The updated time capsule is re-installed inside the refurbished cheese wedge.
Signatures of enthusiastic participants with greetings to the future and various words of wisdom
Ready to take the old cheese wedge down before it supposedly 'falls' down.
Numbering the stones
With six enthusiastic students signed up, again all from the the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture school, we began the work of carefully numbering the dry stone wedge voussoirs and cornerstones, and then disassembled and stockpiled the material, taking it down to below four feet of its original twelve foot height in order to systematically 'reinstated' it. Half way down we uncovered a metal container wrapped in plastic which was time capsule that we had put there when it was originally built.
Along with myself and a few guest wallers, Sarah, Chris, Andrea, Kara, Leslie and Ben worked hard to rebuild the wedge over the three days and did a fantastic job. A new shape and smaller height of the wedge was decided upon and the see through tunnel opening was reduced from 18 inches to 12 inches. The new cheese wedge structure now has heavier bigger copes sitting on a much wider top. The weather cooperated and we were happy to finish the structure in less time than the three full days we had allotted for the workshop.
Mellisa and Dan cooked some fine lunches and suppers to keep us all well fed and energized. The meals were all excellent. They provided great opportunity too for me to learn more about the school and to talk about dry stone walls and the place they have in Canadian gardening design.
Thanks to Melissa Spearing who coordinated this event and James Smith and Tom Laviolette and Charles Hunter who work at the school and gave their support for this Niagara Parks restoration project to proceed.
