and we interacted. This is not to be underestimated this is the most essential part really we observed it in drought and in flood, like in all four seasons. We saw the patterns of where the broken drain tile was flowing really poorly, you know, at some points they're like creeks, they're past my knee deep, you know, rushing water in parts of our fields when we first got there. You know, and there's, you watch, that's an important step, and then step two is like you implement small and slow solutions. So this is the place to mention soil health, again, not to be underestimated for its water storage capacity by building good soil, you are building that in and it is, you know, misty water improves soil soil improves water, etc. Let's see him. So, in those two years, we value we was really important step is that we worked with the partners that we have which was the National Park Service and our biologists to do like a species evaluation of our font upon in the surrounding area to actually make sure that we weren't causing great damage to the habitat in case there was like really significant wildlife species. And then we let's see here so we mulch when contour, and then the we installed like three permaculture soils right so that's, that was the piece that we did it before even again like before really jumping on the pond. How can we fix everything around it everything that feeds into it. So then where we're actually fixing the pond, you know, that's that's the final step it's not the first step. So on the top left there, right on the edge of the barn that was our first and smallest swale. And that's the one we kind of did and hung on to for six months because we really just wanted to see like, is this how it works. So there that pictures, like when it was first constructed and fell, then you could see our flock of mostly Mochcovidex there. And so we learned from that and it was really effective and so our pattern for construction is with our slope is to make the swales wide and shallow and put the berm on obviously I mean, I suppose maybe it's obviously but like downhill right so you have a slope, and then you have a swale and then you have a berm and then additional slope. Both of those create great opportunities for various types of plantings. So this was our smallest and then on the right there that larger picture. Second largest and closest to the pond catches everything from the house from the yard, like our gutters from our house all collect and flow out into the field, and that outflow is strategically right feeds right into that swale. And that's been really effective to watch and all that orchard field is planted just downhill from that swale the swale is as high on that field as we can put it. So if you could have put that swale at the bottom of that field, which goes to put as the top row of that field says that water absorbs in it's inevitably watering and feeding the roots of all of those trees and those lower roads. That's essential. So another experiment that we did really work with the swales because then you have the like you have subsoil right it's compacted you just excavated like how do you fix it. We have really have replaced oils I issued that right so that was an extra hassle so in some places we did seed cover crop mixes. Then the fight for the agro mushrooms on the farm as well right so then we experimented very successfully filling those swales with wood chips and planting them with wine capture fire mushrooms. And I found that to be extremely effective to absorb all that water and improve the soil downhill like in the play in that field where we did the swale filled it with which it sped it with those mushroom I see them. Those trees and any other alley crops they planted were very visibly healthier stronger better over the course of like two years of implementing that permaculture swales. They are solutions to problems they're meant to be temporary water somewhere like there's the key line plows and broad forking, and then there's ponds, and then there's like swales are in the middle like it's a middle solution with organic matter or you have to plant them. They're not meant to be like permanent storage solutions they slow the flow of water and absorb that water higher up on the landscape over you know a day or two or whatnot they hold those heavier rains temporarily while your soil is not capable absorbing it right away. So like in a really heavy rain when you have that potential for flood but you've only been on your farm for a few years so your soil is not perfect yet like a swale is a way to kind of hold it for a minute. Yeah, and you know this is just so the wood chips really worked and they helped to improve the capacity the absorption capacity of those swales really well. On the bottom left there the picture this is the one that east of the barn and that was definitely like too large to find sufficient like wood chips for so you know it really depends on your scale but that's where we. We planted cover crops a couple of times but we integrated our ducks on that swale to improve the soil there, and that was obnoxiously successful as well I should say because in the, you know like February early March you start a flock of ducks, they're in the barn under the heaters, then it's like spring, they're ready to go out, and by now with the spring rains, and all this like mosquito larva is like starting to form, and if you time it right then like those young ducks from like five weeks to seven weeks or you know whatever layers, you know, like they just indulge like it was it was really cool to see how much they loved it how much they consume as much standing water as we've been encouraging on the farm. So using ducks in that way has been really successful. Okay, I'm going to move on so those are all