High hopes (no pictures yet)

[Blackfoot58]

I drove past a farm field today. It’s close to home and actually got tilled this fall. I spotted a volleyball-size rock. It’s about 10 yds from the ditch.
I’m a rock nut and it made my day.
Now I have to see who farms it, seek permission, etc.
Usually , if you’re honest and point something out to the owner, they just say “no” and keep it.
Wish me well. I hope to at least see what variety of stone it is and take pictures.🤞

 

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[robertk]

Around here, the reaction of most farmers would be "You actually want the rock? Knock yourself out, buddy."

 

[ToddsPoint]

I’m in glaciated central IL. About every farm field around here has big rocks that have been moved to the edge of the field over the yrs. I’ve brought several home for landscaping. I think I could actually make some money gathering them up and selling them to the landscapers. There are that many out there. One man’s trash is another’s treasure!

 

[tamrock]

I’m in glaciated central IL. About every farm field around here has big rocks that have been moved to the edge of the field over the yrs. I’ve brought several home for landscaping. I think I could actually make some money gathering them up and selling them to the landscapers. There are that many out there. One man’s trash is another’s treasure!

Millions of dollars are spent every year on big rocks for landscaping where I live. The idea of xeriscaping to replace water hungry grass lawns is fueling the demand for rocks of all sizes all up and down the Colorado I25 corridor. I'm going to begin redoing my front yard early next year with xeriscape plants and rocks. The city is forcing us into that direction by the hiking the price of water. I spent an average of $230. for several months last summer on my water bill. The city last year got rid of the grass lawns at the library and fire station and replaced them with xeriscaping.

 

[pepperj]

Millions of dollars are spent every year on big rocks for landscaping where I live. The idea of xeriscaping to replace water hungry grass lawns is fueling the demand for rocks of all sizes all up and down the Colorado I25 corridor. I'm going to begin redoing my front yard early next year with xeriscape plants and rocks. The city is forcing us into that direction by the hiking the price of water. I spent an average of $230. for several months last summer on my water bill. The city last year got rid of the grass lawns at the library and fire station and replaced them with xeriscaping.

I'm sure they got rid of the golf courses. 😁
Huge water consumption.

Actually lawn replacement is a great idea.
Learnt a new word this AM, xeriscaping.

 

[tamrock]

I'm sure they got rid of the golf courses. 😁
Huge water consumption.

Actually lawn replacement is a great idea.
Learnt a new word this AM, xeriscaping.

I'm gonna try and gather for myself free rocks on my project. Yeah golf courses seem to be an exception.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Millions of dollars are spent every year on big rocks for landscaping where I live. The idea of xeriscaping to replace water hungry grass lawns is fueling the demand for rocks of all sizes all up and down the Colorado I25 corridor. I'm going to begin redoing my front yard early next year with xeriscape plants and rocks. The city is forcing us into that direction by the hiking the price of water. I spent an average of $230. for several months last summer on my water bill. The city last year got rid of the grass lawns at the library and fire station and replaced them with xeriscaping.

We considered moving to SE Colorado/NE New Mexico a few years ago. The water issues are what changed our mind.

 

[pepperj]

I drove past a farm field today. It’s close to home and actually got tilled this fall. I spotted a volleyball-size rock. It’s about 10 yds from the ditch.
I’m a rock nut and it made my day.
Now I have to see who farms it, seek permission, etc.
Usually , if you’re honest and point something out to the owner, they just say “no” and keep it.
Wish me well. I hope to at least see what variety of stone it is and take pictures.🤞

Farmers love to have the rocks removed from their fields.
So what has you all excited about this volleyball sized rock?

 

[pepperj]

I'm gonna try and gather for myself free rocks on my project. Yeah golf courses seem to be an exception.

6 yrs ago this week the highway crew had the rock face being redone after another company did it wrong.
Rocks and lots of them.
So I stopped and asked if I could get some.
Sure, 8 huge tri-axles dumps full free.
A few hundred yards of trucking beat a few miles.

Some weighed close to 2 tons.
Great for corner stones for a stair project at the back of the property.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Farmers love to have the rocks removed from their fields.
So what has you all excited about this volleyball sized rock?

