Rock Wall Update - Still Building

Rock wall update

It seems that I'm always accumulating rocks because of one project or another. This past couple months Adam has been moving the loose rock out of the new dairy goat pasture. This makes it much, much easier for us to keep the pasture in good condition. I like to weedwack the non-palatable plants down after the goat have browsed the pasture and moved on to the new pen. Thus the good plants can grow back without being shaded out by the bad. Now without all those rocks interfering with the weedwacking, the pastures will be easier to tend. 

Another recent source of rock has been the pig pasture. The young pigs are now rooting more aggressively, churning up rocks. So I've been moving wheelbarrowfuls of rock just to keep the pasture walkable. While the pigs can navigate the rocks just fine, I practically break my neck trying to get to the feed troughs. 

What to do with rocks? Rock walls, of course! 

I've been moving the rocks up to the driveway, creating low walls. 

It's all dry stack. No cement. The larger, nicer looking rocks are on the outside, while the uglier rocks are used for the back wall. And the small rocks fill in the middle. The white rope is just to make a straight line to follow so the wall does wiggle-waggle it's way along the driveway. 

The top two photos shows the wall extending up to the top of the drive, fairly close to the house. The photo above shows the next section going down the driveway. 

Above, here's the next section heading down and around the bend. 

Above, the lower section that meets the fork in the driveway, and the wall that was built earlier. 

Above shows that just piling rocks isn't the whole job. In order to have room to work, the back side of the wall area needs to be cleared of weeds, saplings, and brush. So that's a job unto itself. Around here, things grow rather densely. 

A few more feet and this run of rock wall will be complete. Then we can start to tackle the other side of the driveway. I figure there will be plenty of rock to build that one too. It will just take time to gather up the rocks. Opening up more garden spots or upgrading more pasture area should reveal plenty of rock. This whole farm is built atop lava, so I'm not going to run out of rocks anytime soon. 

Hairy Rocks Everywhere

How wet has it been these past two years? Almost constant! I have moss, mold, and lichen growing on things and in places that it never did before. I have to take care not to sit still too long myself! The rocks around this place are hosting quite an assortment of "lowlife". 

Above, this was a shiny black lava toe. Well it was for the past 10 years that it's been gracing my rock wall. Now it's fuzzy and green. 

Speaking of that rock wall, it's got parches of moss plus plenty of baby ferns sprouting from the crevasses. 

Along the rocks lining the driveway, rocks host multiple kinds of molds, mosses, and lichens. It's a patchwork of color. 

Only two years ago, the rocks here were bare. Nary a green speck. 

But not just green things. This lichen is orange. Why these rocks have orange lichen and zero green moss I don't know. But for about a 10 foot stretch, all the rocks are covered in orange. 

Further down the driveway, there's a section where the rocks are frosted in white, like some bizarre warm weather rime. I'm guessing it's a lichen that's willing to share the rocks with the mosses. 

I suppose all this color will disappear with the next drought, but for now it's kind of pretty. 

Creating a Path Thru the Woods

I've decided on the location of the new rabbit hutches. It's up near the house along a section that is not being used for anything else, not even pasture. The ground had been cleared as part of a perimeter roadway by a previous owner, so all the major trees are gone. It's almost all shade all day long, perfect for the rabbits. Being within 200 feet of the house makes for easy access for taking care of them. But the only glitch is that there is a section of woods between me and that stripe of land. So what to do? Create a pathway for access. 

I first decided I wanted the path wide enough to drive the ATV on. So I scouted out a line where I wouldn't need to chainsaw down any major trees, plus didn't have super major boulders. I didn't mind if the path wasn't straight. If it meandered a bit through the woods, that actually would be rather nice. 

The other problem I have is that the area is full of strawberry guava saplings. I actually encourage these saplings and harvest them for various uses. I coppiced the original trees years ago and now keep a thick growth of new wood so that the poles will be reasonably straight and tall. I don't mind sacrificing a swath in order to create a pathway, but the thick growth just makes for one more obstacle to deal with. 

Once I got an idea of where the path should be, I started removing the guava saplings right down to the ground. The ground surely isn't level here so there are holes and valleys that need filling in. Ah-ha, rocks! Yes, all the rocks that I'm removing from my patio project can be used as fill for my pathway project. Ha! 

So this is what it looks like after a couple hours of work. Yes, I got sidetracked off the patio project, but such is life. I removed a bundle of saplings out of the path and dumped wheelbarrow loads of rocks. So far so good. 

Yesterday morning I wanted to harvest more sapling poles and got carried away. Hack, snip, drag, drag. By mid-afternoon I had quite a pile of useable poles. All the little stuff got chopped up and moved to a biotrash pit. I was pretty pleased with the progress. 

Today I moved more rock to level more of the path and used some gravel to smooth out the rough spots. It looks good in the photo above, but what you don't see is that there are still plenty of mini hills and valleys to deal with, plus one boulder that needs a date with a sledgehammer. So the pathway still needs plenty of wheelbarrow loads of rock. But I can start using the ATV to deliver that rock to where they're  needed. Far easier than using a wheelbarrow! 

So the progress in this project will now slow down, because it's now just several trips of rock moving. How boring. But when the path is fairly finished, or when I start using the sledgehammer, I'll post an update. 

The Making of Our Great Rock Wall

Rock wall completed!   Runs entire front of the property. 

When we first bought our property there was a bit of a low, dry rock wall along the street. It had fallen apart in places. I tried plopping rocks back into place, but it really needed a makeover.  Plus it only ran part of the way along the front of the property. I knew that someday I would try to improve it. I wanted to be able to do it myself, but I was wise enough on this project to seek help.

In the process of clearing and cutting brush, we came upon rocks jutting out of the ground. They were added to the rock wall. Then the garden project began. Hundreds of rocks were removed to make the first garden area. Then hundreds more rocks were dug out for the second, main garden spot. All those rocks were also moved to the wall out front. When work was done on the driveway, we had more rocks to move. Then a major coup......a farmer up the road decided to run a water line to his farm. He had load after load of rock that he needed to get rid of. Bonanza! I was just as glad to get the rocks as he was to get rid of them. A perfect match!

Rocks artfully set in place to visually
make a "smooth" looking wall. 

Now I had a plethora of rocks. Next step was deciding exactly where the wall would run, how it should look, and should it be cemented or dry. I opted for cement.

A friend was an experienced rock wall builder. So with the help from another person, we tackled the wall. I have zero experience making rock walls, but while I worked, I watched. Hopefully I learned. I became the "mule". I got the supplies : water, rocks, sand, cement. I learned about string lines, levels, braces, setting up the foundation, choosing bottom rocks versus top rocks, setting rocks into place. Plus bracing rocks, using little rocks in crevices, setting internal rocks, and finishing the top of the wall. I learned how to mix cement, what the right consistency is for this job, how to fill the cement in so that it doesn't show on the outside. I learned how high you can build in a day, how much concrete can be safely poured each day, how long it needs to cure before you can add more height. I learned how to angle the rear wall in order to give stability if the wall is to be higher than 2 feet. Lots to learn.

The rock wall now extends across the entire front of the property. It is high enough to keep the horse and sheep in, but not the goat. The goat jumps atop even the five foot high sections quite easily and likes to sleep atop the wall. Bad goat!...but I love him. He makes me laugh. He reminds me to grab life by the tail and hang on tight for a wild ride, laughing and kicking up my heels at the same time.