I thought I would post a quick update about the pond construction.

The rainy season is drawing near to an end, and the water level has been rising steadily. The amount of sun hitting the stagnant rainwater is leading to a fair amount of algae blooming in the pond. But I am hopeful that the water level will soon be high enough to turn on the pumps (which are now fully complete) to start circulating and filtering the pond water.

The sand is very close to completion on the main regeneration zone.

All of the sand washing by hand has taken quite a lot of time. Much longer than anticipated. But while I almost regret it, I don’t quite. Besides helping to keep the water clear by not dumping a whole bunch of dusty fine sand particles into the water, I am also worried that the finer particles could have ended up blocking the inlet holes in the PVC pipes that go under the sand regeneration zone.

Additionally, after all of the rains, the plants have sprouted back up all around the land. This gives it a much more pleasant feel when walking around. Particularly around sunset and shortly after, the wind blows through the trees and the sound of the frogs and the birds gives it a bucolic feel that really leaves me wanting to move in and live here.

You can see in the first picture at the top of this post, and on the left and right sides in this picture that we built small “pump sheds” for the three filter pumps. (In the picture above, there is one pump in the shed on the left, and two pumps in the shed on the right side.) These sheds are made from polycarbonate sheeting to keep the rain off of the electronics, but I am looking for a source of bamboo sheeting to cover it for aesthetic purposes. You can also see on the right side of frame on the banks of the pond, we began planting some crops in areas the morning glory vines hadn’t gotten to yet. Currently we have mostly corn and a few bean stalks planted. Besides for food, the plants will hopefully reduce the soil runoff from the rain and hold the soil in place until the water level rises enough to submerge it.

So far, the soil has proven remarkably fertile. Without any real effort, we have had bountiful corn, beans, rice, papaya, chili peppers, and more. Praew even asked one of our friends who is helping us with the landscaping to try walking around and just throw some beans and other seeds on the ground around the land to see which plants like to grow where. This was a few weeks ago and a number of these have sprouted and are growing surprisingly quickly.

Another interesting thing is the morning glory, which dominates most parts of the land where we aren’t doing anything. (We’ve picked some and taken it home and fried it up. Eaten with a Thai omelette and rice, it makes for a pretty tasty veggie.) It seems to grow out of the soil and into the pond like a weed. But the areas where it grows over the pond have crystal clear water and thousands if not millions of little tadpoles. I will try to take some pictures of these guys soon.