Welcome to earthponds
A resource for pond builders, pond lovers, and home owners.
Why earthponds?
Experience and Knowledge
Tim Matson is an award winning author about ponds, pond design, and pond building. If you are into pond building, planning to build a pond, or repairing an existing pond, you have come to the right place. Tim consults with scores of property owners each year, providing advice and counsel at reasonable rates. Photo by Joe Mehling.
Monthly Pondology Essays
Each month, Tim writes an original essay about pond maintenance; the latest trends in design; ecological concerns; and wetlands regulations. NEWS FROM THE WATERFRONT can be delivered directly to you via email. Use the contact form to sign up for the pondology, or contact Tim about your pond project.
AUGUST 2021: When you need water to fill a pond, to keep it topped off, improve water quality, fill a supply well, even find a leak, dowsing can be the ticket. If you yourself can't dowse, or if you're not sure, there are plenty of books that teach the basics. These books can help you discover if you have the touch. Cut a forked branch and give it a try. No luck? There are dowsers nationwide available to engage for your project.
I've been thinking about dowsing for a couple of reasons. The climate's been tough on ponds the last few years: droughts and high heat lower pond water levels, reduce freshwater exchange and encourage heat-loving algae and weeds, not to mention triggering fish kills. One helpful solution can be to add more water. Cool clear water.
But from where? Here's where dowsing comes in. To read this month's Pondology on dowsing, also known as water witching, CLICK HERE.
Tim matson'S photography website
Another Side of Tim Matson
Before his work in pond design, Tim Matson was an award-winning photographer and story teller. His new website offers a look at early work, much of it never seen. Now you can.
"Matson has the eye of a cinematographer,"
The Harvard Crimson
CLICK HERE to visit the new site.
Featured book
Earth Ponds A-Z Encyclopedia
"Aside from some particularly thoughtful frogs and phragmites, no one on earth knows more about ponds than Tim Matson. His books have counseled and consoled me through the digging of two ponds, making a daunting process far more interesting and pleasurable than it deserved to be. His... A to Z Encyclopedia is the ultimate pond-owner's companion, brimming with sound advice, smart suggestions, and answers to ancient riddles. But this book doesn't only instruct -- there's delight here too." Michael Pollan,
author of the Botany of Desire, Cooked, How to Change Your Mind, and more.