Dry stone walling across Canada has gone though many milestones. Lots of new wallers with fine skills are now keeping busy building all sorts of walls and dry stone features in Ontario, Newfoundland and Quebec and here, where I was visiting again in BC last week. This arch we built kind of represents a milestone for me.
Ten years of heading up a walling organization has paid off in terms of seeing wallers in Canada doing some amazing work. Whether these men and women are certified or merely advanced in their skill level through good training and hard work doesn't matter. What does matter is that there is a spirit cooperation and respect and a desire to always improve (and not just obtain a piece of paper). Public installations like this one (though not a permanent one) help promote the craft where concrete products have reigned too long. The next milestone will be seeing walls without mortar, made of natural stone, become the leading choice across Canada over any kind of manufactured landscape product.