I’ve found some great chert pieces in an adjoining field. None larger than 4” diameter. I’d like to at least ID the stone type of this big guy. Most likely it’s sandstone or a granite/feldspar composition. I’m not thinking “value”.
I’m a rock nut. I like to see what is local. It speaks a lot about ancient pre-history.
Every time I drive to town I see it in the field. It’s like wondering what’s in a grab bag. 😊

 

[pepperj]

I’ve found some great chert pieces in an adjoining field. None larger than 4” diameter. I’d like to at least ID the stone type of this big guy. Most likely it’s sandstone or a granite/feldspar composition. I’m not thinking “value”.
I’m a rock nut. I like to see what is local. It speaks a lot about ancient pre-history.
Every time I drive to town I see it in the field. It’s like wondering what’s in a grab bag. 😊

Well there's a much needed stop to be had.
Look at the closest farm.
Stop and ask.
They'll tell you if it's theirs or who owns it.
Probably a permission to walk in the fields will granted, plus a thanks for getting the rock out of the field.
Hope it's not an iceberg size rock.
You're only seeing the tip.

I can see the farmer 🤣 saying good luck getting that one out.
Seen many in the fields, just a nose sticking up. Plow points tips are a common recovery around these rocks.

 

[releventchair]

Glacial tumbled and often roundish rock in my area.
A nearby potato filed it looks like piles of potatoes when the rock rake it.

Friend had a pile his Grampa put up clearing field long ago.
"You want them they're yours. I want to get rid of them."
Cheap me was on the way.
And it was a younger more ambitious cheap me grunting some big ones into the truck bed.
More ambition than the truck , the front end was kind of light on the first load. Later in time I'd do more justice to a wheelie hauling a heavy tractor, but committed myself to a lighter next load of rock. Which was kinda heavy too. Time I got it right I was pretty much done.

Now the snowplow has a dent on one end. Seems a very large rock was in the way that some ding a ling in summer mode put in the front yard with many others. But the one a bit tall for the turn maybe.
It's still there. The big rock .

 

[tamrock]

Farmers love to have the rocks removed from their fields.
So what has you all excited about this volleyball sized rock?

Large metamorphic and igneous boulders in the fields Iowa have an interesting story about the ice age, which in geologic time really wasn't that long ago. I found them fascinating when I lived in Iowa. The forces it took to drop a rock this size from hundreds of miles to the north is mind boggling to me.

 

[pepperj]

Large metamorphic and igneous boulders in the fields Iowa have an interesting story about the ice age, which in geologic time really wasn't that long ago. I found them fascinating when I lived in Iowa. The forces it took to drop a rock this size from hundreds of miles to the north is mind boggling to me.

There's no moving that one anywhere.
We had one rock in our field.
Now it's at the driveway entrance.
5' high x 2' across
Took the large backhoe with the 5000 Ford tractor to load and move it.

 

[tamrock]

There's no moving that one anywhere.
We had one rock in our field.
Now it's at the driveway entrance.
5' high x 2' across
Took the large backhoe with the 5000 Ford tractor to load and move it.

View attachment 2181497

Who knows when those glaciers will again return. Maybe when they do they'll push that tractor of yours all the way down to Iowa. 🤔

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

6 yrs ago this week the highway crew had the rock face being redone after another company did it wrong.
Rocks and lots of them.
So I stopped and asked if I could get some.
Sure, 8 huge tri-axles dumps full free.
A few hundred yards of trucking beat a few miles.

View attachment 2181406View attachment 2181407
Some weighed close to 2 tons.
Great for corner stones for a stair project at the back of the property.

Smart thinking to fence it off so no one steals them

 

[robertk]

Smart thinking to fence it off so no one steals them

You'd be surprised.

 

[RGINN]

One thing we would always do on a site in SWOK was to walk the fence row. Farmers would move big rocks out of the field and toss them here, and we would find manos, metates, or anvils at times.

 

[pepperj]

Smart thinking to fence it off so no one steals them

True story.
One neighbor was picking Blackberries.

Other neighbor went out and asked: "What are doing picking my Berries"?

Answer: "Oh I thought you weren't home today"

Gates are a good thing for certain people.

Though I don't have to really worry about the rocks. Most folks are too lazy to be messing with them.

 

[robertk]

Answer: "Oh I thought you weren't home today"

This is proof of what I often have to remind my wife -- "Other people don't think like you do."

(I'm fairly sure that some don't think at all.)