the things that we did before we attacked the pond. Let's see here. We invited a 24 we hired out a for a 24 foot excavator to clean the growth around the edges. He, his goals were to clear the growth, build up the bank to gain up some depth, secure the dam with installing an overflow pipe. We couldn't start the work until June of that year, it mostly because the conditions were so what that spring. So it was a later start than we wanted, but nonetheless, so he sliced the dam just enough to drain the pond. Just enough so the edges could dry so he could actually pull like all the stuff out of it. It really so we have our pond is maybe like three quarters of an acre. And he did like in less than a week, the whole project was done like in five days. I mean, a really like savvy hand of who's done this kind of work before it was very efficient. We paid him 5000 of that $5,000 of that grant went to his work. And it was worth every penny. As far as just watching somebody like really expert doing it. It is something to take into consideration where your location is it's like, what is the least amount of disturbance for the most possible transformation. So you're going to, you know, and that's why you have to be measure twice cut once like really think it through, you know, could we have done a total dredging of this pond like sure but then you might as well pull all those trees off the dam but then that turns into like a $50,000 project right so you know how little can you do to like really maximize your effect. If you hire the 5000 that you know we can do this by ourselves, you know, have a couple work parties grab a couple chainsaw like, but, you know, like that's not that wasn't right either right so you just have to kind of find the right size solution so taking the size of the equipment the compaction they're going to cause like all of that like definitely needs to be taken into consideration. So part of our grant is that we did do like a lot of the measurements. And I think originally it was in fact 12 feet which it would have been about 11 feet. And then so at the start of the grant in 2016 before the compaction the deepest part was about eight feet, maybe eight and a half if you really press the stick into the muck. So we thought that since the bank had a road in some parts but in some parts we had a little bit extra that we could in fact build the bank up enough, where it had deteriorated in order to build the bank to its original height and that would give us enough depth. So yeah, the excavator was really important to do this, redo the construction that structure of the pond. So how much depth can we do like how many of those cottonwood trees and automotive can we remove from the edge and willows. And then we have to just kind of wait a minute and wait for the pond to fill up again right there's a huge disturbance. You install the overflow, you know repair the dam where it was sliced, and then you kind of hold off a minute right like so. In, in that time we were using the BCS to till in cover crops, which I should give a shout out to Walnut Creek seeds for really great insight about how to mix proper cover crop seeds for like for our application, and also to earth tools for the awesome BCS we got from. I love that thing. It's been really useful. And I never once dropped it in the pond. So I should say, so after the excavation, because like, you know, he really made it nice on the edges but it was just like subsoil play. And then the next time I seeded in the cover crops like it was obviously like poor germination, but we did put in some, I think it was like some sort of a radish or turn up right something like deep rooted, and those had pretty good success and I was also really surprised how well the sunflowers grew. There were some really massive sunflowers that first summer. The ground didn't fill it until December because we had that year like obnoxiously a lot of rain in the first few months. And then we had that really, really long dry season. So we were a little worried like, they're going to be like, you know, is there going to be too many mosquitoes like are we ruining it by not filling it, you know, should we fill it with an alternative way. So it just seemed fine like nature's slow and I we I don't think anything bad happened because we waited too long. But then the other thing that we did as part of the grant so okay, we're looking to increase depth because our ponds not deep enough, we have like way too much growth around the edges. So we took care of that problem we also at that point had zero oxygen level zero dissolved oxygen in the water which means like fish population cannot live. So that was our third like big main challenge and our first attempt at the smallest solution possible it was to install this windmill to airy the pond. We don't have electricity down there it would be expensive cost prohibitive for us to run it. So let's see what this can do this is a 16 foot windmill. I got it from fenders down and I don't know what county that is maybe testosterone was or something like that. And it spins, and it's got a tube, and that tube goes all the way to the bottom, and you, and you attach that to a porous stone which is kind of like a diaphragm. And you put that inside of a five gallon bucket with some stones in it, and you swim it out through all that duckweed and the mark to the middle of the pond and you drop that bucket to the bottom. So then every time the wind blows that air is pushed to the bottom of the pond, and any tiny little air bubbles starts to push oxygen and air from the bottom of the top, from the bottom of the pond to the top. And ideally what you're creating is just like a moving air flow in the water, and you're breaking up those layers and really like starting to stir things up in