Dave Miller

I've been using this procedure after working in poison oak for the last five years and it works for me.  The key is to use friction from a wet washcloth.

Here's my little Home Depot pond + home made biofilter.  When I have the pump in the pond (June-September) the water is crystal clear.

I don't have any fish in my pond and I don't put anything into it other than water.  But there are lots of tadpoles and small life in the pond that just showed up.  It is under trees so it gets a lot of leaves in the fall, which I clean out every few years.

The waste from your fish plus uneaten food will increase the amount of suspended algae.  So your proportion of plants will probably need to be higher than mine.

I know that people do calculations to determine the size of the biofilter based on the pond size, number/size of fish, etc.  But I would probably just make it a little bigger than you think you might need, and/or make your filter expandable by daisy chaining several drums together or something like that.

I pretty firmly believe that the plant roots are way more important than the lava rock or biofilter balls etc.  I don't think it matters much whether the plants are in the biofilter or in the pond itself, as long as oxygenated water is moving through the plant roots.  So you might think about ways to be able to keep adding plants until the algae disappears.

Here's the intake filter that I use with my pump:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024EFYU6/
Yours will obviously need to be bigger but I like this general style.  I only clean it once a year.  Note that this filter does not filter suspended algae - it just prevents the pump from getting clogged.

As you mentioned, shading the pond will be good for water quality and to keep from cooking your fish.

I also encourage you to include some moisture-loving flowering or edible plants in your pond and/or biofilter.  It is great to have a "garden" in my pond that I don't have to worry about watering even on the hottest days or if I'm on vacation.  And of course the water has a lot of nutrients that the plants like, so no fertilizing either.  You just need to be able to adjust the height of the pot (or the water) to the plant's liking.  I have drowned a few plants by not getting that right.  And of course if you're going to be gone a long time, you'll need an automated way (or a neighbor) to top it off.  My drip system puts a little water in it every day, but you could also use a float valve.

Also a word about duckweed - I once put some in because I thought it would keep the water cooler.  Within days it covered the entire pond, and the frogs etc. seemed to be struggling to navigate through it, plus it made my pond just look like a lawn.  So I used a strainer to strain it all out.  It took a long time because you have to get every single plant.

I have attached some more recent photos without the "Photobucket" watermark.

I am interested.  I have mostly perennial edibles and natives (and perennial edible natives). But in the fall I'm going to finish my hugelkultur veggie garden. So I'll be looking for seeds this winter.

What I would be most interested in is information about varieties that people like and that do well here.  I have about 250 varieties of edibles and another 100 or so natives.  Some are very happy, some are not.  

Here's how I got rid of mine, without chemicals: https://permies.com/p/11304

I still have a few seedlings pop up now and then but they are easy to manage.  But you will need to be persistent.

This sounds like a pretty good model. Is anyone familiar with it?

http://www.lyttletonstores.com.au/farmitforward

My half acre suburban food forest produces a lot of surplus that I would love to trade, but I haven't been able to figure out a way to do trades that doesn't suck up tons of my time (of which I do not have a surplus )  Perhaps something like this could work?

I would be up for some kind of connection, to compare notes with others in the area and maybe swap some plants or surplus now and then.  I am in SW Camas.

I have a 1/2 acre food forest/forest garden that is and will forever be a work in process.  I started it about 10 years ago.  I have about 250 varieties of food plants, and 40 species of natives.

My biggest issue is surplus.  There is no way I can eat all of it, even with preservation.  I would be happy to share or sell extras, but I don't have time to harvest all of it.  So I pick what I want and the creatures get the rest.

Galadriel Freden wrote:

Dave Miller wrote:Most people would say that the cure is worse than the disease, but rubbing stinging nettle on my arms every day during allergy season helped me a lot.  Obviously you need to have a patch of it in your yard in order to try this.

I believe the theory is the histamine reaction to the nettle distracts your body from the allergic reaction to allergens.  It definitely feels like that is what is happening.

Dave, it works for me too.  I have a patch of nettles and I generally brush up against them with my legs, and the relief is within a minute.  I may have to sting myself a few times a day if my symptoms are very bad, but to be honest, a bit of stinging on my legs is far preferable to being unable to breathe.  

I definitely reacted less to the sting over time.  Now I don’t mind it at all, it just feels tingly for a day.  The only downsides for me were 1) explaining the occasional welts on my arms to my coworkers (I will use your idea to rub it on my legs) and 2) occasionally there were aphids on the nettles which I inadvertently transferred to my arms.

Most people would say that the cure is worse than the disease, but rubbing stinging nettle on my arms every day during allergy season helped me a lot.  Obviously you need to have a patch of it in your yard in order to try this.

I believe the theory is the histamine reaction to the nettle distracts your body from the allergic reaction to allergens.  It definitely feels like that is what is happening.

I'm sure I could spare some for your Camas project  (I live in Camas).  I have all kinds of edibles.