Speak To Me

It has been quite a few months since the large boulders lying in wait at the bottom of the sunny utility valley have been visible. They tend to get swallowed in the summer lush. The subject of winter interest in the garden got me thinking about them again.



A massive sculptural earth work is bound to make winter more interesting when the huge stones become more prominent in the bareness of winter. But what do the stones want to be?



I went in there with a machete to flatten the former lush and give the stones a chance to speak their mind.

I want to do something different. I have built walls and have one more planned. I have stacked heiau/pyramids and frankly these stones are too big and heavy to lift and stack. The land almost calls out for a dry streambed through this natural drainage. But if you can wrap your mind around the idea, the ground stays too wet for a dry streambed. I think it would be a maintenance issue to keep the stones cleared of what will attempt to bury them as a dry streambed.

What do the stones want to be? I won't be hauling rocks tomorrow so they still have time to speak.



By tomorrow the stones could be buried again. The diagnosis is calling for a big one. Up to eight inches of snow are predicted for the next two days. I couldn't let this window of pseudo warmth and dry go to waste. The fancy cover board over the outside face of the main girder was attached and primed. I am actually running out of odds and ends to do on the cabin and need to get the drywall taken care of in order to move ahead.

I never did take that break from cabin building though and now that it seems like I have, my mind has really turned to action in the garden to be. I am enjoying the change.



As I was calling it a day and getting ready to head next door I heard the sound of cranes over head. I looked up and saw three white cranes flying above. Could they be Whooping Cranes? Are there any other white cranes that could be flying south over the North Carolina mountains in December?

They flew over Hebo mountain and begin to fly in circles like they were confused about which way to go. I watched. It took several circles of flying before it dawned on me they were using the updraft on the mountain to gain altitude. In the same place they just kept getting smaller. Take a picture dummy! By then they were mere specks on the last circle before heading south.



The stone sculpture will often be viewed from above. Two thoughts that keep repeating are the Nazca lines of Peru and ancient petroglyphs. How can the stones be made to paint an imagine on the ground with enough substance that it will not be totally swallowed up in the summer time? What image should be painted?



I toyed with the notion of an amphitheater. There is an intended car turn around down in the bottom for occasional heavy garden chores. An amphitheater could frame that turn around and make a strong structural statement. The idea wasn't calling strongly though. To do it right would require some major engineering. Could I add another line to a half circle framing the turn around? What shape will I begin to get?



I can listen to the stones again tomorrow. I headed next door with visions of Whooping Cranes circling over head, gaining altitude to ease their way south.



Circling cranes, petroglyphs and the lines of Nazca seen from above. Is this it? Is this the massive sculptural earth work for the garden to be to add winter interest? It even has elements of a mini-maze.

This could be it.