The Call of the Wild: Chris Siewing of Nature's Re-Creations

THE CALL OF THE WILD:

Chris Siewing of Nature’s Re-Creations

ARTICLE BY AQUASCAPE

hris clearly remembers

Cthe day his wife Tara wanted to throw him out of the car. It was a pivotal moment in both his career and his life. The year was 2003 and he had just attended Pondemonium®, the water feature industry’s preeminent training event. Tara traveled to the event with him, and on the car ride home, Chris confessed that he was going to sell his mowing and landscape business and focus solely on ponds. His wife decided not to toss him from the car and to trust his instinct instead, and good thing she did. As an avid Eagle Scout in his early years, Chris grew to love hiking and camping in the woods. He calls the experiences his “Stand by Me” movie moments. Fishing, swimming, and exploring nature and rock formations created his best-loved memories of youth. Many years later he received his first Aquascape catalog in 2002 and attended a “Build a Pond Day.” He was certain he’d just found his life’s calling. Recreating nature as a career was a dream come true for the outdoorsman. Building ponds is a journey much like everything else in life. Each pond installation teaches you something and prepares you for the next water feature project. Chris’s first pond is a far cry from the works of art he creates today. His second pond was sold at a Mother’s Club meeting, and he still shows that water feature on every pond tour he hosts. He wants his customers to appreciate how his work has transformed and improved over the years. Chris’s goal isn’t to be the biggest water feature installer. Rather, he wants to be the best, and for him that means creating ponds and waterfalls that look as though Mother Nature made them herself. He admits to being a bit of a nut when it comes to selecting and placing stone and only uses naturally weathered stone, avoiding rocks that were blasted from a quarry. Fortunately for Chris, he works closely with stone pickers who know how the stones came out of the ground. Chris places the rock back into his features in the same way, as though they had never been moved. Stone is his paint that’s brushed onto the canvas of a backyard before finishing his water feature masterpiece. A signature touch that Chris likes to employ in pond design and construction is what he calls “choke points.” It’s an area in the yard that you can’t get around without interacting with the pond. It might be a narrow path that leads you across a stream or a large perimeter boulder that invites you to sit on its ledge and dangle your feet in the water. Chris is a self-admitted kid at heart and coerces his customers to interact with their ponds through his strategic, thought-out designs. Most of Chris’ clients connect with him on a deeper, almost spiritual level. They’re drawn to nature and understand and appreciate the attention to detail when constructing the most natural-looking ponds that no one would ever guess are created by mortal man. Chris admits that every new pond he installs is his favorite. Although truth be told, his personal recreation pond is truly the one he enjoys most and spends as much free time as possible swimming with his fish. It whisks him back to the days of his youth and the great enjoyment he received exploring all of nature’s treasures. Chris’s hard work and ambition, along with the trust and support of Tara, paid off after leaving the mowing and landscape business behind. Chris became a respected Certified Aquascape Contractor and in 2012 received the ultimate compliment, the highly coveted Aquascape Artist of the Year award. To discuss a water feature project in your yard, you can contact Chris Siewing at Nature’s Re-Creations. Their phone number is 636-223-2330. Check out their gallery of projects on Facebook.com/ NaturesReCreations or om www.Re-CreateNature.com.

Creating ponds and waterfalls that look as though Mother Nature made them herself.

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