Regarding sustainment: I have mentioned this many times on this forum, but I know several people who raise cattle with nearly zero inputs. Calcium is an input and a few other minerals that the cattle remove from the soil, but that's all. These ranchers use no seed, fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, miticide, dewormers, hormones, antibiotics, or anything else. They don't even irrigate. They just add water troughs and the minerals (calcium and seaweed) and that's all. They have no trouble raising fat cattle on the grass that grows in Central Texas (not known for lots of rainfall). Because they have stopped using the -icides, their land has improved markedly and continues to improve as they increase their stocking rate. These guys carry twice as many "animal units" per acre as their neighbors because they have so much healthy, natural (native) grass. Meanwhile their neighbors are buying the latest and greatest seed every year, which of course requires you to tune up your fertilizer regimen and get rid of the weeds. They also deworm their cattle which kills the dung beetles which bury the dung down in the soil where they, and other creatures, decompose it adding fertility right where Nature intended for it to be. The "organic" guys have tall grass from fenceline to fenceline while the neighbors have scrub, rocks, washouts, and very little cash at the end of the year. This is not only sustainable (except for the calcium an seaweed) but extraordinarily profitable since the inputs are so small and the stocking rate is double. And I hear people all the time saying they're lying about this or that because you can't do it that way, but they do. If you go back to a system more like what Mother Nature developed, you can sustain the system and still profit from it. But in our arrogance we have to tinker with things, and it seems we are trying to tinker ourselves out of resources.

I did end up going for it. See link below. The pond gradually slopes down one half with a deep end of 2.5' (and an extra 1' overwintering hole filled with sand/leaf litter). Marginal shelf around 80% of the pond (blueflag iris, pickerelweed, golden club, arrow arum, cattail, etc.) planted into clay soil left over from excavation. The overflow runs into a "bog" area (just dug down about 1', laid out some excess linear, and put soil/sand/peat mix back in) which stays wet for a day or two after rain (red lobelia thriving there). Had a string algae bloom in the spring, as expected, until duckweed took over the surface in early July. Added some toad tadpoles from a drying up puddle in May, and they're now 1-2" toads that are out and about at night. At least 10-20 damselflies buzzing about the surface every time I check, and the rest of my garden beds are also loaded with them. No fish, no pumps or filters. Have a rain barrel set up next to the pond but haven't had to use it all summer, especially with the duckweed. I used mosquito dunks from spring into early summer, but haven't put one in in over a month. Despite my concerns going into it, I can say this is the most mosquito-free summer we've ever experienced. The pond has become everything I hoped it would be in less than a full season. Here is a link that might be useful: This post was edited by c2g on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 23:16

