Homesteading

I wanted to have a beautiful garden. I had already achieved filling my Florida backyard with endless amounts of fruit trees, exotic flowers, and a massive Rainbow tree. But I felt convicted that a (bigger) pond would be essential to achieve my goal of having the *most* garden. So, that is exactly what I set out to do.

Having already built a small pond, this pond was itty, bitty. It had all the essentials but it lacked professional level equipment and a professional look. I had made the baby pond and experienced multiple errors along the way. This time I wanted to build it with an Aquascape kit and I wanted to build it to last for decades.

To kick off the project, I started off by purchasing the Aquascape Medium Pond Kit 11′ x 16. This kit comes complete with everything you need to build a beautiful 11′ x 16′ ecosystem pond.

Taken directly from the aquascape website, below are some of the items the kit comes with:

• Your choice of an AquaSurge® 2000-4000 or 3-PL Solids-Handling pond pump
• Signature Series 1000 Pond Skimmer with faux rock lid
• Signature Series 2500 BioFalls® Filter with rock tray and BioBalls Biological Filter Media
• Check valve assembly
• (2) 3-Watt Spotlights
• 1-Watt Waterfall Light
• 60-Watt Lighting Transformer with Photocell
• 3-Way Quick-Connect Splitter
• 25’  Quick-Connect Extension Cable
• Dosing System SL with starter water treatment
• Flexible PVC Pipe – 2″ x 25′
• 45 mil EPDM liner – 15′ x 20′
• 300 sq. ft. of protective underlayment
• Welcome Kit
• Installation Kit containing silicone, Pond and Waterfall Foam Sealant, PVC cement, and mor

Items not included within this kit are the rocks and plants for the pond.

Another item not included in the kit, that makes a big difference in the pond, is the Aquascape UltraKlean Pond Filter. This is a UV Filter that greatly improves the quality of the water. I decided to purchase this after reading on various Facebook groups that the UV filter is a must-have for clear water in hot climates. In order for the UV Pond Filter to work, it does require being set up with its own pump. So I also purchased the AquaForce Solids-Handling Pond Pump (that also came with a hefty price tag).

This initial purchase was fairly expensive but I wanted to get equipment that would last years and not require being replaced in the near future. This ended up being a good decision as nothing has failed me since I originally made the pond about 2 years ago.

I also purchased a pond feeder for when I traveled for longer periods of time. This worked so-so. The cable for the feeder turned out not to be so great with heavy rain and would shut off. This was disappointing because the feeder was over $100 at the time of purchase. And since Florida gets heavy rains, it was pretty much a guarantee that the rain would turn it off.

The first step to beginning the big pond was deciding where to put the pond. So I purchased some yellow spray paint from Home Depot to mark where the pond would go. I thought it would be easy to pick a spot. Instead, it took a lot of careful consideration. I had to put it in a spot that was away from the house. It could be near the house but not directly next to the house (just incase of a leak). I also needed it to be in spot where no cables or pipes ran under ground. This is where it got tricky….. we had to contact the city and ask for plans of our property to review where the power lines ran under ground and to confirm where the water pipes ran. I also wanted to put it in a spot where tree roots would not be such an issue.

In the end, we selected the perfect spot. We would built it in front of the pergola we built, away from the house, under a mango tree, and away from any piping/electrical work that ran under ground. I had found the ideal spot! And was ready to begin the work.

Now before I started doing this project, my husband had told me he would help with the electrical and plumbing. But everything else was my responsibility. So I grabbed my shovel and started digging. And digging. And digging. At the rate I was digging, I figured it would take me months to dig this hole. I was slow, and was only making a few feet a day.

I think I tried to dig the hole for my pond for two months. I was getting no where. If I didnt work and I could just stay home and dig that hole, there may of been some hope. But sadly, work always gets in the way of home projects.

Finally the project could really begin!

The skimmer and Biofall (a fancy word for the waterfall box) were fairly easy to install. The tedious part was making sure each were perfectly level with the ground. That took a lot of pushing dirt around and patience.

I laid down an old door mat in front of the Biofall filter to help give it the shape I wanted. (Underneith the mat was dirt from digging the hole for skimmer).

The Biofall filter was placed directly in front of the pergola, This was done so you could see the waterfall without any obstruction and get the best view.

