Tobias SchafrothJun 7
Kristie

Before I became a drystone waller I knew nothing about how walls were built, or by whom. That's the thing about drystone, it's everywhere, it's ancient, it's extraordinary, and most of us walk straight past it.

The very first Drystone Diary is live. What drystone actually is, how it works, and why it matters.

https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/drystone-diary-what-is-drystone

#DrystoneDiary #Craft #Scotland #UK #Ecology #Sustainable #Nature #Environment #Writing #History #Culture #Women #Countryside #NatureWriting

Drystone Diary - What Is Drystone?

What is drystone, how does it work, and why does it matter? From the physics of a wall to the ecology of its gaps, we explore drystone walling.

Kristie De Garis
Jun 7 at 6:53amWeb
Show threadUckermark MacGyver Jun 7
@kristiedegaris Love to have you back 🫶
Show threadKristieJun 7
@maxheadroom Ah thank you! It's been a really tough stretch of time (ongoing) but it's good to be back. I have a tendency to isolate, and I'm working on that.
Show threadUckermark MacGyver Jun 7
@kristiedegaris I read that. That's why my appreciation :) LMK if I can help with anything.
Show threadKristieJun 7
@maxheadroom That's very kind. These messages help a lot, so thank you.
Show threadAnders von Hadern 🐦‍🔥Jun 7
@kristiedegaris //cc @sinnundverstand - haste schon gesehen? Ich könnte mir vorstellen, daß in diesen Mauern ein Haufen Leben sein Zuhause findet <3
Show threadWibke LadwigJun 7
@anders_von_hadern Ja, das tut es. Stelle ich bei uns auch immer wieder fest. Selbst in den Haufen von entpflasterten Steinen damals entstand ruckzuck eine muntere Insektensiedlung.
Show threadAnders von Hadern 🐦‍🔥Jun 7
@sinnundverstand Vllt in Zukunft Förderung von trockenen Feldsteinmauern statt Zäunen in #BadKleingarten ?
Show threadWibke LadwigJun 7
@anders_von_hadern Finde ich schwierig. Das mündet oft darin, dass Leute mit großem Aufwand Natursteine aus fernen Gegenden kaufen, um genau diese Optik hinzubekommen. Besser ist, das Material zu verwenden, das es in der Region gibt. Bei uns sind das Rheinkiesel, Granit aus dem Bergischen, Pflastersteine und Betonbrocken. Brauchte auch eine Weile, um mich von der Vorstellung einer typischen Trockenmauer zu lösen und dann welche aus dem zu bauen, was da war.
Show threadAnders von Hadern 🐦‍🔥Jun 7

@sinnundverstand Verstehe :-)

Das liesse sich ja als Bedingung aufnehmen - Förderung nur für Material ohne Lieferwege.

Aber ich weiß, Vereine und so :-) War nur so 'ne spontane Idee.

Show threadRegineJun 7
@kristiedegaris Guck mal @JuliaKrohmer - haste schon gesehen? Das sind doch bestimmt beachtenswerte und diverse Biotope?
Show threadPacmanJun 7
@kristiedegaris I once helped a drystone waller and discovered that it is excellent for one's physical and mental health. 'Physical' because heaving the stones around did wonders for my muscles without paying a subscription to a gym and 'mental' because it is a bit like meditation.
Show threadKristieJun 7
@pacman Yes, I've experienced both of those benefits. I'd also say that craft unmakes the maker. The process of building the wall degrades our body. The wall outlasts us. It's hard, hard work. I am actually writing about this at the moment.
Show threadcogitatJun 7

@kristiedegaris
Nice!

In France, we have https://www.pierreseche.fr/

Pierre Sèche, du savoir faire à la filière - Association Artisans Bâtisseurs en Pierres Sèches - École Professionnelle de la Pierre Sèche

ABPS est l'association nationale des Artisans Bâtisseurs en Pierre Sèche - École professionnelle de la pierre sèche et formation tout public

Pierre sèche, association des artisans bâtisseurs en pierres sèches ABPS
Show threadKristieJun 7
@cogitat Yes, I know them well! Love, love the French drystone tradition.
Show threadNirob SarkerJun 7
@kristiedegaris
Show threadEFJun 7
@kristiedegaris love technologies such as this and laying hedges.
Show threadStefan SchollJun 7
@kristiedegaris oh, that's where Dhrystone has its name from.
Show threadKristieJun 7
@Stefan_S_from_H Ha well I just learned about Dhrystone
Show threadgloria deiJun 7

@kristiedegaris @Stefan_S_from_H Dhrystone is a play on Whetstone, which was an earlier performance benchmark whose name came from Whetstone, Leicestershire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whetstone_(benchmark)

Whetstone (benchmark) - Wikipedia

Show threadloptaJun 7
@kristiedegaris Now I have to look up what a Stell is. ;-)
Show threadKristieJun 7
@lopta Ha! Well if you're patient I will write about traditional structures at some point ;)
Show threadloptaJun 7
@kristiedegaris I shall look forward to that!
Show threadAmélieJun 7
@kristiedegaris thank you for sharing your thoughts! I enjoyed reading this reboot article and looking forward to any other pieces.
Show threadBritstralianJun 7
@kristiedegaris There's heaps of it in France - where it goes by the same name (murs en pierres sèches or some such)
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝🛥️💎Jun 7
@kristiedegaris @ebender00 I would like to build a large drystone planter at the end of my driveway and affix my house number to it, but I don't think I can get the local basalt stones to lock together sufficiently. Drystone walls can be found throughout New England. (I live in Washington state.)
Show threadKristieJun 7

@mlanger @ebender00 Drystone will work with almost any stone. Basalt is a trickly one for shaping, very hard, but you could definitely get at least a rough wall out of it. The locking together comes from how you build it. I made a free beginners guide you can download on this page. It may be helpful for showing you how. Happy to answer any questions too.

https://www.kristiedegaris.com/drystone-waller

Kristie De Garis - Writer, photographer and drystone waller based in Perthshire, Scotland.

