I found salamanders in my yard, so I made a native creek by hand, but it almost ruined me.
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This one has truly been a labor of love… or maybe stubbornness? I don’t know. Either way, it feels good to have it done so I can finally share it with all of you. It’s been a journey, to say the least. It’s cool to see how quickly the wildlife has taken to it as well. I’m curious, though, what are your thoughts about native nano fish? The more I think about it, the less I think I should include them. Let me know, and I hope you all enjoy the video. Thanks for watching, and have a great weekend!
Absolute superstar king behavior. You deserve all your success and more! Thank you so much for sharing your vision and work! !!
You should connect your creek to your pond
That is an awesome build but moving stones that big without machinery is definitely not impossible..
Nice build, job well done!
get yourself a rotary hammer drill, some bits, a BFH(big hammer) and a a few sets of feathers and wedges and you'll be able to split those big stones down to a movable size.
Enthralling
Absolutely unreal, incredible
Im curious if you ever see frog predators on your property?
Add those native nanos!
The benefits for wildlife really make this such a worthwhile use of your time and energy. And it's also so beautiful and calming. I wish I had your dedication and energy levels!
Dude! My heart goes out to you! What a frustrating situation. Kudos for sticking with it.
16:00 I think you meant "six millimetres thick" (a 6.0mm liner). 60mm thick is a few inches thick.
That is an amazing project, but i'm not sure what's more intimidating – to build this or to maintain it?
Your determination is inspiring and im super impressed by everything in this video! Thank you for your videos. Im in the process of taking raw farm land here in south texas and modifing it to be the most beneficial it can be for the wildlife in the area. When facing a challenge i find myself asking what would Serpa do. Thank you!
If by “nano fish” you mean mosquito fish, they may or may not be native to your area, but there are programs (depending on where you live) where they will actually give you native mosquito fish to minimize mosquito populations. Non native fish however can have a negative impact on the ecosystem. You could also do other things like attract dragonflies which eat mosquitoes and their larvae so you wouldn’t need nano fish to begin with. Sure, they also eat tadpoles, but that is the natural order and will help maintain a balance.
My back started aching only by watching you move all those rocks and big stumps, but it definitely was worth it! The creek looks awesome 💚💚💚
Thank you for taking your time with the build, Tanner, this was a great watch!
Just wait until the sound of running water attracts beavers 💀
2 years for one video…now that's commitment
Much respect for your work which resulted in this awesome build! love from Germany from your longtime viewer, Helmar <3
🎉 I am blown away with this build! You are a powerhouse! Haha. Beautiful! Love the amphibians !
amazing video, some lilys there would look great
You have a lot of patience, I would have buried it all right away. Show us design of your garden I saw on background please.
"Native" buries a ton of rubber and fabric.
I think adding native nano fish would be incredible! But I would definitely wait until next year to add them if you want to prioritize the frogs.
This is awesome.
What i didnt know is that plants like water lilies and irises can puncture pond liners and even ouncture molded pots. Has given he pause for more planning.
Very much inspired now! Hopefully one day I will make one
Idk bout fish but it's 😊
Please don't add any fish. Let the frogs have this one. There is a chance they might not want to lay eggs in there because of the fish
Since you are from Pa you should get some native darters!!!! They would benefit greatly from the ripples and clean water, as I mentioned they are native. They won’t compete with frogs as the frogs eat terrestrial insects and the darters eat mostly aquatic microinvertebrates on the creek bed. Just a thought man love your stuff tanner
You need to make more friends lol
Excited for another cinematic experience! I loved the first one. You’re a very good storyteller and videographer. Keep up the great work Tanner, always look forward to seeing your videos pop up.
It’s a true Serpa build and thank you so much for taking us on the journey with you. The project came out beautifully. If I was a frog, I’d pack my bags and head north.
My dad had made a creek for our backyard a couple years ago, had some of the same leaking issues, and with California drought we ended up just scraping it. Now it just gives water a place to go when we do get rain(water from under our house gets pumped into it). Wish we had seen this video before he attempted it then
"if i hired a pro" says the guy who builds amazing and incredible habitats just because he can.
this is so incredibly beautiful and so well done.
All your hard work paid off in the end! You have an absolutely amazing creek that supports a diverse wildlife community. 💯❣️
I know how you feel hun. I've been working on the same 3d painting I'm making for my husband (although I plan to sell prints of it someday) for over a year now. I'm disabled, so I often have to take breaks for days, weeks, even months at a time sometimes. This last time falls into the "months" category, and although I've had to take longer breaks, because I started mistaking my pain and exhaustion, and fear of failure for laziness (I often get to the ugly stage of a piece and believe all other, previous artistic success was just a series of extremely fortunate flukes. I usually push through it, my imagination not giving up on me, but…), this time, It was really hitting me hard. I didn't want to do anything. Yeah, my pain was higher than usual, and I was so, so tired, but I was convinced this particular project was more than I could handle. I worried that like with my writing, I'd fully give it up. I stopped writing because I couldn't sit up at my computer anymore, only months after having a year of publishing one short story after another. I'm still on Amazon, despite it having been over 10 years ago. The full truth though, on top of my severely declining health, I was burning out. I think because I attribute so much of my having to quit being an author to said burnout, not giving myself enough credit, and admitting I didn't want to stop, I have developed a habit of blaming myself for things beyond my control.
Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I had a breakthrough in the planning stage. The piece is a painting of a female cherry blossom trees dryad, who has these massive, 3d branches coming out of her back, in a rough wing shape, absolutely covered in cherry blossoms. I have about 6 flowers finished, the sketches all done, sky background is fully painted (it's metallic robbins egg blue) and I plan to paint some blurry blossoms and lone petals floating through the sky. The element that gave me the push? Her hair. How do you make hair on a tree? I looked up long string lichen, moss and parasitic/symbiotic plants that gravitate toward cherry blossoms. Nothing really inspired me. One day, I was watching a woodworking video when this stunning wood was explained as making had a relationship with a fungi that caused it to marble the wood with these gorgeous black lines, without hiding it in any way. That's when it hit me: FUNGI! I couldn't find any that could mimic human hair until I realized mold is a type of fungi. Cut to the most beautiful, yet most disgusting sounding rabbit hole of slime mold I'd ever been on. I found this one that looked like thick strands of perfectly aligned, bright pink hair, the EXACT color the cherry blossoms I'd already made (including steps like sewing embroidery thread into a star shape just to have the back of every single blossom, or making my own metallic watercolour paint to make small details on each petal I cut out of paper thin sheets of wood after soaking it in ink and cutting it immediately so it wouldn't just splinter like it does if you try to cut it while it's dry… point here: each flower takes me days) so I'm sure it's needless for me to say but, I was back. I knew the exact material I wanted to use for her slime mold hair, and cooler still, the mold creates these jewel like secretions that look identical to beads I also use to make these flowers! So I bought the rubber tubing lace, and as soon as it got here, I was so inspired I drove into my work the first second I felt well enough to do.
I kept telling myself I'm not going to give up on this project, and I wanted to give up so many times, but like you, i kept at it, even if it meant I could only do so mentality, and I told myself I wouldn't give up. I now have so many more parts done to make the new sizes of flowers, until I'm well enough to finally trace her face onto the canvas. I already have the wings completely planned out in my mind. Altogether, the piece takes up 2 full 28×30" canvases, one vertical, the other horizontal, and still, I plan for the wings to go off both canvases. It's my favorite concept so far.
Sorry this is so long and if anyone got this far, thank you so much for reading it all. If anyone is curious about how in the heck a 3d painting works, I have a couple of examples of them in my ytshorts. People often ask if and when I bring it up, so I figure this should help.
Keep pushing Mr. Serpa. I'm rooting for you and all of your woodland guests! 💜💜
Just when I was thrilled with this build, you drop that another film on the pond is coming up later!!! WOW! I've rewatched your first film at least twice, it's just such a relaxing, joyful experience. I really look forward to it!
NOW about this build!!! INCREDIBLE. I felt for you so much with the leaks… This was exhausting (but satisfying!) just to watch. I totally understand needing to take so long to emotionally recover, and you would have been completely valid to stop. That said, I'm so glad that you didn't. This feature is indescribably beautiful, and is obviously providing so much habitat for your native species. I'm of the opinion that whomever takes up residence should do so on their own accord, without human addition, despite how wonderful the fish would look. And who knows, with visiting birds and the absolutely tiny size of fry… You may end up with native fish nonetheless! Nothing surprises me with nature anymore, just pleasantly reminds me of how life, uh, finds a way, as they say.
Genuinely inspiring work, Tanner. As I type, I'm mid-project on setting up my own 50 gallon preformed pond in my yard—my first outdoor build—for the native birds and invertebrates, and I've been dragging my feet purely because it's so intimidating. Watching you push through this infinitely more complex build has definitely motivated me to continue, as it was your initial pond video which inspired me to create my "bird pond" in the first place. Thank you, as always, so much for sharing. You are truly a treasure.
Creating at this scale is epic.
Planet Zoo IRL
You should 100% add nano fishes…
Cool but why did you use plastic. Littering is bad.. I know you know that.. so why
Just wanted to come on here with appreciation- I started watching your channel 4 years ago. . I was working 7 days a week while having postpartum depression after my son was born. Your videos brought a sense of comfort in those times I would be alone in my work hotel room. . Missing my son. . Over these few years I’ve grown, I’ve lost, I’ve learned, and gained. . And your videos always found their way back to me. Thank you. . For being a small reason I kept going ❤
epic upload
Tanner, you have such enthusiasm that I wish I had some of!! 🙂 With each enjoyable video I learn more and get lots of ideas… But there it sits. But along you come with another wonderful idea… And, well, I have another idea… 😅 You know what I mean. Keep them coming Tanner¡!¡ 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Stunning build.🌈💚🌈
Let the insects rule in that creek, you dont want fish eating the larva/eggs etc..
The macrocosm below the water will be amazing.
Always always always build ponds from the bottom up folks.
It looks lovely.
Every single time I hear sedges, my brain goes, "Sedges have edges!" Which was especially funny because right after you mentioned how they softened the edges.