permaculture

[DGilsen@aol.com]

Making a pond is no big deal ...... unless you don't have the right  stuff.  
first dig a hole.  then you tamp the earth with a mechanical  tamper.  the 
hand tampers are too slow and don't tamp hard enough to  compact the soil.  
If 
you have a hard red clay like we used to have the  sides and bottom of the 
pond 
will with lots of pounding become impervious to  water and then add water and 
go from there.  
     The red clay is the key to the pond holding  water.  Now I live out in 
the desert and a thick clay called adobe can be  used. You soak the ground 
and 
make a thick mud , smear it on the  chicken wire lined hole thickly, when it 
is almost dry you pound it with a  rented tamper till the walls are smooth 
and 
almost polished looking.let it dry  and wait sever weeks and voila you have a 
pond.  You must make a dock or  steps because the bottom and sides when long 
wet can be caused to leak if you  poke a hole in the soften mud.  there used 
to 
be people who sold the  impervious clay to line ponds.  Or you can take the 
easy way out and line  your pond with a very thick impervious cement or a 
very 
heavy pond plastic  liner all of these work, and are ok.  If you are a purest 
look around  for a farm agent from the local state or local university for 
free info.   Hope this helps.
Carol



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