Pond Filling Up
(Continued from Pond Digging.)
At first, the groundwater, which had been about three feet below the ground surface, seeped into the hole.
Then there was three inches of rain in a few days. The rise in water level was obvious.
More interesting was that the water level continued rising for several days afterwards. Presumably, it was seeping, just below the ground surface, into the low-lying pond.
Note the rock at the far end of the pond.
Here it is before the water reached it.
For a sense of scale, Claire is a bit more than 30 ft. from the edge of the water.
Note the greenish tinge. Clover and timothy grass are starting to show amongst the hay.
The seed people say these hardy little plants will wait all Winter and continue growing in the Spring.
On the hill near by, we also found seeds of Cinquefoil, and St. John's Wort. We gathered enough to spread over most of the area. Together they should grow into a thorough ground cover with a solid root mass. To top it off, we gathered Sumac seeds which we planted along the back edge of the clearing to the right, looking from the up-hill end. They will be red in the Fall when they have grown.
First snow.
As the snow melted, the water level rose more.
Then froze.
See below how the ice has risen again. Open water is seen all around the edges. Step over it and the ice is strong enough to walk about.
This is where the water flows in from the garden end of the area. The seeping water enters in a variety of places.
Another six inches and water will cover the ground between the garden, the pond and the down-hill slope where the entire area drains out to the South. The next time we have a digger in, we will have a water-way formed that will be grassed over to keep the water at the level shown above.
Winter seems to have arrived.
With the snow pushed out of the way, the pond is skate-able.
Let us know if you would like to join us for a skate. If the snow doesn't get too deep, it would be fun.
If there is more snow, the toboggan hill is 100 feet of steady slope. You could go another 75 ft. if you bank onto the ice from the hill.
As of Winter Solstice, the pond is full to where further water flows out the far end, over the edge of this plateau. Note: the toboggans at the bottom left. We have slid from the hill top all the way to past the island. Watch this space for a tobogganing picture.
Below is the outflow area. After we dig a shallow drainage ditch, the pond level won't get this high as it would flood some garden beds at the other end.
However, when the ditch gets dug, we will have the stumps removed and the area leveled. A simple control structure at the out-flow end would enable an additional 200 ft. or so of skating area and possibly as much in the other direction, toward the garden. When Spring arrives, the shallow dam could be opened and the water level would return to optimal for the gardening season.
Unrelated, tho not too far away,
These nearly 5.5 inch bear-paw prints are in the same area where we saw some last year in an early snow. Presumably it is heading off to its hibernation place. Don't worry about bears if you are visiting. You would be very lucky to see one. When a bear around here hears a human, it takes off directly in the oposite direction.
The snow is getting deep.