a good way. And what we found out is that, you know, we're on a ridge, Western facing, we have immense winds and we're like, yes, windmill, this is going to be awesome, it's going to blow all the time. And it does except for like July, when your weed pressure is the highest and the winds like really don't blow. So that's an example of, you know, that was a problem that we ran into. And I think that tool the most is when it's least effective. So for us, I think this is not sufficient. The cat tails were into the water, he did the whole all around he was able to maneuver his excavator even on on the dam, and that's our steep slope into the water. It was a really great job there were some like really large trees that were starting to kind of fall in, even and die into the water. And then on the eastern edge is where the water feeds into the pond so the slope is really gradual. And he, there was a lot of, you know, thin willows, mostly and cat tails. And so he was able to get like, you know, past the cat tails and bring all that in. In some ways, we were able to ask him like he layered for kind of a future who will culture bed right like all of that debris I'm like he laid on contour like right there you know so you don't go too far but it'll be useful maybe later. But the rest of it, he buried, he buried and that's where we got some extra filtered from I, and this was a disturbance that I didn't take into consideration before I didn't know that he was going to do this so he like next, next to the pond. So he didn't have to go too far to, you know, because there's so much debris right like there's so much stuff to do something with. And so he dug like a 20 foot hole. Like 20 foot circumference and like 20 foot deep. It's basically he's like it's like one of those storage units is how like he sized it to me, and he just packs like all the stuff in there and then just kind of covered it with the subsoil but then he had some subsoil to work with. Yeah, you know, and now over the years I'm watching that spot as it's all like composting there it's all like stinking, you know, and so just that but that's what happened. I don't know yet. Like, I don't you know why haven't it like it already happened there was nothing I could do about it but it's like, you know, some people might think that maybe too much disturbance for you right like is that necessary would you rather just leave it on top and let it compost because you don't mind that ginormous compost pile. You know, but like but he thought, you know, he's a contractor so you know he's doing what he's doing and he's like well you need filter like where am I going to put this. All right, so we're still on the first year of the project now like the hard parts been done and now like the expensive part I should say, and now it's all free labor by the farmer right. So, let's see, this is still so so the windmill I should say this is a 16 foot windmill. It's still to assemble it ourselves you know just some pictures you guys can size it like people standing next to it, you know, like four of us could assemble that thing on a weekend and put it up no problem that's not like a giant project. But selecting the location for that windmill you have to be really thoughtful like, you know, is it going to maximizing the wind potential for that windmill. So here, you can see like, and that's what the edge looked like where those kids are standing you know, the cat tails, they come back so immediately, you know, like the way you're like okay we're immediately needing to manage it already. So in the top left you know the cover crop seating like we had great results but then like in 2020 I did that again. On the right like we did a lot of manual removal of weeds. The motorized tool the weed whacker we have a really good farm sized weed whacker you know, it was a really good tool to invest in. It worked really well for us, but the rake was really great to go behind and pull of that organic matter than out of the pond because you don't want to start filling it back up already right. We did am Leonard has some really good tools so if your pond is like less than a half acre or like a quarter acre or less like there's some really affordable tools that we tested on our farm and they worked really great. You know these like razor sharp kind of things that cut through the cat tails if you don't have like a weed whacker to work with like there's manual tool you don't need fossil fuels is what I'm saying if your pond is like under a half acre to manage the weeds. So we did attempt. We're testing this I haven't find if you guys know somebody who knows how to harvest duckweed effectively please tell me. We worked on it and worked on it there was like, you know, manual removal of duckweed is really hard. If for no other reason that it's heavy because it's so darn wet. So you can collect it but like the weight of it to get it out of the pond and out them. We didn't find a good solution we use nets we had like two paddle boards and we tried to like make the nets you know like strong and capable of lifting like it just seems like that would be a worthwhile research project because the amount of duckweed I was able to pull out of that. And give to our chickens, they do in fact love it like they did eat it up. So removing duckweed is placing your labor inefficiently because the extreme duckweed, because we still have it it's a symptom that the core of the problem has not been solved. So instead of wasting my time, like carrying duckweed like how do I get to the core to make the pond so it's not so attractive for so much duckweed. So there are other species I'm supposed to introduce is there not enough air still like right moving, or what are those things so you can really like, you know, get to that part so. And so