It was a great day for stone shaping at the Stone Trust, Isanti, Minnesota workshop space. Daniel Arabella and Daniel Peterson co-instructed ten participants in methods of stone shaping with locally available stone. Numerous slabs of limestone were snapped, bended, trimmed and dressed down into hearting size (hearting always seems to be a precious commodity for wall building workshops). The participants also had the opportunity to feather and wedge glacial erratics consisting of a mix of granite, basalt and sandstone into cope-sized boulders.
Some of you who came back to learn another skill in the art and craft of dry stone walling. Others came for the first time. One came all the way from Washington State!
As always, I want to give a special thank you to Chris Gagnon and the staff at Northland Landscape and Nursery in Isanti for allowing the Stone Trust to increase workshop capacity in the Upper Midwest. Thank you to the generous support of the individuals who donated stone specifically for this workshop and Jacqueline Higgins for providing volunteer support and photography. And thank you to the participants who continue to travel to the Stone Trust in all of its locations to expand their knowledge of the art of dry stone.
I look forward to the Contractors Intensive workshop to be held in October, which will be the first time certification testing will be offered by the Stone Trust in Minnesota.
All the best in rock shaping!
-Daniel Abdon Peterson