In the manual it was recommended the skimmer be placed on the opposite end of the pond. Since I had a mango tree on the other end of the pond, I placed it on the left hand corner. This ended up working very well.

Next I laid down the protective underlayment. The kit came with a 300 square feet underlayment. It was basically a very thick, very large blanket. To take extra precaution, I also laid down some old/used carpet underneith the underlayment. The purpose of this is to create a barrier against any plant roots (or tree roots) that may try to break the liner of the pond.

In order to keep the underlayment from simply falling back into the pond, I purchased garden staples. I put the stakes at the top of the pond, underneith where I would later place the rocks around the edge of the pond. After some testing, I discovered that the metal staples worked the strongest (plus the boxes come with up to 100). I also tried the plastic stakes but those seemed to break more easily if they hit a rock when you put them in the ground.

Once the underlayment was in, now I had the task of putting down the pond liner. I moved slowly putting down the pond liner. This was probably not necessary because the pond liner I purchased is extremely high quality… but at the same time…. “what if” I did break it? Finding a leak in a pond liner is not an easy task.

After I put down the liner, I laid down a blue tarp over it so I could work on it without being paranoid I might damage it.

The fun part of the project could now begin. This is the part that I knew would break the bank. but it was also a critical component to making the pond look beautiful. It was next on my agenda to buy the rocks.

And buy rocks a did…… I purchased 5 tons to be exact!

I purchased a lot of slate rocks and “pond rocks.” Pond rocks would be any rock that is round, without sharp edges. This was a very expensive part of the project. The rocks cost about $2k with shipping. But, regardless of the cost, I do feel without quality rocks, your pond has the potential to look like a giant hole in the ground. So I made the investment. This turned out to be a good decision as the pond looked more complete. ALSO, during hurricane season, when the rain water elevated the entire yard, the rocks contained the fish that extra foot and kept them from just swimming out into the rest of the yard. (Ill make a post about that in the future).

After dragging 5 tons of rock around the pond, I than began to construct the waterfall front. For this I used chicken wire, cement, and a special paint called “pond shield.”

To shape the chicken wire, I hit it with a rubber hammer. And than carefully placed it in front of the waterfall box. (To avoid having the chicken wire touch the pond liner, I cut out some of the remaining underlayment and placed it behind the chicken wire.)

I than took cement and put it on top of the chicken wire. I applied the cement in such a way, that if I ever needed to lift off the front structure, I could wiggle it off. It acts as basically a cover for the front.

After the cement dried, I than whipped out the waterfall foam. This foam DESTROYED my cloths. If it touches your skin, it gets glued to you for a very long time. I put the waterfall foam in between all the rocks and than put small stones on top of the foam so it dried into teh waterfall foam.

I than applied the Pond Shield paint to the waterfall. This was a lot of fun, and it came out very nicely. The paint is thick so it helped give it a authentic look.

After painting the waterfall, I then added more pond foam to further connect the waterfall to the rocks. I used the spray that came with the aquascape kit. And I also used GREAT STUFF 99112849 Smart Dispenser Pond & Stone. You can get this on Amazon. When you spray it, keep in mind it will expand. So start slowly and don’t over do it or you end up cutting a lot of excess foam.

Now came my husbands role in the project. He promised me he would connect the electrical and hosing. So he got to work and knocked both out really quickly. The aquascape kit came with some pretty detailed instructions (which he completely ignored). He also set up the pump in the skimmer and the pump for the UV filter. This was a fairly important, but very fast, part of the project.

Once everything was connected, we could now turn on the waterfall!

It was such a relief to see it running

In 2022, I felt inspired to turn my ordinary backyard into an oasis.

So I went into my backyard, grabbed a shovel, and got to work.

I did no research and just started digging a hole.

In retrospect… this was not the wisest approach, but it certainly was a good way to learn!

After starting to dig my hole, I realized this was not going to be a simple project. I didn’t measure anything. I just started shoveling dirt. After I was about 4 hours into digging, I started to google what is a reasonable size for a small pond. My research showed me, that a Koi fish need one square foot of surface area for every one-and-a-half inch of their body. So since I had no idea how to determine this (I am sure I could of recruited my husband for this math) I just continued to dig my hole. I decided to just figure it out in the end (again not the wisest idea).

