More Terracing With Field Stone

Still rather disgruntled (to put it mildly) after the theft of a sculpture two weekend back, I decided I would spend the last several days moving heavy rocks around to burn up some energy.  The terraced walls are all dry-stacked stone collected on the property.  Eventually, I’ll continue all the way around the side of the house to the back where I’d like to dig a root cellar into the hill.  That will be a massive project for another day, or more specifically, another year.

The plan is to place a water catch up on the second level and plant perennial berry bushes on the first.  Our one gooseberry did quite well this year so I’d like to add more of those, as well as maybe blackberry and possibly some more experimental fare which pushes our growing zone.  The advantages of the terrace should lead to warmer soil, better moisture distribution (we have a very high water table here) and slightly better solar exposure.

I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turning out.  It’s well worth the sweat and strain.  To go from a shabby, eroding hill to beautifully stacked terraces is startling – in a good way.