The first time we worked up the fields of our second farm, I got the plow stuck on a lip of bedrock.

The soil in that part of the field was only about thirty centimeters deep. Productive but requiring care when plowing. Fortunately, we later moved to an offset disc – less soil disruption and no catching bedrock.

On the home farm, there was a ledge of bedrock in the front pasture. This area may have been cleared once, but it was not workable. Maple trees grew there with raspberries and wildflowers.

Most of our rocks were the size of a large bowling ball. These were spread out everywhere, pulled up to the surface by the plow or cultivator.

They had to be gathered and taken off the field or the knife of the combine or haybine would hit them and break a tooth. One person drove the tractor while the crew brought rocks to the loader.

The place had been farmed for a hundred and sixty years, so each field was lined with a wide wall of rocks. These fence rows were home to trees and wild grapes, squirrels and mice, a whole ecosystem.

A few places in the fields, there were rocks that we could not move. Some were the size of a car. These we drove around with each piece of equipment.

Eventually, we got someone with a backhoe to come in. Some were rolled to the edge of the field. Others buried. A couple could not be moved.

These big rocks were granite, not limestone. They were carried here by the ice that covered this part of the world. Some of them landed in interesting spots.

The back of our property was escarpment, a gentle downward slope. There were a few gullies back there, and, at the base of them, granite boulders as big as a pickup truck. The ice got them to the bottom of the hill and that was as far as they went.

We have one big granite boulder here on the shore. It’s near the edge of the rocky beach. I have seen a couple similar rocks in the area, though not as many as at the farm. Maybe it was found here when they cleared the land to build. Maybe the landscapers brought it.

The landscapers did bring the large stones that surround the trees in the backyard and that line the driveway. These are a mix of different kinds of stones. The stones that pave the back patio, the paths, and the two staircases look like they come from here. They may have been collected as the foundation was excavated. I’ve added to the patio where there was gravel with flat stones washed up on the shore by winter waves.

The rocky shore is clearly original. If you’ve been to Big Bay (if not, go and get ice cream while you are there), you know what it looks like. Stone. Flat stone. Some large and angular. Some with rounded edges. Some small flat stones that are perfect for skipping.

Given how many stones were skipped out into the bay by the first family that visited, I thought I would need to set a per-person limit. I let it go. And then I realized that the winter bay would bring them back, a never-ending supply.

The first couple years with the record high water levels, the bay gave me more flat rocks, lots of skipping stones, and gravel. This year, there were new skipping stones in spring but no gravel coming in. The water level has dropped substantially.

That means a few new flat rocks have been revealed, and one of these days, I will gather the energy to bring them up and extend the patio farther.

I think the most interesting thing about the rocks and this move is that I get to see the composition of the limestone escarpment.

On the farm, I called it bedrock. I knew in my head it was fractured limestone, but I thought of it as solid enough to stop a tractor in its tracks when the plow caught.

Here, as I walk the paths that climb the levels, I walk beside the rocks, can see the layers of stone, the space for moss to grow and insects to hide.

I can see that it is not solid at all.

Cathy Hird lives on the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.

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