Back in World Wide Web infancy, a company called Primal Seeds published the following list called "The NPK of Stuff." It's no longer on the webs, but here is the list. This will help y'all adjust your compost piles. Alfalfa hay 2.45 0.5 2.1 Apple fruit 0.05 0.02 0.1 Apple leaves 1 0.15 0.35 Apple pomace 0.2 0.02 0.15 Apple skin (ash) 0.0 3.08 11.74 Banana skin (ash) 0.0 3.25 41.76 Banana stalk (ash) 0.0 2.34 49.4 Barley (grain) 1.75 0.75 0.5 Bat guano 6 9 0.0 Bean and pod 0.25 0.08 0.3 Beet waste 0.4 0.4 3 Beet waste (root) 0.25 0.1 0.5 Blood meal 15 1.3 0.7 Bone meal 4 21 0.2 Bone (ground and burned) 0.0 34.7 0.0 Brewer's grains (wet) 0.9 0.5 0.05 Brigham tea (ash) 0.0 0.0 5.94 Cantaloupe rind (ash) 0.0 9.77 12.21 Castor bean pomace 5.5 2.25 1.13 Cattail reed & water lilly 2.02 0.81 3.43 Cattail seed 0.98 0.39 1.71 Chicken manure 1.63 1.54 0.85 Coal ash (anthracite) 0.0 0.125 0.125 Coal ash (bituminous) 0.0 0.45 0.45 Cocoa shell dust 1.04 1.49 2.71 Coffee grounds 2.08 0.32 0.28 Coffee grounds (dried) 1.99 0.36 0.67 Corn (grain) 1.65 0.65 0.4 Corn (green forage) 0.3 0.13 0.33 Corncob (ground, charred) 0.0 0.0 2.01 Corncob (ash) 0.0 0.0 50 Cotton seed 3.15 1.25 1.15 Cottonseed meal 7 2.5 1.5 Cottonseed-hull (ash) 0.0 8.7 23.93 Cotton waste 1.32 0.45 0.36 Cow manure (fresh) 0.29 0.17 0.1 Cowpea, green forage 0.45 0.12 0.45 Cowpes, seed 3.1 1 1.2 Crab (common) 1.95 3.6 0.2 Crab (king, dried and ground) 10 0.25 0.06 Crab (king, fresh) 2.3 0.0 0.0 Crabgrass 0.66 0.19 0.71 Cucumber skin (ash) 0.0 11.28 27.2 Dog manure (fresh) 1.97 9.95 0.3 Duck manure (fresh) 1.12 1.44 0.49 Egg 2.25 0.4 0.15 Eggshell (burned) 0.0 0.43 0.29 Eggshell 1.19 0.38 0.14 Feather 15.3 0.0 0.0 Felt hat factory waste 3.8 0.0 0.98 Field bean (seed) 4 1.2 1.3 Field bean (shell) 1.7 0.3 1.3 Fish scrap (red snapper) 7.76 13 0.38 Fish scrap (fresh) 6.5 3.75 0.0 Greasewood (ash) 0.0 0.0 12.61 Gluten feed 4.5 0.0 0.0 Greensand 0.0 1.5 5 Grape leaves 0.45 0.1 0.35 Grapes (fruit) 0.15 0.07 0.3 Grapefruit skin (ash) 0.0 3.58 30.6 Hair 14 0.0 0.0 Hare and rabbit waste 7 2.4 0.6 Hoof meal and horn dust 12.5 1.75 0.0 Horse manure (fresh) 0.44 0.17 0.35 Incinerator ash 0.24 5.15 2.33 Jellyfish (dried) 4.6 0.0 0.0 Leather (acidulated) 7.5 0.0 0.0 Leather (ground) 11 0.0 0.0 Leather (ash) 0.0 2.16 0.35 Lemon cull 0.15 0.06 0.26 Lemon skin 0.0 6.3 31 Lobster (refuse) 4.5 3.5 0.0 Lobster (shell) 4.6 3.52 0.0 Milk 0.5 0.3 0.18 Mud (fresh water) 1.37 0.26 0.22 Mud (harbour) 0.99 0.77 0.05 Mussel 0.9 0.12 0.13 Mussel mud (dried) 0.72 0.35 0.0 Molasses residue (brewing) 0.7 0.0 5.32 Moss 0.6 0.1 0.55 Oak leaf 0.8 0.35 0.15 Oats grain 2 0.8 0.6 Olive pomace 1.15 0.78 1.26 Olive refuse 1.22 0.18 0.32 Orange cull 0.2 0.13 0.21 Orange skin (ash) 0.0 2.9 27 Oyster shell 0.36 10.38 0.09 Paint processing waste 0.02 39.5 0.0 Pea pod (ash) 0.0 1.79 9 Peach leaf 0.9 0.15 0.6 Peanut (seed & kernel) 3.6 0.7 4.5 Peanut shell 0.8 0.15 0.5 Peanut shell (ash) 0.0 1.23 6.45 Pigeon manure (fresh) 4.19 2.24 1.41 Pig manue (fresh) 0.6 0.41 0.13 Pigweed (rough) 0.6 0.16 0.0 Pine needle 0.46 0.12 0.03 Potato (tuber) 0.35 0.15 0.5 Potato (leaf and stalk) 0.6 0.15 0.45 Potato skin (ash) 0.0 5.18 27.5 Poudrette 1.46 3.68 0.48 Powderworks waste 2.5 0.0 17 Prune refuse 0.18 0.7 0.31 Pumpkin (fresh) 0.16 0.07 0.26 Pumpkin seed 0.87 0.5 0.45 Rabbit brush (ash) 0.0 0.0 13.04 Ragweed 0.76 0.26 0.0 Redtop hay 1.2 0.35 1 Rhubarb stem 0.1 0.04 0.35 Rockweed 1.9 0.25 3.68 Rose (flower) 0.3 0.1 0.4 Salt-marsh hay 1.1 0.25 0.75 Salt mud 0.4 0.0 0.0 Sardine scrap 7.97 7.11 0.0 Seawood 1.68 0.75 4.93 Sheep manure (fresh) 0.55 0.31 0.15 Shoddy and felt 8 0.0 0.0 Shrimp head (dried) 7.82 4.2 0.0 Shrimp waste 2.87 9.95 0.0 Silt waste 9.5 0.0 0.0 Silk mill waste 8.37 1.14 0.12 Silk worm cocoon 9.42 1.82 1.08 Sludge 2 1.9 0.3 Sludge (activated) 5 3.25 0.6 Sludge from sewer beds 0.74 0.33 0.24 Soot from chimney fllue 5.25 1.05 0.35 Starfish 1.8 0.2 0.25 Sunflower seed 2.25 1.25 0.79 Sugar (raw, residue) 1.14 8.33 0.0 Sweet potato skins (ash) 0.0 3.29 13.89 Sweet potato 0.25 0.1 0.5 Tanbark (ash) 0.0 0.34 3.8 Tanbark ash (spent) 0.0 1.75 2 Tankage 6 5 0.0 Tea grounds 4.15 0.62 0.4 Tea leaves (ash) 0.0 1.6 0.44 Timothy hay 1.25 0.55 1 Tobacco leaves 4 0.5 6 Tobacco stalk 3.7 0.65 4.5 Tobacco stem 2.5 0.9 7 Tomato fruit 0.2 0.07 0.35 Tomato leaves 0.35 0.1 0.4 Tomato stalk 0.35 0.1 0.5 Wheat, bran 2.65 2.9 1.6 Wheat grain 2 0.85 0.5 Wheat straw 0.5 0.15 0.6 White clover (green) 0.5 0.2 0.3 White sage (ash) 0.0 0.0 13.77 Wood ash (leached) 0.0 1.25 2 Wood ash (unleached) 0.0 1.5 7 Wool waste 5.5 3 2

Poor thing! She is a pug too, isn't she? Something that makes a pug snort even more?!?! It doesn't seem possible. One time Ruby snorked up a paper dot (you know, from the hole punch). It molded itself to the inside of her nose and she did not like that one bit! But she wouldn't even let me near her face. We had to make a trip to the vet. He misted some water in her nose, and had made a horrendously wet sneeze and out it came ROFL! He said that wasn't the point of the mist, he was trying to moisten the paper so he could grab it with tweezers without it sticking to her. I hope everything turns out okay!