The News from Four Quarters

NewsLogo
Building, planting and planning. Sharing ceremony and good, home raised food.
Oddities in the weather and how the orchard did.
Observations on the Global Crisis.
Earth Spirit and Earth Living.
These are all parts of the News from Four Quarters. Enjoy.

October 1, 2019

Crossing the Bridge - Stones Rising 2019

By Etain Preston & Beth Thomas

“In the curragh and off we go, o’ver to Scotland’s shores we row,
To build a chapel there, for the Stone.”
- Steve McDonald

So goes the words from the song Stone of Destiny. It is my traditional go-to song for hitting the road to Stones Rising. This year was special, this was Year 25. My 24^th year with Four Quarters. Having been to many Stones, I know that each year has a different flavor, a different vibe. The people are different, the energy they bring is different, the theme is different. Yet in many ways there is continuity, familiar faces, familiar rites and rituals that have been created over the years. There are things we do from just plan tradition, whether collective or private. So, when the time came, as in years past I over packed the car and set out for the 4.5-hour drive with anticipation for what Stones held in store this year.

August 20, 2019

Designing for Stones

There are any number of Universals in the Art of Design. The Golden Ratio of 1.61 through which your belly button divides your body or the sides of a piece of paper. Logarithmic spirals generated by exponential growth, ie: Life. The 120 degree angle and it's complement of 60 degrees. All of these are ratios found throughout nature, and our neuro-systems are optimized to find within them a quality that we call beauty!
There are other fun factors that a designer keeps in mind about how we perceive visually. Our eyes track and accentuate light/white, and less saturated colors. And important to the fine art of shaping and placing stones, we emphasize the visual weight of concave silhouettes, and de-emphasis the convex. Consider the Great North Stone.

August 18, 2019

Dressing the Stones

How do you dress a stone? Well, first you have to get it to the dress shop!

It helps if you happen to have two backhoes handy.

August 18, 2019

Surveyor's Tape

Consider the lowly surveyor's tape. Spun off at high speed somewhere in South China. Packaged in the darkness of a card board box to be shipped who-knows-where. Unused, unloved, unappreciated in a ware house shelf.
Then suddenly unboxed and into the light! A brief blaze of glory in the sun, wrapped around a tree, adorning a stake, fluttering in the wind. Free, Free. Free at Last !!!!
But then....

Tape

August 16, 2019

A Stones Rising Update

Planning proceeds, with lots of work too, for this years very ambitious Rising. What are some of the ingredients you ask?

Well... with the Rainbow Bridge fundraiser currently at about $7,000, we purchased the +$2,500 in materials to install the handrails. That's 250 feet of steel pipe and the same number of fittings... most of which had to be custom machined in our shop. It took days to prep and position all of the materials, but just 4 hours to assemble the handrails on the bridge. We think it looks spiffy!
There is lots more yet to do. Over 1,000 board feet of toe and hand boards to install. The long ramps to allow golf-cart access. And more lighting! Stay tuned.

August 12, 2019

LIL' DUB FAMILY REUNION

Lil Dub - a Big Dub reunion onthe Mountain!

October 4-6, 2019 at Four Quarters

We are pleased to welcome Lil' Dub, the first ever Big Dub re-union event to Four Quarters, home of Big Dub Festival!

Lil' Dub is a weekend camp-out experience for Big Dub veterans, newcomers, and Four Quarters regulars. In partnership with Proper Ops, we're putting together a weekend experience that will be jam-packed with activities, art, and music

Drum circles, nightly bonfire, flow arts workshops, spirituality discussions, group meditation, moonlight yoga, sunrise yoga, and of course the best regional musicians from past Big Dub Festivals, performing from The Pavilion. Four Quarters will be providing a Saturday Backyard BBQ Social, Ceremony and Sweat Lodge.

August 8, 2019

Building the North Copse

Our Pennsylvania quarry came through for us and after two more deliveries we now have enough of the very special stone required to begin construction of the North Copse.
And what is the North Copse you ask? With The Great North Stone as it's northernmost minor axis, the Copse is a 45'x30' ellipse set with the stones almost touching. Intended to create a sanctuary within a sanctuary, very much in keeping with the "Fore Courts" associated with British neolithic long barrows.

In order to follow the very tight curves of such a small ellipse, we need stones no wider than 4 feet, and hopefully in the 12 foot range in height, and all of the same beige colored sandstone of The Great North Stone. Such stones are not easy to find, even when our good quarry-men are setting their blasting charges just for us. So part of this years Stones Rising involves the trimming of our stony friends to fit into such a narrow envelope.

The News from Four Quarters

More Articles ...