...we have had good success with rhubarb, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries on a small scale here in the greater Grand Rapids area.
We already have wild rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries and grapes that grow. I will try to plant purchased varieties of strawberry and raspberry amongst the wild crops. The wild grapes are actually a nuisance so I will attempt to eradicate those the build a fence for the new grapes. I will attempt to relocate the rhubarb and add to that crop. The wild is difficult to get to and looks too much like burdock(?). As for the blueberries, from what I have read, planting those near pines is good practice. But, I may amend some more sand in that area since it is mostly clay now.
There are lots of posts on how to make your own bottom mounted diffusers and dozens of good posts that explain why you will not meet your goals without bottom mounted diffusers (as opposed to a fountain) Your pond is deep so you will need some guidance on how many diffusers and how deep to place them (which also means you size your compressor based on how many runs, how long the weighted air line runs are, what diameter the weighted line is etc.) Many people have sourced a rebuilt gast compressor, built their own manifold with pressure gauges, sourced tubing, and did it themselves.
Yes, I have been reading a lot about DIY sub-surface aeration. Getting the quote from the Pond Guy gave me a lot of insight towards the required equipment sizing. I hadn't heard of a "Gast Compressor" yet but I was looking at septic air pumps as a lower cost option. I will look more into the Gast pumps too. I have a decent amount of plumbing experience so that seems straightforward to me. I will be scouring the forum here for more information on constructing the diffusers. Yesterday I searched in hopes of finding info on DIY windmills but no luck. The search here isn't the best for multiple keywords IMO. I might be better just going with AC power anyway but building a windmill from scratch seems like it could be fun.
You said you have access to long reach excavators, so wouldn't it make sense to just use those to rapidly demuck your ponds as far as you can reach and then let the bottom aeration and time slowly take care of what you can from there?
We have discussed de-mucking using the excavator. Even at 50' reach we couldn't reach the center but I agree it would probably give us a jumpstart. My dad even suggested dredging it using a couple bulldozers and an huge old dragline bucket we have but that seems a bit extreme. Normally we'd just dig with the excavator in winter while the banks are frozen but I guess there is a problem with the hydro pump that needs to be repaired right now. Hopefully we will get that fixed this spring/summer.
Who will be living on site with you? Will that be your primary residence so you won't have to commute to the location to get time to work and to enjoy?
Currently the property is co-owned by my dad and grandmother. I live 30min away from the property but I hope to live there in the near-ish future. I have two brothers to contend with also. Only one of my brothers has shown interest in living there but he is much younger than I am and not yet financially stable enough to take on the costs. I can afford it but without any form of contractual ownership I am hesitant to sink a huge amount of money into the upgrades. I would love to say it's as easy as drawing up a land contract or trust estate but it isn't so in my case. Families are complicated to deal with.
