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Owned and operated by Daniel Peterson
612-735-9321 - [email protected]

Twin Cities Sustainable Landscape Design by HabAdapt

Daniel Peterson

habadapt

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habadapt

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Apr 19

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I`m pleased with the progress we are making on the current project. The flatwork is a mix of limestone, Mesabi granite, and Endicott pavers. We`ve started working on the step veneer and the patio seat wall. We have a fair bit to go, but the transformation is happening. So far, we`ve only run into a few obstacles, some known like the cottonwood roots we had to remove, and unknown like the buried window the client didn`t know about. I have found there is always something to be discovered when working on any property, especially ones that are around a hundred years old.
The second image was taken prior to starting.

#stone #stonework #landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #flagstone #endicottclay #limestone #granite #hardscape #hardscapedesign ...

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Feb 18

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The batter frames are down, wall copes are up, and the arch is finished. The wall is a mix of regional stone types and other stone remnants, including four Minnesota quarried granites, glacial erratics, granitic gneiss, limestone, Minnesota iron range slate, and three types of sandstone. I really enjoyed mixing all of the stone types in this project.
I will be working on the gate designs over the next month and plan on fabricating them shortly after. I installed the gate hanging iron bars into the wall ends during the stone work installation phase, so there will be some welding involved for the next part. There will b new plantings installed later in the spring to blend the structure into the landscape.

#reclaimedstone #landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #drystone #stone #hardscape #garden #gardenfence #stonework #fence #granite #sandstone #glacialboulder #glacialerratic #limestone #gardendesign #phasedproject #virginiaslate #ironore #mesabigranite #charcoalgranite #carneliangranite #graniticgneiss ...

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Feb 16

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Abies balsamea is susceptible to developing ‘witches broom’ growth. There can be multiple causes, but in this instance, it is likely due to a fungal infection, likely Melampsorella caryophyllacearum. It can be controlled to a certain extent in high value trees by trimming out the growth as it emerges. Reducing the presence of chickweed (Stellaria media) and plants in the Ericaceae family (Vaccinium sp., Arctostaphylos sp., etc.) will also reduce the presence of Melampsorella caryophyllacearum since they are alternate hosts of the fungi. The fungi is systemic in Balsam fir, so it may recur as new growth develops each season.

#landscape #fir #abiesbalsamea #balsamfir #habadapt #landscapetree #evergreen #evergreenpest #fungi #Melampsorellacaryophyllacearum #yellowbroom #witchesbroom #ericaceae #pinaceae ...

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Feb 8

Open

Getting closer to completing the coping and arch. I have a fair amount of detail chisel work to finish the arch, but it should be done later this week.

#reclaimedstone #landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #drystone #stone #stonework #fence #hardscape #granite #sandstone #glacialboulder #glacialerratic ...

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Feb 7

Open

The weather this winter has made it easier to see the influence of certain materials in the landscape. We have had warmer weather than usual for early February. Usually, we have snow now rather than frost. The other morning, the frost melted away with the rising sun, but the shadow of the stone protected the frost and acted like a sun dial. Often, when I`m designing spaces, micro climate effects of stone and structure are taken into consideration when working in areas. Stone in the right space can reduce or minimize rapid temperature swings.

#landscape #frost #habadapt #landscapedesign #stone #microclimate #temperatureregulation #sundial ...

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Jan 25

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The exit view is just as important as the entry view of a landscape. Native and edible mixes of plants can create seasonal transitions in the landscape as well.
This is a view leaving a residential space in the autumn after the spring and summer flowering perennials have gone to rest, and the masses of little bluestem get to show their full autumn glory.
This space was originally designed 18 years ago, and the plantings are managed in a way to allow them to move to where they do best. The little bluestem was only in a few massed areas when it was first planted, and now it has spread to frame the drier and warmer areas. It is great to see how landscape planting compositions change with time. Every year, it changes a little bit more.

#landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #schizachyriumscoparium #littlebluestem #permaculture #autumn #prairieplants #prairiegardening #prairiegardens #nativeplants #pollinatorgarden #gardentransformation #succession #gardensuccession #seasonaltransition ...

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Jan 21

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A recent entry or behind the sofa table I completed last summer. The wood is salvaged sugar maple with some spalted inclusions. I used a new finish blend of beeswax and boiled linseed oil, which enhanced the mineral inclusions well.

#customfurniture #sugarmaple #acersaccharum #furniture #entrytable #habadapt #salvagedwood #table #woodworking #woodwork ...

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Jan 15

Open

The garden folly wall was completed about a year ago, and we installed the flatwork this past summer. The wallstone is a mix of northern Minnesota iron slate and jaspers. The flat work is predominantly bluestone.

