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Post by stone on Feb 21, 2020 13:45:23 GMT -5
Don't put pigs in there!
Sorry that you are feeling your age...
I've been dealing with arthritis for 1/2 my life... Pretty much used to it...
It's more about eating right and not drinking as anything...
Still... Those "heavy gravity days" are about the worst part of it... Although the new sensitivity on the bottoms of my feet are interesting... Feels like sand in my shoe, even with new socks and shoes!
But... I'd get in there with a shovel and dig the mud out...
It's going to take a lot of experimentation to discover a way to dig with the suction of the wet mud holding the shovel back... That and stopping to bail...
I was always a fan of using the shovel, though...
Trying to get equipment in there is likely to result in the equipment getting stuck... You don't want that!
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Post by stone on Feb 21, 2020 14:33:31 GMT -5
If you'd rather just dig a new "pond"...
You could plant lousiana iris in the mud of the old one... And depending on how cold it gets there, maybe some lotus... And/or a patch of saracenia...
Lots of potential!
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 21, 2020 17:07:26 GMT -5
If you'd rather just dig a new "pond"... You could plant lousiana iris in the mud of the old one... And depending on how cold it gets there, maybe some lotus... And/or a patch of saracenia... Lots of potential! Or... if I could be SURE the water wasn't coming back, do a sub surface green house, soil insulated, like they have done in Peru with the campesinos (or locals, don't know the term for the people there other than Peruvians.  My very own fallout shelter/ root cellar/greenhouse lol It's too deep to be of much benefit for iris and such, wouldn't be able to see them unless standing on the edge. |
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 21, 2020 17:20:20 GMT -5
Don't put pigs in there! Sorry that you are feeling your age... I've been dealing with arthritis for 1/2 my life... Pretty much used to it... It's more about eating right and not drinking as anything... Still... Those "heavy gravity days" are about the worst part of it... Although the new sensitivity on the bottoms of my feet are interesting... Feels like sand in my shoe, even with new socks and shoes! But... I'd get in there with a shovel and dig the mud out... It's going to take a lot of experimentation to discover a way to dig with the suction of the wet mud holding the shovel back... That and stopping to bail... I was always a fan of using the shovel, though... Trying to get equipment in there is likely to result in the equipment getting stuck... You don't want that! ummmm why not put pigs in there? It's a well established way to seal a pond and works well according to reports of people who tried it...and then you get to eat the laborer, which seems ungrateful but nature is red in tooth and claw. Anyone who drove a machine into the pond, or fell into it would be being very careless. Backhoes reach quite long distances these days so unless they couldn't pack it down firmly enough with the bucket, no reason to go in there at all. A machine could reach in from three sides very easilly...the fourth might be a bit of a challenge. Digging the mud out by hand is not an option for me. My bones would be found in there eventually after the coyotes had been and gone, I suppose. Which would be ok, but not yet. Need to check out the cost and methodology of applying kaolin.
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Post by stone on Feb 21, 2020 17:26:37 GMT -5
If you want your pond to smell like a hog lot... And really enjoy watching pigs wallow... Then... The hogs would absolutely be in hog heaven...
But... I can't imagine using the water for anything... Except maybe to grow catfish or something.
I don't think it would be safe to water any of the other livestock... And... Iffy to water your garden with...
Ever wonder why there are so many recalls on produce? It was watered with contaminated water.
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 22, 2020 14:51:04 GMT -5
well I'm not sure you have the correct information about how it works... and I have no concerns about using the water for a garden OR other livestock. For one thing, it would be used on the soil not sprayed on the edible parts of the produce, and for another a pond is a living active entity, not an inert, simple storage area to breed disease and pestilence. Plants, cattails especially, are quite remarkable at cleaning water. There are a number of examples of plants being used to clean sewage waste to the point the water tests out as perfectly potable, although that is not something that I would plan to try. In the meantime, moose have happilly been wading into the pond for decades...their hooves might actually have been what punched a hole in the bottom. I need a family of beavers!
The other thing is that this doesn't involve tons of hog manure, pigs are actually very clean animals and select an area to use as their bathroom. Unlike humans, most animals and pigs in particular loathe and try hard to avoid polluting their own living space if they can avoid it. That's one of the things I've been wondering about, how they are handled so that the manure isn't just in one spot, which of course would be of limited usefulness.
In any case, this morning someone offered some bags of bentonite clay on Kijiji so I am off to pick those up and so in early summer will try that and see if it works.
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Post by stone on Feb 22, 2020 15:34:13 GMT -5
Someone is pulling your leg...
I grew up around hogs...
Very filthy animals... Like hippos, will urinate and defecate while laying in the muck.
While you attempt to keep the filth off the leaves, rain splashes it back up... And... As careful as I try to water... I never keep it completely off the leaves.
rather than talk about how "clean" hogs are... Suggest you visit some hog farmers... Doesn't take many to stink up the place.
Above was taken from a site about wild hogs... But the feral hogs in the Americas are domestic hogs allowed to roam free.
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 22, 2020 21:08:50 GMT -5
raised pigs myself thanks very much.
