Water

Field note 260920 · September 20, 2026 Our pond gets much of its water from the North Fork of Belden Creek, and it gets there with no pump, no power, and no help from me. A siphon does the work. It starts upstream, at a spot we call the dog wash, where an old small weir backs the creek into a pool. From there a pipe about four inches across runs down to the west end of the pond. The far end sits lower than the pool, and once that pipe is full of water, gravity takes over. It’

Field note 260831 · August 31, 2026 At the end of August, I walked a pond specialist from OSU Extension around our pond with a list of worries. By the time he left, most of them had shrunk, and a couple of new ones had moved in. Good signs first The pond is full of newts and dragonflies, and he took both as good news: signs of a reasonably healthy pond. He didn't see strong signs of stress. He also straightened me out on something I'd had wrong. Blue-green algae being present