permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

This is from a friend of mine who's been trying to ubscribe to this 
list but has been having trouble; she asked me to post it. Please cc 
her in any reply. --Toby



Hello, my name is Anne Erlandson. 
 
I'm a newbie permaculturist (just discovered Pc last fall and took a 
PDC last Dec) and am trying to do a Pc makeover on my Seattle, 
Wa yard.  I've got most of it figured out, but I'm kinda stuck on the 
pond.  I've got space for a 10'x10' (wavy edged) pond and want to 
design it to host fish, frogs (and other amphibians if appropriate) and 
ducks.  My soil is practically pure sand (medial moraine) so I'm going 
to have to put down a pond liner (probably with old carpet underneath 
for longevity).  I'd like to design the pond so that it is as self 
regulating as possible so that I don't have to bother with filtration, 
aeration etc if possible and so that radical pond cleanout is kept to a 
minimum.  For the summer (dry) months, I'm probably going to attempt to 
keep the water levels up with greywater that has been filtered through 
a constructed wetland .
 
So my questions are:
 
Can I do this!?  All of the pond books that I've found at my library 
are for the ornamental gardener type and the designs all mandate that 
you keep the water clean and keep the poop out.  But, there must be 
another way!  :)
 
What type of fish?  I've heard that fish eat mosquito eggs so we've 
gotta have them, but what kind would be happy in my small pond.  What 
will they eat?  I don't really want to have to feed them fish food.
 
What kinds of plants?  What plants will do all the filtering, aerating, 
fish feeding, etc so that I don't have to?
 
Is shade mandatory?  My yard is currently pretty exposed, though I'm 
working on it with my nascent food forest. 
 
How deep?  For the fish, for the amphibians etc.
 
Am I overlooking anything?
 
Thanks!
 
Anne
 
 

"We do not inherit the Earth from our parents;
we borrow the Earth from our children." - Anon