We had Red Wattles mostly but some commercial as well. I don't know how other people keep their pigs but ours were all always very fastidious about keeping their pens as clean as possible. Of course they were generally able to go outside except when they had very young piglets in which case they were kept in 15x10 pens.. very easy to clean as everything was always in a neat pile in the corner, unlike horses who make a total mess of stalls. From some highly inhumane and horrific piggeries I've seen, the pigs have no choice but to foul their stalls, there isn't any room, often, for them even to turn around and for some sows it's made as difficult as possible for them even to stand up so they can't possibly lie down on a piglet or roll over and crush it.
People freak out about parents rolling over and crushing their babies who sleep with them..I have known many parents who slept with their infants - even twins - in the same bed and not one ever rolled on their babies. We allowed pregnant sows to give birth in large pens and never once had a problem. I have heard it said that pigs get a bad rap for being filthy but are often kept in conditions such as make it impossible for them not to be and that I tend to think is generally true.
I've never kept wild hogs so have no idea about them, although I'm not entirely convinced that they are all simply feral domestic pigs. Red Wattles WERE domestic hogs more or less abandoned for generations after the breeder died. I know how ours were and they certainly were nothing like what you are quoting, although I suppose it's slightly possible we got all unique genetics in ours. Red Wattles are now endangered, mostly because they have more fat than the tasteless and tough lean Yorkshire pork we now get, and of course also because they have the red hair etc and abbatoirs loathe anything different that may take a little more time and work.
Unlike the reputation of wild hogs, they are also very mild mannered and also very large. Once had some babies escape under a fence from their Yorkshire mom into a neighboring field with some Red Wattle gilts. Two found them and tried to nurse them. if the circumstances had been reversed and they had been Red Wattle piglets, the Yorkshire sow would likely have tried to eat them. Our boar liked nothing more than having his back scratched with a barn broom, he was about 6 or more feet long and likely almost 4 feet high and he never once gave us a moment's unease, the Yorkshires we always had to be on high alert. they were snarky and unpleasant creatures but produced huge litters and were good moms. The Yorkshires taught me that pigs bark like dogs and if they do you'd best get out and away from them a.s.a.p. The RW had smaller litters so most commercial people didn't want to have anything to do with them. BUT - as far as eating quality went, it was at least the difference between a two week old commercial tomato and a full flavored one fresh out of the garden.
I wish most earnestly I still had them and really regret the circumstances which made me give them up. The meat is pure ambrosia and the pork from the breed has been put onto the Slow Food Arc of Taste.
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Post by steev on Feb 24, 2020 22:05:03 GMT -5
Although there are certainly many feral domestic hogs, European wild boar were long-since introduced to America for hunting purposes; they've found the New World much to their taste; here in NorCal, they are becoming a plague, large groups can virtually roto-till an area rooting for food; being black, a 200-300# boar is a hazard on the road, especially at night; I was once driving to the farm on a foggy night thru Sites Valley; saw something in the road ahead; a deer?, nope, a boar and two flanking sows; they didn't care about my truck, just kept trotting like they owned the lane; I pulled into the other, beside them; they neither shied nor broke step; if I'd had a 45, I'd have parked ahead and shot a sow out the window, but I didn't think it smart to take them on with the hatchet and 5# sledge that were in the truck, although it would have been an epic story, if I'd survived; boar can be aggressive if threatened; they will also breed with feral domestic pigs, resulting in much variation of coat.
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 25, 2020 15:57:29 GMT -5
wild boar has long been considered one of the more dangerous animals to hunt, it was very smart of you not to pick a fight with three of them! Pigs are astonishingly fast on their feet for such apparently bulky animals and the tusks of the boars are said to be razor sharp. That said, apparently the meat is delicious Although.... mature domestic boar meat is definitely an acquired taste and best cook it outside.. got given a roast to cook once that must have been old boar, I threw it out half cooked because the smell was horrific. In Midieval times (I've read) at least in Britain most meats were hung to a questionable condition to tenderize it, we are much more delicate in our preferences these days.
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Post by steev on Feb 25, 2020 16:24:39 GMT -5
A bow-hunter I know shot a boar through the neck and it charged him; he was afraid he'd be killed with his own arrow, but he got up a tree toot-sweet.
Stinky boar meat is why I'd only shoot sows and immature pigs.
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Post by flowerbug on Feb 25, 2020 18:36:24 GMT -5
you can compost the dudes...
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Post by prairiegardens on Mar 8, 2020 22:32:46 GMT -5
to get back to the original issue... scored 4 bags of bentonite so going to try that on the pond bottom when I eventually go home. Not sure how far they will go..the bags are about the size of bags of cement, and the guy had no idea. He had inherited them when he bought the house, didn't even know what they were or what they were used for. We shall see...
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Post by prairiegardens on Mar 9, 2020 8:15:50 GMT -5
Thank you! Maybe I'll be lucky and figure out where the leak is,once down and in the thing. Fingers crossed anyhow |
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Post by johnrock on Apr 10, 2020 5:00:25 GMT -5
Pond cleaning is also one of the effective thing to keep clean, good and best equipment will give good results. |
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My very own fallout shelter/ root cellar/greenhouse lol 