Kristie De Garis - Writing

‎KDG
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝🛥️💎Jun 7
@kristiedegaris @ebender00 Thanks so much for this! I'll definitely check it out! Shaping the stones manually is not really an option for me, but I have a literally unlimited supply of the stuff in the neighborhood. I suspect if I look hard enough I'll find the sizes and shapes I need.
Show threadKristieJun 7
@mlanger @ebender00 Oh my God, do you live in HEAVEN?! You'll definitely be able to build something! Just go slow and focus on the rules in the PDF. It won't be perfect looking on your first try but if you follow the rules it will be very strong, do the job you need and last well.
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝🛥️💎Jun 7

@kristiedegaris @ebender00 LOL! Ususally people say something like that when I share a photo of my view in the other direction (see photo).

This is a rural residential area of 10 and 20 acre lots at the base of those cliffs. Very early on in its development, one of my neighbors actually quarried stone out of here. Giant truckloads throughout the day every day. Other neighbors managed to shut her down with the help of the county.

The amount of rock I need is a grain of sand in the ocean.🤣

Show threadKristieJun 7
@mlanger @ebender00 Double heaven!
Show threadKrukuJun 7
@kristiedegaris
I'm a Londoner presently residing in a village surrounded by fields and older properties with drystone walls. I am often reminded I am not a "local". This often comes from the same people who mortar drystone walls on their land.
Show threadklu9Jun 7

@kristiedegaris

Of interest to @Herring1967 ?

Show threadBodhipaksaJun 7
@kristiedegaris Thanks. This was interesting and (as always) well written. When I was a bairn I used to live beside a golf course that had once been a farm. Drystane dykes remained in the rough, although they were often half collapsed. My friends and I would try to build them back up, but we had no idea what we were doing. I'm afraid we never figured out a single one of the principles you outlined here.
Show threadKristieJun 7
@bodhipaksa Had you a few more centuries, I think you would have been just fine.
Show threada colony of eukaryotesJun 7
@kristiedegaris "Drystane" is my new term for "complex" music (some prog rock, jazz, classical) to distinguish it from everything else - which to my wife's perpetual annoyance, I've always called "square tiles" (but should now call "bricks").
Show threadRockmaster MikeJun 8
@kristiedegaris there's a lot of that in columbus ohio because of the columbus limestone but it's becoming rare
Show threadmirabilos🐈‍⬛Jun 8
@kristiedegaris in case you didn’t know, https://leavesubstack.com/ has lots of resources and reasons
You Should Probably Leave Substack

You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.

How to Leave Substack.
Show threadKristieJun 8
@mirabilos I was on Ghost and left because it is not free when you have the number of subscribers I have and I couldn't afford it. I am not monetising my work at this point and don't have plans to. I am also chronically ill and the amount of work I was doing for discoverability on Ghost was too much for me.
Show threadKristieJun 8
@mirabilos No platform is perfect, as we're seeing with Ghost, which was once considered the shining example. I am a conscientious person in my life, plus I am writing against all the things I see wrong with the world, so yeah, I have given myself permission to not think too hard about this one. I'm already thinking too hard about too many other things. I do appreciate the resources you sent me though. And I understand where you are coming from completely. Thank you.
Show threadmirabilos🐈‍⬛Jun 8
@kristiedegaris if you’re not monetising it, you could put it up on any random website… there will be lots of people on Fedi to help you set it up, if you wish to consider it. Perhaps even a public WriteFreely instance? (there is a list (click on Signups until it lists those where that column is true), but perhaps someone reading this will have actual recommendations­ — I don’t have any because I generally publish on my own server, something with which I’d not want to overload you)
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.

Writefreely Sites Status. Find a Writefreely server to sign up for, find one close to you!

Show threadKristieJun 8
@mirabilos It's the discoverability that's hard elsewhere. I wrote on my own website for years and struggled to get anywhere. I am a writer and truthfully 'subscribers' even though I do not agree with this metric, mean something to editors in the places I want to be published and where I would actually earn money.
Show threadmirabilos🐈‍⬛Jun 8

@kristiedegaris ah, okay, that is a point.

Not sure if there are tools to publish on two sites easily enough, so you could have the big platform for discoverability and the free one for your readers who know you already. (I did precisely that for some software of mine but have recently stopped doing that because Github is going to the dregs.) I can understand not wanting that extra effort, though.

It’s always employers and the like who want metrics, isn’t it? 🤬

Show threadKristieJun 8
@mirabilos I wish good concepts and good writing were solely the metrics they cared about.
Show threadmirabilos🐈‍⬛Jun 8
@kristiedegaris don’t we all… *sigh*
Show threadSeasiders2Jun 8
@kristiedegaris how wonderful, to clear stony ground with a wall that will survive you by generations. I stand in awe of the masters who cleared the land of my childhood. I see them as eternal artists.
Show threadKristieJun 8
@seasiders2 I completely agree.
Show threadEd SoldatJun 10

@kristiedegaris Very much enjoying the diary. Memories of visiting Scara Brae were among the many thoughts I was prompted to reflect on while reading your book. The extraordinary passage of time it has come to us through - seasons, climates, peoples, everything ever written - to show us a glimpse of the ephemeral lives of those whose work and home it was.

I have no personal experience of this craft but, looking at the entryway photo I took at the time, I imagine that the neat rows, the reconstructed strata show aesthetic as well as practical choices in the construction?

I wonder if one of those folk of five millennia past could see that view and still recognise 'yes, that's where I lived' or 'those are the stones I hauled, shaped and laid'