We had six enthusiastic individuals participate in the first 2021 workshop held at our training site in Isanti, Minnesota. Two of the participants had previous experience working with stone in their landscape business and are looking to improve their stone working skill, two of the participants work in the construction trades as well as farming, and two of the participants are in the process of restoring their homestead. This was the first workshop we have had here in Minnesota in which everyone came with a work partner, so everyone was able to more or less work in teams as they deconstructed and rebuilt the training wall.
The weather has been unseasonably hot and dry here in Minnesota lately. The past week had at least three days with heat indexes into the 3 digits. Fortunately, the dew point dropped for the workshop weekend and the temperatures were in the low to mid 90’s each day of the event. The workshop canopies remained relatively stationary during Saturday, but the 30+ mph wind gusts Sunday afternoon necessitated the take-down of the tent canopies prior to the workshop wall being completed. Thankfully, the wall was in the final stages of the rebuilding with the copes being put in place. The participants completed the wall, and were able to work with some of the stone shaping tools, as well as to split down a few boulders with the pins and feathers. I look forward to working with all of you again when you choose to come to a future workshop. Upcoming in the summer and fall:
I would like to give a special thank you to Chris Gagnon at Northland Landscape Nursery, a corporate member of The Stone Trust and host of our Minnesota site. Thank you to Jacqueline Higgins for continuing to support and manage all of the photography during the event (as well as bring the hydration and watermelon for the event close), and thank you to Claire Baglien for volunteering Sunday assisting the participants moving stone.