Stoned

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook this morning and I thought it looked pretty cool.  A number of years ago, in Provincetown, I learned the art of stone patios and dry stack walls from this cantankerous man named Leo Manske.

Leo maintained a number of gardens for the wealthier people in town and neighboring areas.  For a few clients, he would build patios and stone walls.  While some of my fellow workers would get to water the flowers or weed at other yards, I got to work with stone.  I would have like to have been watering plants and flowers, especially in the 90+ humid days, but I often was sent to the rock pile to lug.

I did like the idea of it and started to get a few side jobs of making patios and walls.  The first order of business was to go to the stone yard and choose the type of the stone.  Kentucky Blue or something warmer?  Chunky or thin?  Huge or not so huge?  Heavy or heavier...it was always heavy!

I did a few small patios around town with slate, although it was a medium that I was not too thrilled to work with.  It did not break evenly and crumbled if you wanted a certain piece to fit.  I did the following patio with my friend Tony, particularly enjoying working the slope and the tree into the design.  The amount of small stones was not easy to work with, but the different shades worked great.

My friend's Kate and John had asked me to build one at her property in Fairhaven.  I was just back from CA and in need of some work, so I quickly said yes.  The scope of it, though, was daunting.  Roughly 1000 square feet of stone and stone dust and digging.  She got me a few people to assist me and within a number of weeks, it was done.

We had left from for plantings on the edges and also a base for an eventual fireplace.  John installed the great fence, which pivoted on a single pole and with some of the extra stone from around the yard, we built a stone partition separating it from the back yard.

The following year, Kate wanted a few stone walls to do some plantings in.  Once again, a trip to the stone yard to choose some stone.  She wanted them against the house, which had two basement windows, so John fabricated some steel to keep the windows open and we waterproofed the cement to prevent seepage.  It took me one full week of work for each wall.  Looking for that right sized stone, from slivers to chunky ones.  I was quite pleased at the result, as it was the first one I had ever built on my own.

Since moving to CA, I have not had much opportunity to build many patios, although, at one house we lived in, there was a nice patio in the back yard with multiple levels and a chiminea.  There was also a number of extra stones laying around the yard, so when I wanted to putter, I would make these small patios or paths.  They would often change, depending on how the garden was growing.

Leo may have been a cantankerous man, but I am grateful for him showing me this trade.  My next project will be providing a beautiful pathway for Luther and BuddyJack from the walkway to the doggy door at the new house.  I just gotta get some stone.  6th Street, here I come!