another thing that I did in the second year especially was the rotating of the ducks around the pond. I hope we all know that leaving animals anywhere too long is a bad idea. Same with the ducks if I let the ducks live on that pond, it would just be a muck pond again, they would fertilize it way too much like it would it would lead to problems. But how do you mob grays ducks like they're, they can fly away or swim away or like, you know, I mean depending on the type of bird you have like some, some like to swim some like the fried. I would say that we evaluated three different types of ducks, the muscovies these brown box or golden layers like depending which catalog you're looking at, and the muscovies to see like which ones worked better or worse, and what type of housing they needed. We considered like building them an island. So they could nest and stay out there to relieve predator issues. We chose not to do that because we needed them to fertilize the edge of the pond, but also because we don't our ducks, we don't have too many predators for our ducks. Or we didn't until this winter, because the pond for different story, but for the duration of the pond like we really didn't have great like, you know, especially in the warmer season when the pond's not freezing over like ducks can just be out on the water and that's enough security for them. And we build these shelters it was really effective they really the pecans like really surprised how like they really did not make a dent in the duckweed they barely they ate it but it was not anything. But with the impact they had around the edge alongside the cover crops was really impressive like I really like running ducks to improve the soil or clay soil they're fertilizing like everything they eat all the bugs like they're really really useful so again like in the standing water with all this duckweed and not enough aeration we had like no mosquito issues and to me that symbolizes that we like you know that they're doing their work. So as we were observing the consequences of our actions, even in 2020. We were evaluating that as predicted like this was not a one and done this was just the beginning of a pond restoration it was the first big step if you will to bring this pond back to life. And Sarah really funded like the most valuable step in this process. Without them we really couldn't have afforded to get going on this at all. So in 2021 we took the time to let the dust settle so to speak, and we conducted some minimal management. We removed cat tails and mowed the edges, like that riparian buffer zone about three times last year to really make sure none of that was going to seed or spreading at all. We also started pumping water to livestock. I found a really amazing little solar powered pump. It just takes like 100 watt solar panel like a little battery and it is powerful. It pumps water for my livestock, 80 foot rise 1600 foot run on a sunny day I stand there and with the hose and water is running out like not trickling, but like moving so I and I don't think the company makes anything else but they make a really solid submergeable pump. And let's see so we definitely got that pump and we've been messing with it the only thing to it is really that the duckweed clogs it in July when you need it most so filtration is a key step there. Well, it depends on how far it goes. I don't remember then I don't remember. I know it's supposed to come with like a gallon per minute thing but I don't remember what that number is. So, the other thing in 2021 that happened is that we found finally, I don't know why it took us so long, great company to work with with for technical expertise and products. And one of their reps that's sitting right here Amanda she can answer some technical questions if we have them. And then we evaluated opportunities to like fix that spillway that didn't get substantially build up to build it up or to create an. So, when we were digging out and we got that extra field dirt right because we needed to build up the bank where it had deteriorated over time of mismanagement. It wasn't sufficient, like we really didn't have enough filter to build build it up enough, and we didn't have the funds to bring in more filtered and compacted enough and do all that work so we kind of paused. Another observation that I had is that this spillway over time was kind of like creating this wetland habitat we started identifying like what Glenn what land plants, you know even like native useful ones like in that space. And for the research I thought well, that would be kind of neat we have the overflow pipe and that could be kind of like our emergency secondary measure instead of our primary measure and our initial one can in fact be a more like a better managed overflow system into a little like what land seasonal pool. And what would that look like, and how much space would be dedicated to it and then where would that overflow feed you know. So now I'm like thinking, like not the construction of this as a set as it is like what are other opportunities to kind of complicate matters, and actually like diversify the habitat a little bit more. Having a space like that might also help with like that water filtration step and things like that so basically you know 2021 like we really pause because we also had a couple other like massive priorities on the farm. You know we did minimal management, but really kind of evaluated like okay you know now like what are the challenges that we still have going forward, which things that we get to a point where we can just now kind of manage it. And what can we check off our list of like really like accomplishments and like what have we actually accomplished in this time. So, I just talked about 2021 so then these are our planned activities