This site is incredible. I've learned a lot from from you all as I start my journey as a pondmeister. I thought I would share my story so far. I bought my farm in 2014 and hoped to have our pond dug in the summer of 2015 but heavy rains delayed things. So I started working on my barn. Its a timber framed barn built out of cypress. I couldn't find a timber frame builder in my area so I figured I could do it myself. It didn't look too hard on the youtube videos anyway. What an idiot. I started in Oct 2015 and I'm still working on it. I've given up on deadlines. I originally wanted to have it finished by my son's birthday, I just didn't say which one. The pond took longer than I wanted too but it was finished in July of 2016. Its about 1.5 acres and will be stocked soon. My goal is a balanced fishing pond for my kids and nephews to enjoy. I keep having to pull myself from the ledge of going all in on a trophy bass pond. I'll try to post some pictures.

The last two pictures from my initial post were from July 21 as they were getting close to finishing the pond. The first two of this post are pictures from July 28. We had two huge rain storms in 3 days that filled the pond about 2/3 of the way. The plan was to set the posts for the dock before it filled. I'll finish building it later. So I spent a week pumping out water until it was low enough for me to set my posts. A friend from the local electric company gave me two telephone poles. I'm pretty sure I chose the hottest day of the year to set those posts. There was no getting a tractor down there with a post hole digger so they had to be dug and set my hand. My dad showed up just in time to help me set the last one. Not fun. After that, it never rained again until December. The wettest summer on record and they driest fall. I couldn't get grass to grow so now I have a worsening erosion problem to deal with. And I didn't get to stock any forage fish in the fall either. Maybe that was a blessing because I had more time to research my stocking plan and add cover.

Here are some pictures of the barn as it was being raised. I built the bents on the ground and stacked them on top of each other. An experienced operator set them for me. Boy was I nervous when that first one went in the air. Notice how close the lift fits in between the two bents once their raised.

Since this is a pond management forum, I'll try not to bog it down with too many pictures of my barn. There is an apartment on one side that we'll live in for a few years until we build a house. We're looking forward to raising our kids out there and living on the farm. The pond is a big part of that.

WOW!

great looking project....love all the pics.
neat seeing your son's growth along with the pond & barn

Looks great! I live in a barndo myself:).

Forget building a house...I could move right into that today!!! Very nice. Is that corn fields?

Very nice! Get as much done as you can when you are young. It don't get easier...

Great project - love all the pics