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  • From: Vint Lawrence <vlawrence AT nets.com>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: soil improvement
  • Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 11:07:53 -0700

Joan,
Several things to consider.
1. Why did your pond go dry? Simply surface evaporation or did it leak at a rate greater than it was replenished by rainfall runoff?
2. How was the pond originally constructed/ was it lined with clay(Bentonite) and has this been removed by the previous dredging/soil removal?
3. Have you considered utilizing swales, gabions, and similar structures to trap the sediment before it runs into your pond? This is your topsoil that is ending up at the bottom of the pond where it is obviously less useful than up on the slope where it belongs.

Although clay lining is not harmful, perhaps you should consider lining the pond after you deepen it. As this would preclude further silt removal, it would limit its usefulness in this regard, however, riparian/pond environments are much more productive of protein than land based systems. Food conversion rates can approach 2/1 in fish pond production. The pond is more valuable as a resource if it can be kept partially filled and supporting the life forms in that habitat. It takes a minimum of several years to establish a balanced riparian habitat/food system. To sacrifice the capacity of such a productive system for the possibility of "mining" erosion runoff does not seem like an ecological or labor saving program.
If you prefer not to use bentonite or a membrane liner, another possible means to seal the bottom of the pond when you have excavated it is a traditional process called "gleying" where cattle or hogs are temporarily corraled in the pond bottom area (when it is not full of water, of course). The combination of their manure and hoof action created a biologically active layer of microorganisms which, when subsequently submerged, provide a virtually waterproof layer at the bottom of the pond.
I stongly encourage you to look at creating a multi-function permaculture system at your pond - fish, aquatic herbs, ducks/geese, edible tubers (wapato potato), reeds, bamboos, etc. At the same time, control/eliminate the upslope erosion that is the source of your siltation problem to begin with. In the long run you will be happier and enjoying much more diverse and abundant production.
Vint Lawrence
Apache Creek Ranch Permaculture
Santa Fe, NM

Joan Vibert wrote:

I could use some input on this.  I am considering renting some sort of a front loader for a day and hauling out several truck loads of soil from one of our ponds that went dry in the drought last summer.  I was just up there this afternoon and the soil is wonderful ­ very friable, with a fair amount of sand in it- which we could use.  The pond was full of fish and other life forms so I would think that there would be good nutrients in the soil.  Plus it wouldn’t hurt to deepen the pond.  This has to be done before the spring rains hit.  Btw ­ the watershed for the pond is solely on our land, its all pasture so I don’t have to worry about chemicals, etc.  So is this worth the effort?  Would it replace the large truck load of compost I was considering buying?  I have some compost, always enough for all of our transplants.  I’m looking to improve the fertility of our soil.

joan vibert
windwalker farm
ottawa, kansas ---




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