The Animikie banded iron and jasper are some of the oldest stones available, being over 1.5 billion years old and possibly as old as 2.5 billion years. They were formed in the primordial seas as iron fixing microbes deposited in shallow waters.

#stone #stonework #drystone #habadapt #landscape #landscapedesign #bluestone #bandediron #animikie #ironslate #gardenwall #minnesotastone ...

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Jan 15

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Echinacea purpurea, and on that note, most of the Echinacea species are some of my favorite native perennials to use in perennial gardens. Most of Echinacea are deep taproot species tolerant of drought conditions. Echinacea sp. are members of the Asteraceae family and are great perennials for pollinators, bees in particular. Birds will often eat the seeds, especially overwintering and migratory birds. Various parts of the plants have been and are still used for medicinal purposes by numerous North American Indigenous tribes as well as modern herbalists. In some areas, over harvesting has endangered native populations.

#echinacea #echinaceapurpurea #asteraceae #nativeplant #habadapt #nativeperennial #pollinatorattractor #pollinatorgarden #medicinalplant ...

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Jan 15

Open

Sometimes, a project necessitates more intuitive planning rather than comprehensive planning. This project is being installed in phases as budget and time allows. Some of the stone work is completed or is in progress, and as this installation progresses, elements will be added as needed. It will incorporate a fully fenced yard to reduce rabbit and deer damage, large vegetable plantings for spring, summer, and autumn harvesting, as well as winter cover for cold season harvesting. Predominantly, the perimeter landscape plantings will be native perennials, shrubs, and hybridized fruit and nut trees for production. The project also has a goal of using all of the rainfall within the landscape in both passive rain garden and infiltration areas as well as cistern capture as possible. All of the excavated soils, removed trees, and existing pavement surfaces will be reused within the project to reduce the amount of waste removal. As this project develops, more information will be posted.

#landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #hardscapedesign #drystone #granite #mesabigranite #limestone #stone #pavers #permaculture #pollinatorgarden #nativeplants #ediblelandscape #virginiaslate #resilientdesign #traditionalconstruction #resilience #artdecogarden #stormwatermanagement #raingarden #hugelkultur #resourceacknowledgement #permaculture #permaculturedesign #multipleusespaces ...

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Jan 15

Open

A closeup of some of the hand drilled feather and wedge bores on the stone at Mine Hill Preserve. It is wild to see the uniformity of the drilling, I assume some of the slabs were hand drilled, and perhaps early types of steam driven stone drills may have been used by the masons at the location.

The method of splitting stone with feathers and wedges dates back to at least the Egyptians.

I have to admit I am glad we have modern power hammer drills.

#Minehillpreserve #Roxburylandtrust #afternoonhike #feathersandwedges #blastfurnace #quarriedstone #drystone #quarry #graniteproduction #granitegneiss #gneiss #plugandfeather #handsplittingstone #stonemasonry ...

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Jan 15

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A fence section that we completed this past summer. The bottom structure is composed of gabion structures filled with sandstone and remnant pavers. All of the stones were specifically stacked using drystone methods to increase the structural strength of the baskets. The wood structure is age treated 5/4 cedar.

I chose to use gabions for the post securing in this area since most of the stone is small and thin, resulting in less mass. The gabion structure will give the stone more structural strength and secure the upper wood sections better than an 18-inch tall wall comprised of 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick sandstone.

#landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #gabion #drystone #stone #habadapt #granite #workwithstone #workwithyourhands #landscapeconstruction #hardscape #stonework #wirecontruction #naturalmaterial #workwithnaturalmaterial #drystonewall #sandstone #ironslate #resiliantconstruction #customfence #cedar ...

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Jan 15

Open

The progress on the fence wall sections is moving along. I had to take a break last week and this upcoming week for other projects, but I plan to finish out the last 18 inches of the return wall in a week and a half and start coping the walls with blocks of sandstone. The walls are composed of a mix of regionally available stone, including 3 types of granite, limestone, sandstone, gneiss, basalt, iron slate, and glacial erratics. As soon as the walls are coped, I will start working on the iron framing of the gates.

#landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #traditionalcraft #learn #drystone #stone #habadapt #historiccraft #granite #workwithstone #workwithyourhands #landscapeconstruction #hardscape #stonework #stoneshaping #greenindustry #naturalmaterial #workwithnaturalmaterial #glacialeratic #boulderwall #boulderwalls #drystonewall #gneiss #limestone #sandstone #ironslate #resiliantconstruction #customfence ...

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Jan 15

Open

Spent an afternoon wandering and hiking around the old roasting and blast furnaces at Mine Hill Preserve over the weekend. The stonework is something to see; the roasting furnaces are dry stacked granite blocks, and the blast furnace looks to be a mix of lime mortar and dry stack stone. The tension of the structures that are no longer on the site put tremendous stress on some of the structures, and can be seen where the iron anchors pulled some of the large granite gneiss slabs in from the original batter of the structures.

