Lauri Mitchell relishes the perks of being "Pond Mom." When she and her husband, Randy, moved to a ranch home in Palatine, Illinois, she called on her son, Greg Wittstock, to install a water feature in their backyard. Wittstock is the founder of Aquascape, a design and construction business in nearby St. Charles. His crazy-entertaining YouTube channel, The Pond Guy, has 582,000 followers.
"She's been my biggest fan for the past 40 years," says Wittstock, who happily gifted the spectacularly landscaped pond to his mom. He credits her with encouraging his hobby-turned-profession when he dug his first pond at age 12-to house pet turtles. Seven or eight years later, when he announced he wanted to start a pond-building business, she supplied a shovel and wheelbarrow and drew on her own work as a corporate trainer to foster his early service mindset.
Like many of Wittstock's customers, Lauri and Randy started with a smallish pond and grew from there. "We built this pond four times," says Wittstock, explaining they started with an 11x16-foot pool and a single waterfall.
In no time, his team returned to expand the pond with creviced "moss rocks" that Randy discovered on a local pond tour. (Sedums and mosses grow in the rocks' slits and nooks.) Next, Wittstock added a 25-foot stream with an additional waterfall for his mom to view from her kitchen window. Some evolutions were motivated by necessary considerations: The Mitchells wanted to add more fish, so they built a wetlands bog to filter the extra waste. Other additions were just for fun. "We came back from a trip, and I looked out the kitchen window and saw two new spillway bowls," Lauri says. "Greg was like 'Hey, happy birthday, Mom!""
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MAJOR KEY
HUNDREDS OF SMALL ISLANDS TRAIL LIKE STEPPING STONES OFF OF FLORIDA INTO THE GULF OF MEXICOAND THE PATH LEADS TO KEY WEST.
cream of the crop
IN A TINY TOWN OUTSIDE MADISON, WISCONSIN, A CENTURY-OLD CREAMERY HAS BEEN REVIVED AS A BOUTIQUE HOTEL AND CULINARY DESTINATION. FOR VISITORS TO PAOLI, SEVEN ACRE DAIRY COMPANY ANCHORS A SWEET WEEKEND GETAWAY. FOR SMALL DAIRY PRODUCERS, IT'S RESHAPING THE FUTURE.
HOME BAKED
ON A TREE-LINED RESIDENTIAL STREET IN DES MOINES, A BAKERY DREAM HAS COME WRAPPED IN LOVE, UNEXPECTEDLY TRUE COMMUNITY AND ALL-BUTTER PASTRY.
POST MODERN
AN INDIANA DIY'ER STUMBLES INTO SOCIAL MEDIA STARDOM BY SHARING HER HOME'S EVER-CHANGING STYLE.
POUR ME A DOUBLE
COFFEE BY DAY, COCKTAILS BY NIGHTTHESE HYBRID CAFES OPEN EARLY FOR CAFFEINE FIXES AND STAY UP LATE FOR LIBATIONS.
HOT IN HERE
THE UPPER MIDWEST (AND ESPECIALLY MINNEAPOLIS) IS FIRED UP OVER SAUNA CULTURE. HERE ARE 10 WAYS AND PLACES TO GET YOUR STEAM ON.
SHOP THE BLOCK
FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS, ST. LOUIS' ANNUAL PRINT BAZAAR HAS TURNED CHEROKEE STREET INTO A BUSTLING, MAGICAL MILE OF ART AND HOLIDAY CHEERTHE PERFECT KICKOFF TO A WEEKEND EXPLORING THE LOU.
EASY SQUEEZY
THIS LITTLE LEMON LOAF HAS A SOFT TEXTURE AND A PUCKERY, BUTTERY GLAZE THE PERFECT AFTERNOON BAKE FOR A SNOW DAY.
WINTER RESET
THESE WARMING, SPICE-FORWARD MEALS PROVIDE A HEALTHFUL RESPITE AMONG (OR AFTER) ALL THE HOLIDAY INDULGENCES.
DARK ARTS
WITH HER DRAMATIC COLOR CHOICE AND SECONDHAND TREASURES, INTERIOR DECORATOR RUTHIE JACKSON BRINGS THE MOOD WHEN HOSTING FOR THE HOLIDAYS AND BEYOND.
