Hi folks! I'm new to the forum, and new to pond ownership. We purchased a just over 2 acre property last December here in the Heart of Texas (land is just south of Waco proper) to build on in the next year or two, and it has a small pond in one corner. It seems to be fed by a natural spring, and I want to find that source. But its under a great deal of brambles, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, and Greenbriar. What we can see is that on the USGS maps, the area is marked at marshland. In 1938 maps, there is no pond. In 1955 maps, there is a pond. We think that the pond was dug in the post WW2 boom, which was also when Lake Waco was created by damming the Bosque River. I've seen little bitty fish, lots of saw grass, several trees (one sycamore that is growing from the middle of the pond). The south half of the pond extends on to neighboring property, where cows drink and they have the shore line largely cleared. Our game camera has caught a pair of possums, 3 raccoons (1 pair and a single), a single fox, several armadillos and 1 Great Blue Heron. Cows to the south, goats to the north :P yes, in the middle of a neighborhood.
We have 2 boys and are concerned about cotton mouths. The poison ivy loves the wet around the pond. And the greenbrier just loves all of it. I've read enough Jack London to know that The Wild is out to kill you, and I've watched the Italian Job enough times to know not to mess with Mother freaking Nature. We want this to be a fun place to sit and watch birds and critters, a migrating bird sanctuary. I'm a permaculture gardener, I love ecology, and I get all excited thinking about figuring out this pond and this land.