for 2022 going forward. We're going to, you know, we still need to gain depth so right at first we tried to gain depth by building up. Now we will introduce the wetland thing is a dream right but like what we will actually do in 2022 like a technical decision that will get us results right now is that we're going to introduce microbes to gain depth by digging down. I didn't know about this again like I wish in my year one I kind of feel a little silly right because I wish in like 2016 I could just like Google this stuff. I just be like, you know, these are your solutions, you can dredge your pond for $50,000, you can, you know, introduce some microbes for $100, you know, or you can do this that and the other these are the species that you want to introduce to your pond. Like it just it seemed like I was really just kind of like, like why didn't I come across this before I like blew my mind, because I really was like actively researching you know my research for this was, there's a couple good professors I shouldn't understate like I'd always you that do pond management or have a lot of pond research done, you know, so they were really useful but it seemed like, anyway, that's a side note that not enough information out there to go on, or maybe too much right. Well, we didn't have like an algae problem though so like, you know, and again like I what I realized is that I really didn't want to like just fix problems because I knew that at the core the pond just wasn't healthy so it's kind of like, you know I don't want to just fix this problem and this problem is this problem is like, what can I do to actually just build a healthy pond. So, it seemed like, in our case the pond was so deteriorated that it was really important to take kind of like those. We needed bigger solutions at that point, you know, and the pond was like large enough to where it, you know, things like that it's like it's too risky and a little bit costly to kind of like, you know. So, the microbes are neat and they're basically like microbes are just bacteria right and they consume anaerobic or aerobic organisms, and they have helped to basically like in the most general sense, again, is to diversify your ecology and put some soldiers in there that will do the thing that's not currently being done. Like, what is the gap in your closed loop system right if there's a complete food chain, what's missing like in your situation like is it too much algae or is it too much this is it too much that like, what is missing that's causing those symptoms. Like, what we are going to do this year we're going to introduce microbes in a prescribed expert supported amounts and times, and we are going to increase air circulation by figuring out how to get more solar power to, because the windmills we can install multiple times, but one windmill is not going to add more oxygen flow so we're, it looks, you know, you still use those stones that bubble from the bottom like those aerators, but now we just need to discover an affordable but additional energy source to power those aerators. Evidently, aeration like is more, more effective when you're pushing like those fountains they're beautiful and they have other value but what I found is that they're not actually as efficient. And additionally, we don't have electricity down at the pond and for us it's a very limiting factor. So the windmill seemed like the most affordable first solution to introduce and to see what results that got us. And so now it's even and we kind of knew wouldn't be enough but I really just wanted to see that for myself like what does not enough look like. And so, you know, so it seems like for our size pond again which is about three quarters of an acre you'd need like about three, three aerators at the bottom, and that ought to be like sufficient to get things going more. So yes, you need like in one way or another, you need to create air circulation or water movement like you need to aerate your pond. That's why they don't exist in nature, unless they're spring fed. You know, sitting water is like flow flowing waters like the healthiest water like rivers right it's filtered etc but so that's one you need to make sure that it has like all of that habitat and all of that opportunity for all of the life forms to exist that would create that like complete life cycle. So by a couple years I hope that again like we want to maximize yields from the pond. Like how cool is it that I can introduce an annual fish that is fed by my weed that helps to improve my pond. And then in the fall I have an annual fish harvest I mean who doesn't want like a farm to table fish in Ohio. You know so like it might not be like an a silver bullet right but it's useful. It'll be I'll invite you out for the barrel fish catching party though you know that could be a fun event but you can see how like that opportunity can like evolve and like you know you can creatively incorporate that into it so. Yeah, so our goals like you know we won't accomplish it this year but I think it's really realistic that within three years like what we will be able to accomplish our kind of ultimate goals is to introduce the bath and bluegill population to into the pond and then within a couple years you know you can even diversify that even further. To me that's kind of, I don't know, I think it's valid to kind of take that as a measure of success, you know that you can really like just sustain a healthy fish population. We would like to implement you know so then again, like once that done like what how is this pond like a really valuable part of the whole system so you know we're pumping a little bit to use that water but how cool would it be to actually pump a lot of that water uphill. Feed that through our swales and orchards to passively irrigate