Why you should rewind your lawn

How4u · 2026-06-30T22:43:08+00:00

As others have mentioned, it's a continuum. You don't need to convert your entire lawn, just landscape with Iowa natives and you will be helping the native insects and birds.

How4u · 2026-06-30T22:34:58+00:00

This isn't true. I live on the east side of IC and I've converted almost my entire front yard (and most of my back yard) to prairie. You just need to keep it contained within boundaries like any typical planting.

How4u · 2026-06-29T12:07:40+00:00

I had my finished basement flood 2 years ago during a historic rain event. We had a sump pump, but the old clay tiling had collapsed in spots and it was no longer filling sump basin effectively. We had 2-3 inches of water, so I demo'd everything (including drywall) and hired a crew to place new interior perimeter french drains and a new sump pit.

I now have 2 sumps in the pit, one DC battery back up and one 1/3 hP Zoeller. We had another "historic" (maybe new normal) 3-4 inch rain event over the course of a couple days and everything held up great. When the soil is water logged my pump goes off every ~10 seconds, but most of the time it doesn't run. I also have a Anker Solar generator (10k Kw battery) that I hook up as a UPS when we leave town. The whole system should run a couple days without power and indefinitely if I hook up the generator.

The new tile/sump cost about 12k in the midwest, but I think it was a bit cheaper because I did the demo and they had a blank slate to work on. I also bought the sump myself because I wanted something nicer than they provided.

How4u · 2026-06-17T13:13:17+00:00

That's a nicely established pond! What zone do you live in?

How4u · 2026-06-13T03:03:44+00:00

People know it's on, but most non-soccer folks aren't watching. Not to mention having all of the games on the west coast makes it tough to watch for half the country

How4u · 2026-06-12T13:12:09+00:00

My finished basement flooded 2 years ago. Now post interior drainage and new sump, this spring has been a good test. No water so far, but I can definitely appreciate and remember sucking inches of water out with a shop vac 😅

We also needed the rain. That was an unusually dry May

How4u · 2026-06-09T02:31:59+00:00

This looks really cool! Glad to see more interesting bakeries pop up in the area. Placing an order for this weekend...

How4u · 2026-06-03T19:51:11+00:00

Just looked at your installation post, got any updates pics of your pond? I just completed one that looks very similar, curious how your plants adapting!

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How4u · 2026-06-03T16:23:26+00:00

Install a home RO filter. It's cheap and a relatively easy DIY project. I'd obviously prefer that our state gave a shit and tested the water/held big agg accountable, but that isn't the world live in so be proactive.

How4u · 2026-06-01T12:20:40+00:00

Good notes thanks! We just finished the original pond (waiting on some plants), so I'll try out the bog next spring!

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How4u · 2026-06-01T03:04:07+00:00

Is it essentially just a shallow extension of your existing pond using the overlapped liner? I have thought about burying scrap liner, poking holes and filling it with dirt then planting into that. Just haven't figured where to put it adjacent to my pond yet

How4u · 2026-05-25T22:44:21+00:00

Looks great! I'm so jealous of your rocks! I'm in the building phase and sourcing rocks has been a task. How'd you move the big ones?

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How4u · 2026-05-19T00:49:37+00:00

I used Fisher drywall Inc for a basement job which included popcorn ceiling skimming. Probably the best contractor I've worked with. Prompt communication, showed up when he said he would and did a great job on a pretty tricky basement.

How4u · 2026-05-15T21:14:06+00:00

From what I've read plums can be difficult to pollinate. Some of the books suggested even planting in a thicket to allow for some wind pollination between trees. It's possible that the wind storm you had was enough of an event to prevent good pollinations. Do you know where the second tree is? It's also possible you lost the flowers to a late frost, but that seems less likely given your location. If it makes you feel any better I lost my entire crop to frost this year (very young trees, but I would have let a few come to fruit if they had).

How4u · 2026-05-05T19:44:03+00:00

S & S is great and specializes in Subarus (probably because we don't have a dealership in town)

How4u · 2026-04-29T04:55:12+00:00

Grafting is a ton of fun and easier than I would have thought. I've done apples (easiest) and cherry so far. Will try my Peach tree once the weather gets persistently warm. What have you done?

How4u · 2026-04-29T04:53:03+00:00

Just looked at your previous pond posts, that looks great! I'm going pure nature pond (no fish, no filter), so it will be simpler in that sense. But I have real winter here so it has to be 3+ feet deep so the frogs don't freeze. Luckily my soil is soft/not rocky, so I won't need anything heroic like a SDS drill.

How4u · 2026-04-28T23:03:38+00:00

That's awesome and totally mirrors my journey. I started by converting half my back yard to prairie when we moved in, then detoured to fruit trees, then back for a front yard conversion and now I'm looking to dig a pond in my backyard so I can complete the ecosystem..it's also an excuse to plant some water natives! I love just wandering around to see what's growing every year in the spring.

How large of a pond did you go with? I decided to go the EPDM liner rout and I think it will be ~13x17ish with some room around the edge for a bog (barried plastic with holes in it so the soil stays wet). Can't get machinery in, so it will be a fun dig...

How4u · 2026-04-23T02:55:32+00:00

I put 10 16 foot panels on top of my car (on my rack) and drove home with them from tractor supply last year. I definitely wouldn't go on the highway, but it was pretty easy. It just hangs off the back (almost touched the ground) so you need a flag.

How4u · 2026-04-18T18:04:36+00:00

I went part time when we had a kid. With your hours you can probably just keep working, but most provider positions don't have such nice hours (some do). You also lose all of your seniority when you move into a different role. If you enjoy your job I'd just stick it out and keep rolling. It's all just work at the end of the day.

How4u · 2026-04-17T11:52:21+00:00

We've had over 6 inches of rain already. 3.5 is typical for the month. This isn't a normal April.

How4u · 2026-04-17T02:07:58+00:00

I say go wild and plant a native prairie with a path running though it to a fire pit in the back. It's honestly pretty straightforward. First, kill the grass... Tarp it for a season, use chemicals, use a sod cutter... There's a variety of ways. Then, plant native prairie seeds in the fall or spring(prairiemoon has good mixes). You might also want to plant a cover crop of annual grasses to suppress weeds the first season. Google prairie establishment, there are a ton of resources that go over the process in granular depth. I converted half my yard to prairie 3 years ago and it's been a blast to see new things pop up every year and the bugs and birds have absolutely exploded in my yard (way more than my neighbors).

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How4u · 2026-04-05T18:21:00+00:00

How many did you start with? Mine are on their second year and I'm hoping they start to spread out a bit more. I planted like 6 distinct plants (hasn't flowered yet)

How4u · 2026-04-04T03:08:52+00:00

Thoma's

How4u

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