The way we were in the early 2000's. Left to right, Joel, David, Karen (holding Teddy dog) and Carl. My, we were all younger then.
Here I am continuing the saga of the garden remodel we began in August of 2024 and all the fun we've had trying to make gardening easier.
After downsizing the Pachyberm bed in August of 2024, we moved on to the biggest challenge, the Quarry itself. Carl decided the only way to rebuild all the stonework was to take everything out and start over. However, in order to be able to drive into the Quarry itself to remove all the boulders, we had to first clear out a path for the excavator which meant established landscaping would need to be removed.
Pictured below is the 'East Hill', the last major addition we had added to the gardens in 2010. We had excess stone left from the Pachyberm project in 2009 and decided to add a hill with dwarf conifers.
2010-or so
Though we didn't like to disrupt everything, this hillside garden was always a weeding nightmare from day one. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but with all of the steep angles conditions were destined to only become more dangerous as we aged.
Fourteen years later, the trees had grown substantially.
.JPG)
2024 before remodeling
Saturday, September 14, 2024 6:45 PM
The first step was to remove the middle of the East Hill so we could access the stones to be removed from the Quarry walls. We had to part with a few trees at this point, the one pictured below airborne was Pinus Koraiensis 'Winton', which was sad.
I hope one day to plant another 'Winton'. It was a beautiful tree.
Once Winton was removed, we were able to remove existing stone and soil. Sunday, September 15, 2024 3:34PM
The pile of dirt that was the East Hill.
We hauled load after load of soil out to make a runway for construction, trying to be as careful as possible with the trees that remained in the area. Carl is raking the area flat, above.
Viewed from the west side of the Quarry, another unfortunate loss was the picea pungens 'Baby Blue Eyes' spruce. The tree also had to be removed to make room for construction. It was, however, crowding several other specimen conifers so in a way, it was necessary even without the remodel. Sunday, September 15, 2024 4:10 PM 
The excavator removes trees with such ease. (With Joel as the operator.)
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 4:36 PM
The next step was removing the east wall of the Quarry. Once again, we hauled the big rock and soil to separate areas of the garden for holding.
Things were really starting to look sad at this point. All those carefully placed stones back in 2002 and now they're just a pile. And it was also at this point that we wondered if we'd made a big mistake. But, no time to quit now.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 3:21 PM. Once the East Hill was removed, it was time to partially fill in the old muck bottom pond so we could drive the excavator down into the bottom. Carl donned the weed eater and chopped down the wild waterlilies. We'd pumped the pond down to enable us to walk in the bottom of the Quarry.
Below, Friday, September 27, 2024 6:05PM
Joel moved the soil from the East hill to form a ramp going down into the Quarry. Before we could fill in the pond to drive on, we had to remove all the muck which had formed in the twenty-three years since it was first dug. Since we have a dirt bottomed pond, the wild waterlilies we'd planted had run amok and taken over the entire water area. As the years went by, the pond grew shallower every year, but when the neighboring farm fields were tiled to remove water a few years ago, our pond level dropped drastically as well, so back to Square One. This was September 27, 2024. The mucking out process was a chore even with an excavator. I can't imagine the work it would have been by hand. It took us a few days to load it all up and haul the mud out to dry on our fields. The waterlilies had huge roots, as big around as an adult's upper arm. The smell wasn't wonderful, either.
Below, Saturday, September 28, 2024 5:04 PM
Joel carefully edged down the ramp as Carl guided him with a shovel.
We had the tractor and dump trailer up on the top waiting for the loads of muck. Sunday, September 29, 2024 4:58PM
Sunday, September 29, 2024. We lost count of how many loads came out of the pond over the course of days.
Sunday, September 29, 2024 6:33 PM. My job was to load up fieldstone from our farm rock pile to haul back to the Quarry bottom so we had a foundation for the excavator to drive on as we worked in the lower level. We moved the excavator from the Quarry to the rock pile forty acres back on the farm. When Joel wasn't available, I loaded the trailers myself and drove them back to the Quarry while Carl worked on packing the fill.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 11:34 AMWe continued adding rock and sand as we drew nearer to the bottom of the pond.
Wednesday, October 2, 2024 2:39 PM
Now that we can drive further out into the lower level, we continued digging out the pond muck and hauling it away to the field. Friday, October 4, 2024 4:19PM.We hauled countless loads of loose stone from the rock piles to build the temporary construction road. Above, the east side of the Quarry (where the East Hill used to be, looking west.)
Saturday, October 5, 2024 6:06PM, I'm back at the farm rock pile loading stone and sand.
Saturday, October 5, 2024, waiting for a trailer to return for me to load with fieldstone.
Sunday, October 6, 2024. Joel drove the digger back from the rock pile and leveled off the stone we'd hauled in on the east side.Above, Carl adding more rocks and doing more leveling while we went back to hauling more stone.
Sunday, October 6, 2024, 6PM. We now have the mucking done and a good base to drive the excavator onto without fear of the heavy machine becoming stuck. Now that we could work in what used to be the pond, we began tearing out all the remaining stone walls for the remodel. We piled them up on top of the lawn on the east side, and some out to the north by the windmill to join the leftover boulders from the Pachyberm remodel. Saturday, October 12, 2024. Soon, the east and north walls of the Quarry were gone and only the pit remained.
