About Aqua Eden

Aqua Eden specializes in creating and maintaining natural-looking ponds, waterfalls and streams. Our pond contractor professionals will fully install your own backyard water paradise. We provide service to Central and Southern Minnesota including Faribault, Owatonna, Northfield, Rochester, Mankato, Lakeville, Red Wing, and the surrounding cities. We work with nursery and landscaping companies to make sure your waterscape looks amazing.

Our waterscapes have been getting great reviews. Some of our waterfalls, ponds and streams have been featured at events such as the 2006 Faribault Garden Tour. Aqua Eden installed a full-sized waterfall display at the Owatonna Steele County Free Fair in 2006, one of Southern Minnesota's largest events. The Steele County Fair manager said he received many great reviews from the fair goers about our display and he is looking forward to having us back again next year in 2007. Aqua Eden has also been interviewed by a local television station, Owatonna Today and interviewed on KOWZ Radio.

In the near future Aqua Eden will be launching its very own online pond kit and supply store. We will be providing custom pond, waterfall and stream kits to fit the customers' backyard. Our service will not stop after the sale. When you buy a pond kit or supplies from us we will make sure it is used and installed correctly. We will do whatever we can to make sure your water project turns out to be a huge success!

Aqua Eden will also be hosting numerous water feature events all around Central and Southern Minnesota including pond tours, build-a-pond events (where you can see first hand how to correctly install a pond, waterfall and stream), koi seminars and many other various events. We want you to enjoy your water feature investment for many years to come.

A note from the owner - Jake Langeslag

Water is essential for all living things. I have always felt an extra strong affinity for water. It may have been a sign of things to come considering the fact that I was almost born on a lake in a boat. I was always the little boy playing in puddles or altering streams produced from the early snow melt in my neighborhood. As I grew, I began to develop a love for wildlife and natural areas.

It was often hard to find natural areas while living in the city. I would spend much of my early years at my grandparent's house in the country. My favorite part about my grandparent's property was the rather large backyard pond. Most of my daily activities related to some aspect of the pond. From installing wood duck nest boxes to planting cattail seeds around the shoreline, I was always trying to improve the quality of the pond. The days spent at my grandparent's house helped me develop a special fondness for wildlife, especially birds. I realized I wanted to have a career related to biology.

I decided to follow this career path and received my degree in ecology with a minor in chemistry from Minnesota State University, Mankato. While in college I took numerous courses in biology. Some of my favorites included vertebrate and wetland ecology. After graduating with honors from Mankato I decided to continue my education with the goal of becoming a professor of ornithology. To help fulfill that goal I acquired more biological research experience at the University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm / State Arboretum of Virginia. However, the more time I spent around academia, I began to realize that the lifestyle was not for me. Then I decided to change career paths and follow my other dream - the dream of starting my own water landscape business.

Before I started, I hoped to find a mentor within the pond building industry. I recently came in contact with Eric Triplet, a true master in the pond building industry. Eric Triplett ( AKA " The Pond Digger™") began a highly successful 16-year business called "Exotic Aquatics" located in Redlands, California (www.exoticwaterscapes.com). He has also been featured on Home and Garden TV's Extreme Makeover Edition and has built ponds at Disney Theme Parks. In addition to Eric's impressive track record, I find the principles in which Eric conducts his business to be very similar to my own. A perfect match for a mentor was found. I have traveled multiple times to visit the Exotic Aquatics headquarters in California. I had the great opportunity to learn what it takes to be successful in the pond building industry from "The Pond Digger" and his famous Exotic Aquatics pond building team.

While switching from college professor to creating a water garden business may seem rather drastic, I would argue that both professions are still very similar in nature. The difference now becomes the location of the classroom and the type of students. The indoor lecture hall will now become a customer's outdoor backyard and the students will change from primarily young adults to people of all ages. I feel this new path will still allow me to stay within the ecological umbrella and will ultimately give me peace of mind knowing that what I create is beneficial to myself, the environment, and the customer.