Staddle stones

Staddle stones are kinda like big Lego blocks made of stone that farmers used to use back in olden times, before people had tractors and machines to help with farming.

Imagine you are playing with your toy farm animals in the backyard. Now imagine that you need to keep all your animals safe and dry, especially during rainy days. You would build a little barn or shelter for them, right?

Well, that's what farmers used to do too, but they didn't have plastic and metal to build their barns. Instead, they would use things around them, and one of those things were staddle stones.

So, if you're outside and look around, you may find that the ground isn't always flat. Sometimes there are bumps or mounds. Farmers would take advantage of those mounds and put a staddle stone on top of them, sort of like a big round rock. The staddle stone would act as a foundation for the barn or shelter.

Now, the really clever thing about staddle stones is that they would keep the barn and animals safe and dry. How? Well, imagine it rains really hard, and all that water makes the ground all wet and yucky. If the barn is on the ground, it would start to rot and get moldy, and nobody wants that! So, the farmer would put the barn on top of the staddle stones to keep it high up and dry.

Also, staddle stones are round and heavy, so they would be hard for little critters like rats and mice to climb up and get to the barn, so it helped to keep the animals inside safe from those pesky creatures.

And that, my dear young friend, is the story of staddle stones. They were a clever way that farmers used to keep their barns safe and dry, and they are still pretty popular among gardeners and people who want a fun decoration in their yard!