All of the granite gneiss for the structures was mined from quarries in the area. The quarried slabs range in sizes, but some of the quarried stones were over 60 ft long and 6 ft wide. According to the information available at the site, the iron processing furnaces were only used for less than a decade and consumed about 190 acres of timber per year to run the furnaces. Kinda crazy at the mass consumption of industrialization of the area. The mixed hardwood forest has since regenerated. The quarries are still being used for granite/gneiss production. In places, piles of quarried granite gneiss can be seen along the hiking trail.

#Minehillpreserve #Roxburylandtrust #afternoonhike #historicmine #blastfurnace #ironproduction #drystone #quarry #graniteproduction #granitegneiss #gneiss #ironmine #mine ...

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Jan 15

Open

It is easy to look at declining trees as waste to be hauled to the compost or shredding for mulch. Whenever possible, we try to use downed vegetation for onsite compost or in garden beds,hügelkultur in particular, or find companies who salvage downed timber for milling. This declining maple will be used in a larger hügelkultur planting bed along the back side of the property. Hügelkultur are mound garden systems using compostable materials, timber in particular, for building up soil. The timber retains moisture as it decays, improving water access for the vegetation planted on them. They may be very effective in droughty conditions to improve certain types of vegetation performance. Currently, there are no scientific publications researching the effectiveness of these types of garden methods, but they have been used for centuries in multiple places worldwide.

Natural systems also use this and typically can be seen in woodland areas where there are shallow topsoils. The new vegetation starts to be established in decaying timber and other downed vegetation.

#hügelkultur #resourceacknowledgement #landscapedesign #landscapeplanning #resourceallocation #habadapt #timber #downtimber #moundgarden #permaculture #permaculturedesign #wasteasaresource #watermanagement #droughtplantingspace ...

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Jan 15

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Here is part of a recent design which pulls in native plant communities and well as improving the usable space of the yard, and the hardscape areas in the backyard will be installed to allow mobility impaired easier access to the residence. The entire landscape will be redone, and will incorporate a larger patio for outdoor activities, native plant communities, edibles, rain infiltration zones to passively use as much of the rain fall onsite as possible, and dog friendly play zones. The hardscape will be composed of a mix of Minnesota granites, Wisconsin limestone, Minnesota iron range slates and wire cut clay pavers in shapes that pull the art deco nature of the residence exterior and interior into the outdoor spaces.

I am really looking forward to starting the installation of this project. The declining cottonwood trees have been removed, so most of the area is ready as soon as spring arrives. The stone is going to be delivered in early February, so we are ready to go as soon as possible. The first image is of the proposed plan layout, and the second image is of the landscape as it currently is.

#landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #hardscapedesign #drystone #granite #mesabigranite #limestone #stone #pavers #permaculture #pollinatorgarden #nativeplants #ediblelandscape #virginiaslate #resiliantdesign #traditionalconstruction #artdecogarden #stormwatermanagement #raingarden ...

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Dec 16

Open

Annealing Mokume-gane... fire, heat are amazing.
#mokumegane #habadapt #annealing #metalsmith #silversmith ...

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Dec 16

Open

Starting to work with some raw turquoise this weekend. It seems those of us who have raw stones `sit` on them for years until they speak of what they should or can be. I`ll post what they become.... at some point.

#turquoise #rawstone #stonesetting #habadapt #jewelry ...

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Dec 10

Open

It seems winter has finally arrived. At least I have the foundations and half of this wall up. I`m taking time to build this one, and I`m glad there is no rush. It is a mix of local granite, glacial erratics, gneiss, sandstone, and limestone. If all goes as planned, I`ll be ready to weld up and veneer the gates in a couple of weeks.

#reclaimedstone #landscape #landscapedesign #habadapt #drystone #drystonewaller #drystonewalls #glacialboulder #glacialerratic #hardscape #winterwork #boulderwall #basalt #sandstone #limestone #virginiaslate #regionalstone #stone #stonework #boulder ...

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Dec 2

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A recent retaining dry stone wall we completed in September. The iron range stone is from northern Minnesota, commonly referred to as Virginia slate in our area. It`s extremely dense, with high iron content that will hold a magnetized level. It`s one of my favorite regional stones to use on our projects. Often, we use 30% more weight in stone when working with this stone. Arguably, it`s one of the oldest stone types available, being precambrian.
The client wanted a northern Minnesota feel for the project to remind him of the boundary waters. He recently finished the fence and plants.

#habadapt #landscape #hardscape #landscapedesign #drystone #drystonewaller #drystonewalls #virginiaslate #regionalstone #stone #stonework #ironstone #ironore #stomatolite ...

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