You are the most pleasant voice and manner of speaking I've come across in a long time. I dont think enough youtubers get enough comments about this aspect of their presentations.
Your recent progress with the big pond listed at 300k gallon volume expected currently got me looking into your older pond videos for smaller inspiration. For this one I must say, you built such a lovely goddess symbol here I didn't notice till you were standing at the wider end looking up toward the sauna across the pond. Having built such a lovely goddess structure and filling it with living water... No wonder you met Sasha not too long after ❤
This gives me inspiration because I'm currently clearing land by hand with the help of two pigs, two goats, and two puppies. I want the pigs to dig me a pond. It will give them a place to wallow and if done right, also a place for clean drinking water. While pulling out 10ft tall dog fennel, it occurred to me instead of piling it up against the fence as I had been doing, I could lay it on the ground as an outline for my future pond instead. I ended up making quite a few changes as I ripped up dense tall weeds and laid them on the ground as I didn't really have a preset idea of how I wanted the pond to look. Now there is a big circlish type shape on the ground roughly giving me an idea of where the digging should take place. I'm retired Army and I've dug plenty of foxholes in my 20 years, but they were usually dug in areas that had been dug in many times before, cutting into overgrown clumpy grass has been a bit of an experience. I also used sandbags in the army to pack up the dirt for the foxholes, but here I'm just kind of tossing it around the perimeter. What is nice though is once I dig in a spot, the pigs often run over and start tearing up the ground to get out the roots. I've been temped to rent out an excavator because it would probably be easier/ faster, but this video shows me that it isn't necessary.
I was desperately trying to finaly find a proper way to seal a pond coming across your videos. I guess I will like you try and see what happen. All that thinking process won't do anything unless we try it. Soon rainy season here so I must get things going : dig manualy, keep the top soil, cob oven, bamboo gutter. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge! That was really inspiring!
Agreed with using your clayey soil even if it has silt & sandy ratios intermingled. We have used ours (bright orange here in the Ozarks) at length for home cottage plaster and cob, Rumford fireplace construction, & animal structures. Purchasing & importing soil, measuring proportions in any fine-tuned way, & writing a book about it is just not our speed. What we have works. It is a free gift and we are so fulfilled with the process of on-site owner/builder construction.
Thank you for this! You just solved a HUGE problem for me. I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a natural swimming pond and a hobbit house/pool house with the least amount of cost and wasted energy (ie moving a ton of dirt OUT and moving lumber IN) My revised plan now is to use local rock for a retaining wall/ one wall of my hobbit house and the clay subsoil from my pond to make cob for the other three walls.
Check out liquid rubber paint as a sealer. It is non toxic, so with good circulation you would have a swimming pool that is good for plants and fish too.
Dude! Thanks for sharing this video! And you are right, there's almost NO videos on hand dug ponds. I guess we're tapart of the weird minority of people who hand dig! lol I'm digging a secong pond the will pick up the run-off from my first pond. I am probably 90% finished. Yikes, forgot how intese pond digging is! Main thing is not over working yourself, which i tend to do haha
This is exactly what I want to do down here in zone 8b/9 Florida. I want to hand-dig (no $$ for excavation equipment) a pond about 50 feet in diameter (!!) at the low point in my property where water naturally accumulates. My soil is mostly sandy clay, which I figured would be fantastic for cob (also no $$ for a gigantic plastic pond liner). I plan to fill wheelbarrows with the excavated dirt and truck it up to the site where I want to build a 30' (ish) round cob sheep barn. Some of the soil will be used as fill dirt for the septic tank mound that I am required to have (in this county we must have a septic even if we use gray water and a composting toilet) . Obviously, this is a long, LONG-term project.......
That is a project and a half! Best of luck to you. Could be super exciting to share the work with friends and family. I had 4 friends over one day and in 4 hours we dug a pond about 8' wide, 16' long and 3' down. Nothing crazy big but I was really thrilled with the size for the time it took...
respect! .. amazing brainstorm, pound system are perfect erosion solution, hope you'll have some new ideas/advises before I start to dig 8-) thanks for sharing!
I was so disappointed to get a political ad before this video, it had a bar owner calling the $600 unemployment benefit a disincentive for people to work for a bar that doesn't want to pay them that much but feels they must stay open, yet can't do everything themselves - yet the problem is the people who won't work for cheap during a pandemic & not the cheap employer. 153000+ people have died in the US & this guy thinks people are just afraid & WANT to sit at home. It doesn't occur to him they don't want to go work w/ the public b/c it could kill them. I didn't see the end of the ad to find what vaguely-named GOP group sponsored it (there's a few now), I was too disgusted.
Bummed to hear you had that experience. As a youtube content creator I have absolutely no control over what advertising is presented to viewers unfortunately.
You are the most pleasant voice and manner of speaking I've come across in a long time. I dont think enough youtubers get enough comments about this aspect of their presentations.
Your recent progress with the big pond listed at 300k gallon volume expected currently got me looking into your older pond videos for smaller inspiration. For this one I must say, you built such a lovely goddess symbol here I didn't notice till you were standing at the wider end looking up toward the sauna across the pond. Having built such a lovely goddess structure and filling it with living water... No wonder you met Sasha not too long after ❤
This gives me inspiration because I'm currently clearing land by hand with the help of two pigs, two goats, and two puppies. I want the pigs to dig me a pond. It will give them a place to wallow and if done right, also a place for clean drinking water.
