Hand Digging Ponds - In-Depth Discussion

I take a more thorough look at the pond systems developing on our site. After 8 years of working on how water moves through the 6 acres of Edible Acres, we have over 20 small ponds and interconnecting water ways. They have been dug and developed entirely with hand tools and without pre-design / measurements / maps, etc. This style of water working is more in line with how the vast majority of humanity has and still works with water in productive landscapes. I'm hoping this video gets people feeling empowered to try to manage how water moves and relaxes in their land without machines and complexity.

Edible Acres is a full service permaculture nursery located in the Finger Lakes area of NY state. We grow all layers of perennial food forest systems and provide super hardy, edible, useful, medicinal, easy to propagate, perennial plants for sale locally or for shipping around the country...
We also offer consultation and support in our region or remotely.
Happy growing!

[edibleacres]

Mosquitoes... Thought I'd address it in one comment here. It's always coming up on videos I do about waterways and ponds, etc. When you have a pond, you invite frogs, and other water loving beings. They eat mosquito larvae. Ponds help reduce mosquito populations, I've found, rather than increase them. Just my personal experience, but after 8 years of working with these systems I find very little mosquito pressure happening...

[blixten]

VERY useful!! 99% of the pond videos are about digging a hole. This shows how to work with the land, using the soil removed, integrating water into a great agricultural system. JUST what I needed!

[gordonsmith]

I love that you sharpen your shovel not a lot of people do that but it makes all the difference in the world

[tuscanr]

Love the appreciation for a slow build and taking time to understand the water flow and levels. So many people want something done and 'finished' in a short time frame, there can be so much value in slowing things down.

[gelflingfay]

You won me over completely when you said you didn't want to use a liner 💖

[jameslumley]

I admire your ambition. Over a period of 35 years I have turned an old worn out 1880 farm into a nature paradise with forest and three ponds. I save my shoveling mostly for tree planting. Some many years ago I acquired an old D4 bulldozer that I patched back together. Yes a wheel barrel and a shovel and an ambitious man can do a lot but I highly recommend mechanical help if you can. I am in Michigan. If you were closer I would push some holes for you on an exchange basis. My biggest pond is about one and a half acres and is over twenty feet deep in part but I had professional help to root that out. I hope I can construct a few more ponds before I get to old to care about it and I'm already 73 yrs.

[jmo]

Wow, how did I miss this? I've been hand digging a pond as my therapy for healing my hip replacement. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and I love it. Excited to watch the video.

[annasophia]

I'm so glad I found your channel!! I discovered a lake uphill on my land, next to an old well of my 1755 farmhouse. I'm so excited to make good compost and create a sustainable systems on the farm.

[ImagineMedia]

Probably the best video I've found on creating hand dug ponds. I've been observing the water on our property for a while and now I'm ready to start digging - small and slow like you suggest.
I love the videos you create - keep on doing it, you are sharing some very important information.

[homesteadcourt]

You are an artist and your use of language is rare. New sub here.
That's a ton more work than using equipment like I have, but I think your method is much better. Far less damage to the area around your digging and all that goes with it. Excellent!

[sleepermd]

One of the things I look forward to most in the week is watching your videos. You channel is currently my favorite YouTube channel.

[mascatrails]

This is fantastic! Congratulations on slowly developing such a fantastic landscape and skill level at reading and modifying landscapes and waterflows. My chickens just uncovered a spring I couldn't locate, so I think it's time for me to get out there and start playing with that waterflow.

[Bpt]

Yes I very much enjoy playing around with these concepts! I love your respect for the land, and your approach to moving the water around - it is what I want to do with my own land.

[nickviney]

Thanks for sharing. Good to know that there are others out there alone with but shovels to lean upon and observe.

[mikehitchcock]

Fascinating.. I'm reclaiming a duck pond, hand dug outta my marsh on my property for also, a reflection pond area to sit & enjoy the shimmer of the pond

[JasonMichaelKotarski]

I am so glad you did this video to explain the reasons behind not moving water from point A to point B as if it were a nuisance. It is a banked (pardon the pun) resource, maintaining what you receive with future needs in a balanced account. I can only assume your spring and summer watering is reduced dramatically by the use of this retention of resources. I can only imagine how happy and prolific your elderberries will be. Cheers to you!

[josephmarkle]

Loved it....you have great articulation! And I thought I was crazy! I bought this property with three ditches turning into rivers every rain event....one ditch up front I hand dug and dammed to make a big curving pond which is ever fascinating....I'm going to enlarge it....enormous labor but I enjoy it...sometimes after major storm the entire d breast becomes a waterfall....and with grass it usually holds....I'll probably dam the other dutches for more ponds! Digging deeper and bigger scenic holes which fill with rainwater is great fun....and good exercise!

[nichegames]

Cool results. I'm glad that worked for you back yard. I'd have a hard time in my back yard. Super rocky.

[Questinia]

I've been doing this same thing except with one pond that I've hand dug over the past number of years (which continues to evolve). You describe my experience perfectly: the water has a dialogue with the digger and reveals its nature through the iterative digging. Observation and patience are as important as the labor. Thanks for your video.

[skaetzle]

thanks for all the info. we have a kind of boggy property and have started to dig a pond at the higher end just like you did, planning to connect it to small waterways further down. we just moved here a year ago, so we are only at the beginning of our adventure. i find your videos to be very inspirational!