New Englanders often joke that the only thing our soil is good for growing is rocks. While obviously tongue-in-cheek, the saying comes from the observations of anyone who has done any farming or gardening that no matter how clear your tilled soil was before heading into the winter, by spring there would be another bumper crop of rocks to be moved and piled once again. Looking at stone walls throughout New England, you can actually tell if the wall lined an agriculture or livestock area by examining the size of the stones. If there are a ton of smaller stones piled up, it is pretty safe to guess that the area around there was for agriculture as they tossed them aside after the spring thaw.
The spring growth of rocks comes from the drastic freeze/thaw cycle that exists in temperate climates like New England.The ice needles, pictured above, are one of the coolest ways to see this type of upward movement of soil and rock. They form when the air above wet soil is colder than the earth itself and the water is pulled and frozen upwards. It is an amazing display of how unique water is and the impact that a little bit of moisture and shifting temperatures can have on the ground below our feet.
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