I agree on the pond/weed issue. I'm thinking of keeping an area at the shallow end "weed-free" for swimming purposes. It's not too "weedy" now. The water is pretty clear and I see a lot of fish (not sure what species, probably bass and bluegills), minnows, frogs, etc. so I don't want to destroy the ecological balance. However, I also don't want a weed-choked pond that you can't row a boat through. (I see some of those that look more like swamps.) I'll check into the "grass carp" idea. I talked to a local company a year or so ago about stocking it with perch, considering the price and availability around here for yellow perch. Sounded like a workable idea but then they went belly-up. I'm not a big fisherman (can't sit still long enough) but figured it would be nice to be able to walk out back, throw a line in and get dinner.

Since we've only owned the property for a few years, I'm not sure what it's natural cycles may be. Ideally, I'd like to have it be maintenance free. You're right, I don't want another "lawn" to mow.

Have to admit, I only skimmed the house thread, mostly looked at the pix (no speed reading necessary, just a high-speed link, LOL) and read some of the "how-we-did-it" stuff. Always interested to see how others do things. Mentioned it to my wife. Her eyebrows raised when I said "3 plus years. I think I'll have to sign a contract with her, promising something less than that (LOL,again).

Curious about the dual water supply. You said in one post that you have a well AND rural supply. Is that common in OK? Why do you need both? Is one of them prone to supply problems? How far do they pipe the water into the countryside? In MI, only "rural" supply I know of is along the coast of Lake Huron where people can't get water from a well and the lakefront population density is substantial. (Strangest thing, there are some homes/cottages with 20% of the world's fresh water lapping at their front door and they've got to truck in potable water, so they're running a water line up the coastline.)