I wonder if that muck would be a good compost to add to garden soil. It certainly looks rich.
I'm not sure, but while waiting on the excavator, I'm going to move some of it into a pile so that I can try mixing it into raised beds for the Fall.
I don't think raising the dam is the answer to this one. It might help hide the new house built behind it, but it won't help raise the water level. Too much of the "flood zone" is too shallow (to my untrained eye) already.
And as to the clay that I remove, the idea of controlling the surface size by adding it around the edges might work. But the pasture area around it looks pretty now, and is well established in grass. I have a compact utility tractor, so I can move the clay around after the excavator rental done.
I'm mowing the new property now, and will post some pictures of that soon, as it shows the current structure better than the previous ones did...too many weeds.