Looking northwest, only the waterfall was still in place.
Saturday, October 12, 2024. Carl is hooking chains to the huge waterfall rock for removal. The bucket is removed from the excavator to cut down on the weight the machine has to lift.
Back in 2002, when the waterfall was first built, we had to figure out a way to lift this huge stone into place which was a head scratcher. At that time we had no larger equipment than our hand crank wrecker and the farm tractor. We ended up stringing cables with come-alongs across the pond to winch the rock forward mere inches at a time to ensure it did not go too far forward and fall into the pond. And now, we're just tearing it out in mere hours.
Above, the main waterfall rock is suspended in mid-air, ready to be moved up the ramp and stored safely up on the lawn. The move had to be done in steps, setting the stone down and repositioning the excavator several times.
Carl is watching anxiously, hoping the big stone is not broken as Joel lifts it out of the pit. Finally, from 3:26 PM to 3:39 PM Saturday, October 12, 2024, the main waterfall rock is up on the lawn for safekeeping before reinstallation.
Wednesday, October 16. 2024, I took over with the excavator and removed the remaining stone from the north and west walls and put it on the south side of the pit, the only side of the Quarry we did not remodel. It is hard not to damage the big rocks when lifting them, but I did the best I could. With time and more experience, I was getting much better operating the excavator. We began the process of replacing the west wall the same day I ripped it all out, October 16. The days are short, sadly, here it is 6:32pm and already nearly dark. Thursday, October 17, 2024, 11:33AM, Carl bringing back stones we'd removed earlier for the west side reconstruction with the tractor and the Manley Wrecking Crane.
3:04PM, the first row of stone on the west side in place. 3:45PM, Grandpa Carl and Audrey, taking measurements to see which stone would be next.
Friday, October 18, 2024 2:23PM Carl hooks the rocks up with chains and I'm driving the excavator, lifting rocks into place on the northwest wall.
5:38PM, another tree had to be removed, a volunteer Scotch pine, growing in the wrong place.
We decided to try adding some cement as a base to reinforce the walls of the Quarry this time. When my parent's house was demolished we were left with piles of leftover concrete, including the cover for their old septic tank. Though I have no pictures of it, Carl and I took two tractors up to Joel's and with the 574 pulling and the John Deere 1070 pushing, we went across the eight acre cornfield stubble to our house with the heavy hunk of concrete. Below, we are installing the old concrete lid into the pit.
Saturday, October 19, 2024, 5:13PM, Joel backing down the east ramp with the lid. I was glad Joel was able to drive for this endeavor. 5:18PM, the lid is put into place under what will be the north wall and waterfall.
Sunday, October 20,2024 5:12PM, Joel getting ready to put the big waterfall rock back in place, this time on the bottom of the falls.
First, we put several large pieces of concrete from my parent's house basement demolition as a foundation for the waterfall rock. Sunday, October 20, 2024. 5:12PM, Carl is hooking the big waterfall rock up to the excavator.
5:15PM, the rock is swung into place.
Carl has a chain attached to the rock, guiding it in the direction he wants 7000 pounds to go. 5:16PM
5:56PM, we put the rubber liner in place for the waterfall and do a little test to see how the water would flow.
6:28 PM, bringing in the second waterfall rock.
Good thing the excavator has bright lights.
Monday, October 21, 2024 2:21 PM
Carl and I worked on leveling the rocks most of the day.
Monday, October 21, 2024 6:07PM Audrey, age 8, came down with Joel to check on our progress after school. After work, Joel had some time here and there to lend a hand with the excavator, which we much appreciated.
Here, the third waterfall rock is being put in place, 6:10PM.
6:18PM, I'm on the excavator, hoping not to mess this up.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 3:30PM, the view from the top of what will be the waterfall, looking south toward the house.
Day after day went on about the same, get up, go to the Quarry and get to work. Slowly, the walls were going up. Saturday, October 26, 2024 5:24 PM Carl is cutting and selecting stone for the next placement.Below, Monday, October 28, 2024 5:06PMMonday, November 4, 2024 10:14AM. The new east staircase is in place and three tiers of the north wall.
Below, Friday, November 8, 2024, 3:11PM, working on adding the point rocks on the east side. Friday, November 15, 2024 3:03 PM Working on the north wall, closer to the waterfall.
Days are getting shorter now, by leaps and bounds. Hoping to get another rock in place yet that night.
5:14 PM, getting too dark to see.
Below, Sunday, November 17, 2024 3:55 PM, working on fourth tier of the north wall. Joel lending us his help again.
Friday, November 22, 2024 4:25PM North wall of Quarry.
Sunday, November 24, 2024 2:13PM Beginning work on west side of Quarry.
The ground is starting to freeze now, and time is growing short. We needed to wrap things up for the year.
Thursday, November 28, 2024, I was out back loading up some back fill for the walls. It sure is nice having a cab on a machine, I could run the heater and be completely comfortable.
Finally, we had to admit we were done with the remodel that day. The weather was not going to be cooperating for much longer and it was too hard to work in the cold.
Here are the last of the pictures from 2024: November 28.
We would be back at the remodeling in 2025, but not until May.
We needed winter to recuperate.
We continued adding rock and sand as we drew nearer to the bottom of the pond.
