January Fun With Ed And Becky, Part One

We woke up this January  morning to cool dry weather that was absolutely fantastic.  No doubt about it we were going to get dressed, get the camera and go outside to play!   One of the first things to capture Ed's attention was this temporary stone pile. It had developed a big bulge and a few stones had fallen out.  Ed said "I can fix that! I'll go get my pry bar."  

If some of the stones in this picture are a bit blurry it is because they are moving.  In the contest between Ed and his pry bar and gravity, gravity was the big winner.  Our morning was off to an exciting start.  The loud grating noise of the falling stones was unforgettable.  Ed still has those catlike reflexes when he needs them.  Not a single stone touched him!

It was all over so fast!  We both decided to let gravity work by itself on this stone pile.  When spring comes Ed will be back!  He has his eye on the big stone  just to the right of the stone avalanche.  It is a perfect stone  for his rock garden project.  

We walked the path up to the big hemlock tree.  The best way to maintain a path is to walk on it. We each took our turn to relax against the big tree. Next  Ed went to get a closer look at this red maple nearby.  It's trunk has a great hollow to stand in so you can relax against the tree not unlike Ed's favorite old maple in the back.

A little moving of stones was necessary to make a really comfortable place to stand.  From there we headed back to the garden.

Ed decided to cut back the October Sky asters that were blocking the path into the stone square.  When it was blooming the billow of flowers was worth taking a detour.  Now the  dead stalks are just dropping their seeds in the path.  By the Ed finished we both realized that it was time to head inside and have lunch.  We had a fantastic morning playing outside together!

Temporary Stone Pile

Finding this dry stone wall blown over came as a bit of a surprise.  We have been in the path of fierce polar winds and this wall had begun to show some signs of displacement in response to prevailing north winds.  The curved wall in the distance was carefully built as a wall and it remains unmoved.

When we build a wall that is intended to be permanent, the two faces are piled so that both are sloped inward.  Each is constantly falling toward the other and the net result is no movement.  This fallen wall was intended to be a temporary stone pile so less time and care was invested in stone placement.  Even the exposed end shows long vertical seams.  When building a stone wall it is customary to combine long and short stones in such a way that the exposed end surface is tightly laced by overlapping stones.

Our surface ground was deposited here by the last receding glacier.  Bedrock ridges pinch the valley nearly closed and a series of dams likely occurred here.  Rich farm fields upstream were formed when sediments were dropped in standing water.  Our land formed under far more turbulent conditions.  Dams formed and were quickly washed away.  Our surface deposits consist of more stone than soil and all is piled in a jumbled mess.  The size of the stones left behind vary widely from wall stones to sand.  To date no stone unearthed has proven too large to move but some have required splitting into several slabs before they could be removed using hand power.  The stones in this pile were unearthed when the nearby area was first disturbed intending to make another garden bed.  The larger wall stones were moved only a short distance.  Now they will be moved again.

Another practice in skilled wall building is to place the larger heavier stones at the top of the wall.  It is more work to lift big stones rather than simply roll them to a ground level placement.  Their concentrated mass is supposed to make the wall more resistant to movement.  That the end of the wall is still standing may point to the soundness of placing large stones at the top of the wall.

This stone pile has been in place for many years.   Minimal care was taken in the initial placement of the stones.  The resulting wall strayed several inches away from a straight line placement.  Becky strongly objected to tearing down the wall so that it could be correctly placed.  It did seem like a great deal of work for little gain.  Now the pile must be moved.  I swear that I had no active part in toppling the wall.  Unless the Big Bad Wolf was around it must have been the wind!

Early Stone Work

There was a brief period of time today when it was pleasant to be outside.  Clear skies allowed the ever strengthening sunlight to really warm things up.  Ed could not resist the chance to work with his stones.  No frost held these exposed stones to the ground.  The day seemed suited to gathering stones whose shape recommended them for future wall placement.  The chosen stones could have been thrown in a heap or stacked loosely in a temporary storage wall.