In the end of my great digging project, I ended up with a hole about 2 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet long.

I then continued my journey of bad decisions and ordered a “cheap” pond liner on amazon (What was I even thinking!). After it arrived, I put in the liner, attached the top of the liner with garden stakes, and started to stack bricks at the end of it and constructed a water fall from bricks, rocks, chicken wire, and lots of cement (I don’t recommend using cement when you need to make future repairs).

For the waterfall I ordered the: Pond Boss G188373 Waterfall Spillway, 8′, black. (Amazon doesn’t appear to carry that one anymore, but this one is similar: Danner 02478 Pro1000).

After I put the spillway at the top of the cement mountain I made, I then structured the waterfall around it.

To paint the cement volcano, I ordered Pond Shield paint. For fish, only certain paints are safe. And while the Pond Shield paint cost a lot of money, it has a long life-span and is non-toxic for fish.

After letting the paint dry, I than made the unwise decision to put cement around the entire rim of the pond and put pretty rocks in the cement. This was again another very novice move. And when I had to redo the liner in the future, I had to completely break the cement to redo the liner.

Now that the waterfall was done, I recruited my spouse to install the Biofilter with the bioballs. After some consulation with a koi expert, I purchased the: TetraPond Clear Choice Biofilter PF-1 For Efficient Filtration.

I then went ahead and bought the 400GPH Pump and quickly regretted that decision. It was the wimpiest pump I could of purchased. So I decided to make the leap and got the 2100 GPH Submersible Water Pump with 33 FT Cord and Adapters for Ponds. This pump was a monster and exactly what I needed for my pump (although it could be argued it is too much power for the size of my pond).

After finishing my waterfall, I connected the biofilter, connected the submersible water pump, and successfully installed the liner – It was finally time to turn on the water!

Much to my amazement, everything worked great! The water turned on!

So I then went to home depot and loaded up on plants and worked on the easy part of the project: The ambiance.

I went with plants that would compliment the pond and help it stay clear. I got some creeping plants that would crawl into the water for the fish to lay eggs in (although it turns out my happy little fish didn’t need any further encouragement).

With all this shared, it needs to be known that this project, had multiple flaws in the first round. And half a year later, I ended up redoing this project. A future post will be made on that endeavor. But overall, I learned alot. And have since made a few ponds!

Right now I have an elephant ear plant in the pond that has taken over…… It has gotten out of control but for the time being I am letting it grow as it wants. The fish get lots of shade from it.

Our pups are our entire world.

So how would we move our spoiled dogs to Virginia?

From our trips to Virginia, we know a lot of people just let their dogs roam without a fence. This would not work for us….. our babies are free spirits. Despite two years worth of weekly training sessions, they are too curious to stay in one spot. So we would have to figure out how to best secure our babies in multiple acres of land.

Should we put in a physical fence? Is a deer fence going to hold them in? How do you put in a fence when the land is mainly rock?

Or should we get an invisible wireless dog fence? Is the wireless option going to work if you don’t have good internet? What brand options could we consider?

In this review, I dive into what I learned about the invisible dog fence options, deer fences, and wired invisible dog fences.

Our first step was to check out the wireless GPS fences.

We narrowed it down to two leaders in the industry: Halo collar (www.halocollar.com) and the SpotOn GPS (https://spotonfence.com). Fence. At first glance, I was inclined to get the Halo Collar because their website looks more professional and the collar is less expensive. But after some research, I learned the Halo collar is harder to drop each “fence post” (SpotOn has an automatic fence drop). Also, the SpotOn collar is better for more remote areas, more accurate, more user friendly, and the SpotOn Collar does not have an annual subscription requirement (they offer one but it’s not mandatory for the collar to work). 

So which collar did I go with?  

The answer is: Neither. 

Each collar only lasts 1 day before needing to be recharged. That is not convenient for when you have to travel and leave the dog with a dog sitter or if you forget to charge it. It has too much risk, so I decided to investigate Deer Fences as an alternative. 

The deer fence I like the most is the PetPlayGround deer  fence. They make a 5, 6, or 7 foot fence which is made specifically for dogs. At first glance, the fence looks a little flimsy (compared to a strong wood fence) but after looking into it more, it seems to be pretty well made. They also offer a dig guard which is great for the escape artists and they sell different strength fences. 

