We are building a wall by hand. Or are we?

Hello again and welcome to Pick, Shovel, Hammer and Saw.  Let me tell you about one of the projects I’ve got going on.  The garden plot and its surrounding stone wall.  One of those things you see in movies about Ireland or England (Up the Republic!) where someone is traveling through the countryside.  

Well, I talked it over with The Captain (the wife) and it sounded like a good idea.  We have an abundance of rocks and all you do is to stack them up in a line, how hard can that be?  Well, not too hard at all IF you have the equipment and tools.  Of course, walls built in England and Ireland were done by hand (just like ours) except there were lots of peasants moving and stacking rock.  

My children resent being referred to as ‘the peasants’, for some reason, so now I call them ‘my people’.  Now anytime there is sweating to be done I can call them out and give them their marching orders. People at the feed store find it amusing when I say,  ‘No worries, I’ll have my people pick that up.’  

 So off I go and mark off the garden area.  We think it is just the right size at 50’x100’ (this is a homestead after all).  After the plotting, I round up one of my willing people, Brian, and we go to gather a few stones. The previous owners of this land conveniently stockpiled rocks that were in their way at different places in the pasture so there isn’t much digging involved (yet). It’s just sweat, time and chiggers, right?

The first rocks we gathered were next to the driveway just begging to be picked up and moved. Brian and I managed to move about 25 of those bad boys the first day.  They averaged about 30 pounds each, except for about 12 hernia makers of 100 pounds or so. This caused me to revisit my math (not my strong suit) for a moment.  There is going to be a wall 300 feet long, two feet wide and two feet high around the garden.  300’x 2’x2’ = approximately 3 zillion, or 80 metric tons, of rocks.  Hmm.

By mutual agreement and NOT rebellion on the part of my people, day one thankfully drew to a close.  N/A beers and Zevia sodas were calling our names.  And showers.  Long, hot showers.

To be continued..