This area consists of the poorest land we own.  A short narrow valley with steep sides is formed between the gravel bank hill and the kame that roughly parallels the bedrock ridge.  There are no old plow furrow edges on this land although an adjacent field is still actively farmed.  It must have been cleared for pasture only but Ed can find no logical reason for the placement of the straight line stone pile down the center of the valley.  The stone here is also of poor quality.  Distorted round broken goonies abound.  There is insufficient Irish in his family tree to enable him to build solid walls with such poor stone, but there must be some because Ed just can't toss wall stone in a heap.

The single stack end makes this wall temporary.  Any stone that is placed in a wall so that it can fall will fall.  If these stones are not soon moved to a permanent placement, a fallen end will mark the beginning of a select heap.  The lone roundish stone is headed to the edge of the garden developing down by the road.  Most of our stone is sedimentary in origin but the round one is metamorphic.  It is much denser than our other stones and is filled with small quartz crystals.  Some time exposed to the weather will polish its surface and it will sparkle at the edge of the garden.

The wind shifted, coming from the north and Ed moved inside.  This day was very special since outside work in relative comfort was possible.

Stone Pile or Stone Wall?

 In our neighborhood, on this incredibly gorgeous warm  November day, many men are out looking for  deer to shoot. For them that is the reason for the season. Ed spent the day outside  too.  Even though he is working down by the road, he wears a fluorescent orange "I am not a deer hat".  Ed is working on his latest stone wall.  As he works the stone pile is getting smaller and the stone wall larger.  It's interesting that at this point they are both about the same size.  The wall grows faster than the pile diminishes since every trip down the hill brings more stone.

Standing by itself the stone pile looked  good, but now that the finished wall is in the picture it's rough appearance is obvious. When Ed is in wall building mode the stones fall into place like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. He has a real talent for it and if he is in the groove it takes considerable effort to drag him away even for lunch.  As long as the stones cooperate he will work there, but sometimes as he tires the muse leaves him and nothing seems to fit together. When that happens he goes and looks for more wall stones to add to the pile.  It's nearly 5:00 and darkness is falling.  He is still out there.  He will come in soon tired and smelly but happy.  He spent this unbelievably beautiful November day doing something he truly loves.

Old Stone Dump

With the first snowfall our attention shifted to preparing for winter.  This section of the lane was difficult to plow since the bank prevented the plow from discharging its snow to the side.  A long ruffle would build up in front of the plow until the ridge was passed.  Removing the bank would solve that problem.  Pry bar, stone fork and shovel began their attack on the bank.

Stones littered the surface of this hedgerow at fields edge but the true nature of this piece of ground had gone unnoticed.  Sizeable trees grew there in fair numbers.  I was surprised to discover that a mound was actually an old stone dump formed when the field was cleared many decades ago.  Stone of all sizes had been hand picked from the field and dumped here.  Neglected for many years, spent vegetation had fallen on the stone.  The combination of stone, leaves, water and time produces a finely grained black compost that we call duff.  It is our favorite natural soil amendment but it is difficult to come by.

Cutting back the bank became mining duff.  The stone fork was used first to pull stones from the ground.  Large stones were piled at the side.  The large mesh wire screen was used to sift out smaller stone.  These stones were placed in the shallow trench dug alongside the lane.  Screened duff was moved up the hill and piled near the garden.  The wheelbarrow pictured is filled with finely screened duff.  Compare its color with the new soil in the shade garden.

These larger stones from the dump have been moved to the site of our next stone wall.  Passersby question the placement of the wall in the middle of the mown area.  They are surprised to learn that this is a temporary stone pile.  The planned wall will be built nearby.   It is no more work to pile the stone than it is to throw the stone in a heap.  Working from the neat stack will be easier than picking stone from a jumbled mess.

Our original task was to improve our driveway.  This section of that job is nearing completion.  If winter holds off for a while, there will be time to begin to build this wall near the highway that will identify the location of Stone Wall Garden.  Now few know what lies at the top of the hill.