So, why would you do a deer fence, instead of a strong metal or wood fence? Because we live in the mountains, digging is pretty difficult. So it would be a more straightforward approach to just putting up a deer fence instead. Also, it is pretty transparent. So it will be nicer to not block the view of the mountains surrounding the property. 

We will put up a deer fence someday and when we do, we will also install an electric fence around the bottom-outside of the fence. We will do that to stop predators from trying to enter it (we have bears and coyotes in the area).  

My last stop in the research was the: In Ground Invisible Dog Fence. We decided to explore this option because of the reliability. I want to know that the fence won’t suddenly stop working or be impacted by other components. With an inground fence, your only concern has to be accidently cutting the wire. but if you install it properly, cutting a wire would be difficult to do. 

The invisible dog fence I eventually settled on is this one: Extremedogfence.com. I read a lot of reviews on it and it doesn’t seem perfect but for the price, it seems good enough. They offer various strength levels for the fences (I chose the strongest).  My only concern is the collar. I watched some youtube videos on the fence, and discovered that the contact points on the collar tend to get corroded. In the reviews I saw online, it seems inevitable this will happen. So I will be prepared to address it when it does. 

With that said, we did discover we had one issue with the fence. But not the fence itself… We had an issue with our land. Since we moved to a home in the mountains, the ground is heavily covered by rock. So installing the fence became a very complicated project. We had to rent an excavator to clean the land to install the fence. So what would have otherwise been a fairly labor intensive job, became an extremely (!) labor intensive job. But for our dogs, it is worth all the extra work. Our baby’s safety is our number one concern. 

With every move comes challenges. For us, it was figuring out the logistics of moving from one state to another.

We had to figure out…..

What is the most cost effective way to load up all your items and ship them to another state?

Is renting a truck better?

Or does getting a POD make more sense?

We are currently the owners of four dogs, three tortoises, and multiple Koi fish – So how does one also take into consideration packing up the crew and relocating? (I will tackle that subject in a different post).

And – to add complication to the matter – how do you ship your husbands woodworking equipment when some of the machines weigh 600 lbs?

It is a problem we had to set out to solve and we did.

The first thing we did was research Uhaul. How much would it cost to pack up the house and shove it in the back of a truck? We initially had some hope that this route would work. But realized that while that would work for a normal family, we have too much heavy equipment. You can’t load up multiple heavy pieces of equipment and pack up all the items in your house, and expect the truck to be ok. We would have to take 2 uhaul trucks up if we wanted to look into the truck moving option.

That led us down the path of researching PODs. What can you put in a pod? What is not allowed? Is there a weight limited? After speaking to a couple reps, we learned that you can put equipment in your pod. But you have to be selective about what goes in. The PODs do have a weight limited. And the weight in the POD has to be evenly distributed within the POD.

It was decided, we would proceed with PODs. So we ordered two large containers. They would arrive in a few weeks so my husband set off to clean out his shop and I neatly packed everything in our house into boxes.

In the photos below you can figure out which box my husband packed…….

(He put that box in my nicely organized pile just to torture me.)

Once the PODs arrived, we had a very smooth experience. They picked them up on the scheduled date, delivered on the agreed date, and picked them up for the final removal. Everything went surprising smooth! We were very happy with our POD experience.

What is the best place to move to in Virginia?

What is actually in Virginia?

Is the North or South of Virginia better to move?

Is it better to be closer to Washington, DC?

Is Virginia a safe place to live?

Are there jobs available?

Are there are lot of homes available?

Are there any difficulties finding properties that satisfy all our wants?

There were the questions that popped into our heads while trying to find the perfect state to move to. And which led us to check out Virginia.

