From Pit to Pond

When my dad began building our home, he needed dirt to fill in around the base of the house. He hired someone with a backhoe to dig up more dirt.

“Dig down there,” Dad told the man, pointing to a low spot in our backyard. “Then haul the dirt up here by the house.”

First, a Big Pit

Soon our backyard had a huge hole! This pit was like a big bowl with a clay bottom. The clay kept rainwater from draining quickly into the earth. So the pit slowly filled with water. 

Next, Frogs and Lily Pads

Before long, a few frogs moved into our pit, croaking noisily.

“Frogs like lily pads,” I told Mom.

My grandmother dug up two water lilies from her small garden pool. “Weigh the roots down with small rocks,” Gramma said. “Then gently toss them into the water. Once the plants take root in the dirt, they’ll start growing toward the sunlight.”

Then, Baby Turtles

One day in late summer I discovered dozens of baby snapping turtles crawling from tunnels in our hard-packed driveway. They were so tiny that they tripped over blades of grass.

Will they find our pit? I wondered excitedly.

I’d read that when baby turtles are born, they already know that they need to find water. Sure enough, the baby turtles scrambled clumsily down the hill to our water-filled pit. 

Finally, a Pond

My best friend returned from a fishing trip and called me. “I’ve got a bucket of leftover bait fish. Can I put them in your pond?”

Pond?

Until that moment, I’d never really thought of the big, bare pit in our backyard as a pond.

By the next spring, melting winter snows raised the water level. Weeds and wild flowers sprang up along the banks. Lily pads sprouted and blossomed. Frogs, fish, and turtles played in the murky water.

I had to admit that our big pit had turned into a beautiful small pond!