it and then to kind of feed it back into the pond and create like a constantly flowing water on your water system. Yes. Yes. Considerations for your pond management. Define your goals. Why do you have a pond? Why? And is there another reason? And is there a third reason? Is there a fourth reason? What are you trying to get out of it? Like why? Why do you manage a pond? Unless all those reasons, all of your needs from it and then design that from the big system to the small system. If you have goals for the pond, is it possible that you can actually achieve those goals by doing something upstream? You can maybe do something smaller upstream. You know, if your pond is always flooding, can you slow that water uphill so it doesn't, you know, before it gets to the pond. You know, again, like small and slow solutions make small mistakes. They're a lot easier to fix. Observe and respond to feedback. You know, nature's always going to tell you what's working and what's not working. She'll reward good behavior and she'll, you know, punish the bad behavior. So like you'll know if you're messing it up, you know, it's not like rocket science at the end of the day. Like if I can do it, you can definitely do it. Like once you start asking yourself those questions about like, well, and now you have a second goal for it, right? And then you have a third kind of goal for it. That's maybe a little kind of fuzzy still because you just think it's a potential opportunity. Yeah, right. So like once you really start like asking yourself those questions to push your idea further and further, like then I think the answer will kind of present itself about the site, the site selection, you know. So you obviously want it placed closer to that one acre to the garden, right? So you don't have to pump the water too much. Is there, I mean, when you say flat, is it like 100% slow, you know, flat, or is there in fact like a teeny tiny slope to it, right? So is there any like roofs or driveways or roads or other surfaces from which you're really collecting water, that you can locate that pond in a way that really catches the most possible, the most, you know, of the available water. You know, like things like that is what's really going to drive your idea forward and then sketching that out on a map. It's like, okay, well, let's draft this out, you know, this is probably the wrong answer, but let's see what happens. Like if I put the pond over here, what does that mean, right? Like, and then you like play that out on paper, like what are all the consequences. It's like, well, this is really close to, you know, like the forest, we might attract more wildlife or this is potentially too close to the road and I know they spray that road. So all that water from the road is going to go into my pond, right? So like you really start developing that idea and just like drafting after drafting after drafting of it. And then really identifying that that is in fact the right size solution. One I would like to introduce Amanda because she works for inspired by nature and that company is right outside of Toledo and the gentleman who runs it is also like in the permaculture frame of thought. And they, you know, I'm really looking forward to having them give me guidance as to like my next steps and more now that I can dive like into more of the technical, you know, the aspects of it. And they are a really good source for a lot of this information. But as far as like, so the basic tools that I used for contours and maps and figuring out the slopes and all that is on a small scale. You ought to build yourself an A frame. It is a really fantastic exercise to really feel what contours are all about and to really like own that concept. Because after a while, what that helps you to do is really just kind of feel the contours, you know what I mean. So you won't be so like dependent on that external information, because there's definitely like topo maps and if you there's these days there's like really fantastic apps out there that I'm like way too old to be savvy about. But that will like just give you like really detailed topo maps like I know they exist. So I'm like, it can be a little bit outdated as far as like if you've been on the property like water flows and contours, especially in smaller spaces like change so what it says on the map. Like you should definitely measure your own contours in that space like as you're making those decisions to and then the A frame is really great again just as an educational tool but in practical terms. It was a nice laser level it was a big investment for me at 600 bucks but I got the nice one, and I really have gotten all my, a lot of bang for my buck on that because I can use it by myself out on the field. It is like precise to an inch. It has been like really, really precise and a frame is at the most basic way to build the level, like a tool for measuring level. So you have the A and you hang a string with a stone that so gravity pulls that stone down, and as it stays on a level, you know you you mark the spot on the horizontal part of the a words level. And then as you walk it uphill. You, I'm not going to describe this very well in words because like once you do it you kind of see the exercise but it's basically that stone hanging between that a is telling you where it's level and where it's not and by how much. And you can really like keep finding your level line because the stone and the string like always line up as you go the other tool and our toolkit that because of our circumstances we weren't allowed to use as a biological control or grass carp. They are invasive and like super controversial, but potentially if managed well can be extremely effective for helping you clear out weeds in your pond. Thank you for coming you guys.