While pulling out 10ft tall dog fennel, it occurred to me instead of piling it up against the fence as I had been doing, I could lay it on the ground as an outline for my future pond instead.
I ended up making quite a few changes as I ripped up dense tall weeds and laid them on the ground as I didn't really have a preset idea of how I wanted the pond to look. Now there is a big circlish type shape on the ground roughly giving me an idea of where the digging should take place.
I'm retired Army and I've dug plenty of foxholes in my 20 years, but they were usually dug in areas that had been dug in many times before, cutting into overgrown clumpy grass has been a bit of an experience. I also used sandbags in the army to pack up the dirt for the foxholes, but here I'm just kind of tossing it around the perimeter. What is nice though is once I dig in a spot, the pigs often run over and start tearing up the ground to get out the roots.
I've been temped to rent out an excavator because it would probably be easier/ faster, but this video shows me that it isn't necessary.
I was desperately trying to finaly find a proper way to seal a pond coming across your videos.
I guess I will like you try and see what happen.
All that thinking process won't do anything unless we try it.
Soon rainy season here so I must get things going : dig manualy, keep the top soil, cob oven, bamboo gutter.
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge!
That was really inspiring!
Seems reasonable to dig what you hope to have happen, use all the bits in creative ways and then assess/deepen/try to seal later on as needed.
I've been hand digging mine as therapy for a hip replacement. It's so satisfying.
That is lovely to read! Wishing you full and deep healing.
Agreed with using your clayey soil even if it has silt & sandy ratios intermingled. We have used ours (bright orange here in the Ozarks) at length for home cottage plaster and cob, Rumford fireplace construction, & animal structures. Purchasing & importing soil, measuring proportions in any fine-tuned way, & writing a book about it is just not our speed. What we have works. It is a free gift and we are so fulfilled with the process of on-site owner/builder construction.
great to see these videos come back!!! love the cob bro keep it up
Thank you for this! You just solved a HUGE problem for me. I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a natural swimming pond and a hobbit house/pool house with the least amount of cost and wasted energy (ie moving a ton of dirt OUT and moving lumber IN) My revised plan now is to use local rock for a retaining wall/ one wall of my hobbit house and the clay subsoil from my pond to make cob for the other three walls.
Check out liquid rubber paint as a sealer. It is non toxic, so with good circulation you would have a swimming pool that is good for plants and fish too.
Would be great to get and update on this and your sauna situation
nice design thanks for the tips, digging one of these on a project farm appreciate it.
I have a question: If you were to leave those stones in the cob mixture, would that weaken the structure?
Here we go again.🤗
did you buy all the land? and is it in the woods?
Dude! Thanks for sharing this video! And you are right, there's almost NO videos on hand dug ponds. I guess we're tapart of the weird minority of people who hand dig! lol I'm digging a secong pond the will pick up the run-off from my first pond. I am probably 90% finished. Yikes, forgot how intese pond digging is! Main thing is not over working yourself, which i tend to do haha
Hand digging for the win! :)
This is exactly what I want to do down here in zone 8b/9 Florida. I want to hand-dig (no $$ for excavation equipment) a pond about 50 feet in diameter (!!) at the low point in my property where water naturally accumulates. My soil is mostly sandy clay, which I figured would be fantastic for cob (also no $$ for a gigantic plastic pond liner). I plan to fill wheelbarrows with the excavated dirt and truck it up to the site where I want to build a 30' (ish) round cob sheep barn. Some of the soil will be used as fill dirt for the septic tank mound that I am required to have (in this county we must have a septic even if we use gray water and a composting toilet) . Obviously, this is a long, LONG-term project.......
That is a project and a half! Best of luck to you. Could be super exciting to share the work with friends and family. I had 4 friends over one day and in 4 hours we dug a pond about 8' wide, 16' long and 3' down. Nothing crazy big but I was really thrilled with the size for the time it took...
Nice!
It would be great if you could oh I don’t know.. actually show the houses?
I love these ideas! Do you mind if I ask where you're located?
We're Zone 5B Central NYS, finger lakes area.
If you want to make it a natural pond get ducks they will seal it up do some research on it something to do with there poop
I've heard that. Someday we may be in a position to try it out.
respect! .. amazing brainstorm, pound system are perfect erosion solution, hope you'll have some new ideas/advises before I start to dig 8-)
thanks for sharing!
Ooo! Duck pond!
I was so disappointed to get a political ad before this video, it had a bar owner calling the $600 unemployment benefit a disincentive for people to work for a bar that doesn't want to pay them that much but feels they must stay open, yet can't do everything themselves - yet the problem is the people who won't work for cheap during a pandemic & not the cheap employer. 153000+ people have died in the US & this guy thinks people are just afraid & WANT to sit at home. It doesn't occur to him they don't want to go work w/ the public b/c it could kill them. I didn't see the end of the ad to find what vaguely-named GOP group sponsored it (there's a few now), I was too disgusted.
Bummed to hear you had that experience. As a youtube content creator I have absolutely no control over what advertising is presented to viewers unfortunately.