New Pond Brings New Future to Heron Pond Farm
Hello Heron Pond Family
As 2009 comes to an end Heron Pond Farm has an eye on making the most of 2010. With CSA demand increasing and the general theme of the farm seem to be “grow more diverse crops” we needed a greater area that we could readily get water to. This will help us grow the type of crops our customers have been looking.
Additionally in order to stretch our seasons in an good way we will need to put up more greenhouses and cold frames. The biggest part of witch is the Haygrove tunnel project that we are looking to get going sooner then later. In order to make this kind of investment in cold frames we need to make sure that we had reliable water.
So Greg and I have put a long, longed for pond in the mid-field. The first step was to pull back
all the top soil were the pond was going to go. This leaves only the sub soil and gravel to deal with while digging the hole. Most folks don't know that the water actually is held in the gravel under the soil. It runs like underground rivers till it reaches the surface. The trick with ponds is to find a big enough gravel field close enough to the surface, with a recharge rate grater then you will pull out. If any of you have hiked up to the mid-field then you will know that it is perfect.
As the pond fills up the banks must be stabilized. Some of that top soil that was scraped off will be put back around the pond to plant grass into. This will give the pond more stability, but that is not enough. There will be a overflow culvert installed about two feet below the top and draining downhill.
When this pond reaches it capacity it will be about 95,000 gallons. There are seven acres of land right around the new pond. In the past we would only take a chance with corn and potatoes but now anything we grow can be grown here.
Photos are nice but I think that this video will give you a better scene of the place:
We have been restricted in how many CSA shares we have been able to offer till now. The CSA represents the fastest path for Heron Pond Farm to reach economic sustainability. We are so close we can taste it, along with all our good food. You can help us by turning your friends on to Heron Pond Farm as well as registering yourself. We have a new on line registration method. You are in control of picking your location, day, and can register as many e-mail addresses per account as you like. This will let everyone involved in your share to get all the news about the CSA. Of course you can still download a registration form and send it in.
Hope to here from you all soon.
Andre