Seasonal Creek = Pond?

When we get a lot of snow melt and rain combined as we've had the past week, we get a seasonal creek at the bottom of our yard.  The old-timers tell me that there used to be a creek (in this part of the country it's pronounced, "crick"!), but many years ago, there was a really bad drought and I'm told it went underground.  You can find evidence of the old creek channel when you walk through the forest.  

We've spent some time discussing this wet patch in our back yard.  We would love to dig it out and have a small pond.  There's just something about a pond that draws children.  They can spend hours poking around the edges, catching tadpoles and salamanders, and dipping their feet on a hot day.  Myself, I envision a small pond that would hold tilapia.  We could fish our own little pond and have Friday fish fries.  Maybe the peepers would come and I could open the windows and listen to them signal a warm summer's night.    

We have found that in our back yard, if you dig down a few feet, the hole starts to fill with water.  There are a lot of questions to making a small pond work properly.  The worst to happen would be to dig the hole for a pond and end up with a mosquito breeding area.   When we finish our many, many other projects, and finally have time to turn our eyes to creating this little pond, we would have to do a lot of research into creating a pond that is a pleasant addition to the farm.  We'll have to figure out how to keep it aerated and how to keeping the water moving, etc.  If any of my readers have ever done a project like this, I would love to hear your pros and cons and any advice you may have! 

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?

~ Ralph Marston

(Click On Me)