Last week, we walked out to the gardens and noticed our pond was nearly empty.I jumped down in to the shoe-sucking mud and temporarily plugged a hole in the dam, while Emily and River dragged hoses over. Water from the hoses helped some, but the hole in the dam kept re-opening every few hours.

For several days, we couldn’t figure out how the leak developed. Did a muskrat burrow a hole? Had the dam weakened over time? Did a snake poke a hole in the dam? Today we finally discovered the problem: an old, abandoned pipe in the bottom of the pond had cracked, and water was seeping out the other end into our overflow creek. A friend of ours used a backhoe to remove the pipe and then plugged and reinforced the dam with clay.

Amazingly, our fish survived a near-complete draining of the pond. Three giant grass carp swam for about an hour in six-inches of muddy water, with their dorsal fins rising out of the water like sharks.  A handful of smaller fish also survived in the mud puddle. We’re now refilling the pond, and tomorrow’s rain showers should help immensely. By the end of the weekend, the pond will be fully filled, and the fish, frogs, and other aquatic life will be grateful for the water’s return.