After deciding that Virginia might be a good place to move, we set out to continue our research. We had a checklist of items we cared about, so we would take these into consideration while looking at future homes:

• Weather (not too cold/not too hot)
• Within reasonable distance to Home Depot or Lowes
• Within 15 minutes from grocery store
• No Home Owners Assocation (HOA)
• Agriculture Freedom
• Nice people
• Near a Yoga Studio
• Near the mountains

We than began to compile the list of places in Virginia that appealed to us:

• Floyd, Virginia
• Stuart, Virginia
• Amherst, Virginia
• Bedford, Virginia

Below is the research we gathered on each one:

1. Floyd, Virginia

Floyd is a small town located in Virginia. The 2020 consensus showed a population of 448 residents. For such a small amount of people, the town is abundant in art and culture. The downtown is cozy and inviting. With little antique shops, small little wine shops, and a farmers market that gathers on the weekends. The main strip also has some popular restaurants and plenty of good eating options.

We were attracted to this small town but had to check it off our list of places to live because of the scarcity of work. Unless you have a remote job, the job options are limited in Floyd, Virginia.

2. Stuart, Virginia

Our next stop on our places to check out was Stuart, Virginia. If you visit the website for the town, you can immediately tell the pride the residents have for their town. Rich in history, this town is filled with historic events. Check out this link to learn about the town history: Click Here.

Stuart also has some regular festivals. They have a Wine and Food Festival in May. They have a spring Strawberry Festival and an Apple Dumpling Festival in the fall.

This looks like an inviting place to live but we decided that living further up in the state would better suit our needs. Of course this is just a personal preference, but if you look at a map, Stuart is at the bottom of the state. We decided (mainly for work reasons) that living farther north in Virginia would provide us more work opportunities.

3. Amherst, Virginia

Taken from the Amherst Website:

“The Town of Amherst was established in 1807 and was named after Sir Jeffery Amherst, a British Major‑General who was the hero of the Battle of Ticonderoga during the French and Indian War and later became Governor‑In‑Chief of the Colony of Virginia from 1763 to 1768.

The Town of Amherst was originally known as “The Oaks” and “Seven Oaks” and started as a stage station on the Charlottesville‑Lynchburg road. Amherst has been the county seat of Amherst County since Nelson County was partitioned from Amherst County in 1807. The original courthouse was built in 1809 on two acres of land purchased “from a Mr. Coleman for ten shillings.” The original courthouse was torn down 1872 and the present courthouse was built “from homemade brick of Amherst County clay.” All Amherst County records have been stored in the courthouse since 1761 when Amherst‑Nelson counties were divided from Albemarle County.

Amherst has a population of 2,231 (per the 2010 Census) and a land area of 4.92 square miles.”

(https://amherstva.gov/about-us/town-history/).

Amherst seems to be abundant in wineries and antique shops. And the prices of homes seem reasonable (as of 2024). But as in with the rest of the locations we liked, it also had a long commute when it comes to work options. So for this reason alone, we also had to remove it from our options.

4. Bedford, Virginia

This brings us to our last stop on our journey to find the perfect place to live. Our last stop was Bedford, Virginia. I have been to Bedford a few times. Everyone greets you with a smile and the scenery around you takes your breath away. With rolling mountains around you, you are situated right alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway. And if you take a one hour drive, you are at the Natural Bridge (a natural wonder located within Virginia). Bedford is also situated between Roanoke and Lynchburg, both of which have more work options.

Bedford seemed to immediately check off (almost) all the items on our checklist.

In 2023 we decided to make the leap…..

We decided it was time to leave Miami, Florida and move somewhere quieter. With less traffic and more wilderness. So that is exactly what we set out to do. But before we could move, we had to pick WHERE to move.

"Ideally, we wanted to narrow it down to five locations."

5. Salem, North Carolina
   • Salem is located in Burke County, North Carolina.
   • I have heard this is a beautiful place to live but after some research decided this would not be the right move for us. As we are looking to move somewhere a bit more remote and with less people. Salem is more populated that the other towns we looked at. However, for someone who doesn’t mind being near more people, this town has a lot of artists and looks like a fast growing place to move.

Conclusion: We looked at five locations, all within North Carolina.

• Highlands, North Carolina
• Cashier, North Carolina
• Pine Mountain, Georgia
• Brevard, North Carolina
• Salem, North Carolina

After carefully looking into each location, we decided the nicest place to live would be the Highlands, North Carolina or Brevard, North Carolina. Both locations are stunningly beautiful and have adorable downtowns.

Ultimately though, none of the locations checked off enough items on our personal checklist. So our “perfect place to live” list had to continue. In another article I jump into our research of best places to live in Virginia.