We Had a Blast! Stone Shaping, July 17, 2021
Stone Trust Board President and Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA) Level 3 Advanced Waller Daniel Peterson and Level 3 Advanced Waller Daniel Arabella led our first Stone Trust stone shaping workshop at the Minnesota Stone Trust site on Saturday July 17. We had five enthusiastic participants, all of whom came to add to what they had learned at Introduction to Dry Stone Walling workshops in the last couple of years. Each of the men and women brought professional interests in landscape and/or hardscape design to their learning.
The participants primarily worked on shaping locally available stone including glacial erratics, limestone outcroppings and sandstone outcroppings. Everyone had the opportunity to work with a variety of hammers and chisels, as well as to split stone with wedges and feathers. All of the new stone chippers, point chisels, and general hammers acquired for this and future workshops now look appropriately used. Lily the HabAdapt supervising dog was not phased by the hammer drills or the demolition saw operation, unlike the run for cover whenever a vacuum is running.
Special thanks to Jacqueline Higgins for continuing to volunteer and take photographs. And a thank you to Chris Gagnon at Northland Landscape Nursery for donating additional outcropping stones for use in the workshop.
First-Ever Stone Trust Minnesota Walling Day, July 18
Two hardy souls, committed to building the walling community in the Twin Cities, returned on Sunday to help rebuild the practice wall that was decommissioned during the Stone Shaping workshop on Saturday. Other people would have liked to join in, but had previous commitments. The Galloway-style wall is now a double-sided wall, which will allow us to host more workshop participants for future workshops. Linda and Nathan also assisted in constructing an additional practice cheekend, which makes it possible to extend training from our Curriculum in Dry Stone to more of you who want to learn.
In addition to building the outdoor classrooms, we are also working to bring in more instructors to teach you what you want to know. Stone Trust workshops in general offer a student:teacher ratio of 8:1. We are fortunate to have two certified instructors in your region. You, too, could become a Stone Trust instructor. Be in touch to find out how!
Thank you to everyone for so generously sharing their time to help build the walling community, and thank you again to Chris Gagnon at Northland for continuing to support the goals of The Stone Trust.