Rocks!

I have a thing for rocks—river rocks, field rocks, mountain rocks, doesn’t matter. I love rocks.  That is a good thing because around the farm, we have a lot of rocks.  Where our house and farm are was once cotton fields and peach orchards.  It was farmed for about 150 years before we established our home here, and there are rock piles all over the farm.  At the corner of our yard under a big oak tree, was a huge pile of rocks that I systematically moved and made a border for my flowerbeds.  Harry’s dad wasn’t impressed with that since he recalled picking up a lot of those rocks as a boy.  Anyway, I have a love affair with rocks.  I am forever picking them up in the field or as I walk if I see one I like, I will tote it home and place it the rock border somewhere. 

I guess I get it honestly.  My mother had a thing for rocks and had them as borders in her flower garden on the Reidville Road in Spartanburg, SC  (John White Boulevard to you youngsters).  The house we lived in had a beautiful natural field stone fireplace with wonderful rocks with quartz and mica mixed in.  I have often wondered what happened to the rocks in that fireplace when the house was torn down. That house was where the front entrance to Hatcher Gardens is located now and was torn down a good many years ago. For my mother’s sake, I hope they took the rocks and did something nice with them.   Mama and Daddy moved to Inman, SC,  in 1957 and Mama moved her rocks as well.  I remember how proud she was of a bank at the new house where she transplanted her prized irises.  Interspersed among the iris, where these beautiful rocks she had moved from Spartanburg.   When Mama died, my sister and I divided up Mama’s rocks.  Yes, it is true. When the silver and china was divided up and we had closed up the house, all that was left was Mama’s rocks.  There was one very special rock that was a large whitish rock that had wonderful quartz crystals all through it and what looks like fossils.  I got that rock!  It has a place of honor in a flowerbed near my front door. I call the flower bed the Evelyn …………..flower bed in memory of mama.

I HAD a humongous quince bush that just had gotten out of control. It had huge sprouts everywhere and was hiding a flowerbed with daylilies in it.  Harry helped me prune it way back last year, but that only encouraged it to grow wilder.  One of those pretty days we had back in January, Harry asked sweetly if I would let him dig that bush up.  (It has thorns on it and looks “snaky”—his words—so I knew it was doomed if I said yes.)   I said he could dig the bush up because I had been thinking about putting a rock wall along the bank where the bush was.  “If you will let me build a rock wall there, you can dig it up.” I said.  I expected opposition but unbelievably, that was all it took.

A few minutes later he was back with the Bobcat and the bush was history, although a few diehard sprouts still live and bloomed this spring.  They can stay.  I will whack them back with the chainsaw periodically just to let them know who is boss.

On Monday, Harry asked me if I was ready to build my rock wall.  I answered that I was but I didn’t have the rocks yet. 

I had planned on going to another rock pile in the pasture and loading up rocks in my spare time in the MULE and working on the wall as I had time.   I planned on reading up how to build a natural field stone rock wall on YouTube and build myself a rock wall!  I am feeling pretty good about this DIY stuff.  He said, “I thought we would get some of those big rocks down in the field above the lake and use them.  We can pretty much build a retaining wall with several of them and you won’t have to worry about stacking them or using mortar.”  

Be still my leaping heart!  The big rocks down in the field!   I have been coveting these “big rocks down in the field above the lake” for 47 years.  (That’s how long I have lived here on the farm).  These rocks are huge fieldstones that were once the foundation stones for a cabin or house that sat down in the field more than a 125 years ago.  They are big and well shaped for foundation stones.  I had wanted those rocks up in the yard forever. Every time we would be out walking or riding in the pasture, I would make a detour to look at those rocks and wistfully remark that I would love to have them in the yard somewhere to no avail.  And now I am going to have them!    Rock junky that I am, I have hit the mother lode!  It took us two trips with the bucket on the Bobcat but three large rocks were moved and ready to be placed in my rock wall.  However, these rocks weren’t enough to cover the whole bank.

Harry told me that there was another place on the farm he had checked out that had some huge rocks we could also use.  He had checked it out and found these rocks he could get for me?  That sweet man had looked over the farm for rocks. He had been planning to build this wall for me ever since I let him annihilate the quince bush and he had been looking for rocks to use.  Just another way he shows he loves me. Forget roses and perfume!  Give me rocks!  Not the sparkly kind on my finger but the kind covered in lichen!   

So off to the back 40 we go to another area where fieldstones had been thrown and piled up over the years.  Here, though, were also some huge boulders that made my heart just almost leap out of my chest!  I never knew these rocks were even on the place!   They were stupendous! I have no idea how they got there.  I do not believe a man with a mule could have moved them.  They may have been there naturally.  It took three trips with the Bobcat to haul these rocks to the yard.  All in all, we brought nine gigantic rocks home Monday. There are still three left to get. 

Once we got them home, Harry worked like a magician with the bucket and forks on the Bobcat to get them in place.  These things won’t budge by hand!   Rain has interrupted our project and we will have to wait until it dries out to finish backfilling the wall and finishing the look I want.   Just a few more days and my rock wall will be finished.