The past year or so, I’ve been making the time for classwork and new skills. One of the (probably more unlikely-seeming) skills I’ve been wanting to adopt is — dry stone wall construction. I grew up in New England and have always been enamored of the stone walls that remain on all kinds of land (private, public, and otherwise) – remnants from early farms (and, apparently, some are extant native work and being surveyed and studied). I had visited the Scott Farm in Dummerston, VT last year for their lovely annual apple festival, and learned that they also host one campus of the Stone Trust, which offers hands-on workshops for learning the skills, and also certification for those who are doing it professionally (eg landscape architects and preservation people). So one weekend in May, I attended a weekend intensive – “Intro Dry Stone Walling Workshop.” Well worth the time and energy invested.