Couple Turns Rocks Into Art

Couple Turns Rocks Into Art AG WORLD 32-1-22 Ben and Carolyn Britton have given their neighbors in Zearing, Iowa, a new perspective on something most area farmers despise - rocks. While rocks create problems out in the field, they've been turned into artwork in the Brittons' back yard. "Farmers have been dragging them out of the field for 100 years, and for the last 15 years I've been dragging them to our yard," Ben says. Ever since the couple moved from a farm to town, they've been landscaping a 150 by 180-ft. lot across from their home. The unique rock garden is a blend of rocks, flowers, plants, and ponds, but it's the stacked rocks that makes it different from any other. "Carolyn started stacking the rocks," Ben says. Later she found other people on the internet who love to stack and balance rocks in unbelievable positions so the couple started to work harder at it. "It's taken a life of its own. It's fun to take a rock and turn it around from the normal way you'd think it should be," says Ben. Long rocks, for example, are placed on end to create vertical lines. Rocks of various shapes are stacked on top of each other and sometimes resemble little people. Though the couple didn't have a master plan when Ben first borrowed a skidsteer to move dirt and shape the lot, the evolving design shows thought. "We're both artists," Carolyn says. "We bounce ideas off each other." More than half the rocks came from rock piles on a friend's field half a mile away. Others are delivered to their yard by local farmers. "One of the owners of the grain elevator, who is also a farmer, drove in one day and asked if I wanted a 12,780-lb. boulder," Ben recalls. "He had the rock in the bucket of a huge dirt loader." Carolyn also works with smaller rocks. A couple of times a year, an 80-year-old friend brings a load of rocks as small as walnuts. Carolyn sorts them by color and creates designs with them in paths. If you start your own rock garden, put plastic down first, Carolyn suggests, so weeds don't come through. Ben uses a propane weed burner to keep things clean. Ben adds a couple of safety concerns. If rocks are stacked, make sure young visitors are supervised so they don't try to climb them. The Brittons' rock work, gardens, metal sculptures and art work can be viewed on their website. They invite people to contact them to set up a time to view their garden or for advice on creating rock gardens and stacking rocks. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ben and Carolyn Britton, Zearing, Iowa 50278 (ph 641 487-7373; bbstudio@netins.net; www.blattelbrittonstudios.com).

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