I started a new project on New Year's Eve. Well, technically I suppose I revitalised an old, neglected project, but that sounds less cheerful. This bit of wall fell down over a year ago, and while I'd started stripping back some of the mess, I kept putting off dealing with it properly. First of all because the cows were in the fields, and I do NOT like being closely watched by a herd of curious (and large) faces. Secondly because there were just so many other things to do, and fixing a wall between two of our own fields never got to the top of the priority list. And finally because I just couldn't figure out how much wall to strip out. I'm certainly no expert, but I've done a little bit of walling before and I know enough to know that when a gap appears, you strip out some of the remaining stone until you have a strong surface to rebuild the gap. This wall is higgledy piggledy for quite a long way either side of the gap, and I felt like if I started, I'd end up taking half the wall down before I could rebuild it. Of course, that meant I did nothing at all, so this week I decided to just get on with it - to strip away as much as was needed, and rebuild properly, however long it takes. So on New Year's Eve I spent two hours out in the sunshine taking down stones and laying them out ready to use again. I got quite a lot done in that time, which gave me hope (although I'm well aware that rebuilding takes far longer than dismantling of course). There's still quite a bit to dismantle either side of this gap, so I'll be at it for some time, but I'm hopeful that I can rebuild the whole thing before the cows come back in May. It's interesting seeing inside an old wall - this one has gradually spread at the bottom, leaving a lot of unfilled space (generally not a good thing in a wall). I'm trying to observe how it's been built to see what I can learn as I go along. I've got plenty of walls to practice on. We have about a mile of them here, in various states of disrepair. Occasionally next door's sheep spot a weakness, jump over, and make the whole thing worse. I do try to fix these smaller gaps as they happen, otherwise we'd have the entire flock of sheep in our fields (again). It's not always the fault of next door's sheep - this wall is between two of our fields, and has been rebuilt far more recently than the others, but a bit still fell off the top in the autumn. Much easier to fix when the rest of the wall is reasonably intact. I see fallen down walls in my dreams now. Whenever I'm travelling around here, I catch myself looking at walls, noticing gaps and repairs, wondering how long a dodgy-looking bit will last.
My wall dreams will probably last for as long as we live here, if not longer. Walling is a part of my life now, and I'm encouraged by knowing that with so much practice, I will get better eventually. I hope.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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