Saving Tadpoles

The pond in front of the guest cottage has been constructed. We missed the rainy Spring and all the early Summer rain to fill the pond. It's almost like Mother Nature decided to turn off the constantly running faucet after she heard our pond is finished construction. Oh well, no cooperation from Mother Nature doesn't mean we can't fill our pond.

We have two Artesian wells on our property. One of the wells has a solar well pump on it. Water is pumped into three stock tanks as water reservoir. My husband dug a trench and built/connected a water pipe from one of the well behind the house all the way into the garden. Our natural soil is full of rocks. It was not an easy task to dig a trench by hand. Good thing he was still young back then. This has been how we water the food forest for the last four years. It is a great system and completely free. Free water from our Artesian well. Free energy from our solar pump.

My husband has connected a few hoses from the garden and now able to feed water from the back of our house all the way down to the pond. We have been filling the pond this way for a couple of days now. A few inches of water is now visible in the bottom of the pond.

We noticed some huge tadpoles in the three stock tanks next to the well behind the house. We wanted to save them and since there was some water in the pond already, we could move them carefully to their new home. My husband got the necessary tools out for the job, a bucket and a couple of strainers, and quickly got to work. He got all of them in the bucket and carried the bucket of tadpoles all the way down to the pond.

Carrying all the tadpoles from the stock tanks down to the pond. It's about 110 yards from the Artesian well behind our house to the pond. I am glad I am not the one doing this job!

Slowly releasing the tadpoles into the new pond. Making sure the difference in water temperature is not too much for them.

Success! Only a couple of tadpoles did not make it in this journey. The survivors are now enjoying their new environment.