Plants and Stones Blog

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR8gQbV7bFzSkQH1Jj3Vc26waNq5DMniidQVUI2YceRRm5MnDn7q_pcdNl_ZkdMQvESbF2Fa4PywzuBJFkXOENsj8ExRosfL2ag8GWXWzWwDqD6iMxEcWPsobkC2HBrRpJDflD/s1600/033e.jpg

“This is the the newest stone pile along our property line. Lack of covering vegetation easily shows the relative youth of this pile. The last farmer left this ground 24 years ago. This stone pile must be older that that. The height of this pile suggests that it was dumped from a tractor bucket. The stones in this pile are also smaller than the stones in the wall. Every year the frost sends a new crop of stone to the surface. The new crop contains smaller but more numerous stones. There is never a crop failure with the stone…”

http://stonewallgarden.blogspot.com/2011/12/stone-detective.html

"Pioneer settlers had to clear their land as a first order of business. Hauling stone to what would become field's edge preceded planting. Stones were likely heaved in a pile since there was no time to build walls. Years later stone walls could have served as pasture fences. A wall occupied less land than a stone heap and having the livestock walk on solid cleared ground was safer than having them slipping on slanted stone. Here at field's edge traces of an old wall can be found among the rubble..."


http://stonewallgarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-is-winter.html

"Yesterday's sunshine found Becky sitting on a stone wall under the huge cherry tree.  She saw this stone nearly buried in the litter close to the edge of the wall recently built by us. Not the usual stone, this one deserved closer inspection.  Some of the edges of this stone are as sharp as a knife edge.  Other surfaces are soft and porous.  We believe that the hard gray area of this stone is flint.  We would like to know how the stone was formed.

There is evidence that Native Americans lived on land very close to our present home. We can almost see the vee shaped stone structure that still spans the river and was thought to concentrate the migrating fish, eels, shad or salmon, making harvest of this natural food source easier. A flint factory appears to have existed a short distance downstream of the eel weir. I have spoken to a man that grew up on this farm. He describes finding primitive stone points here in great quantities. Our land overlooks the river and is largely glacial gravel deposits. The fertile part of the farm lies below us along the riverside. Native Americans left no signs of their presence on the land where we live..."

http://stonewallgarden.blogspot.com/2012/03/beckys-found-flint.html