Thanks to the invitation of LAUREN EWING, the Porta Hedge and its crew stopped over at a 200-year-old historic farm in Vincennes, Indiana on our way back east. Lauren’s brother Mark Ewing and his wife Rebecca, who own and operate the 500 acre farm, recently placed it in a conservation trust that will preserve it from encroaching development in the future.
Started in 1806 by Nathaniel Ewing, who received a commission from President Thomas Jefferson to become a receiver of public lands, the farm still produces corn, soybeans, and wheat, and has groves of old and young pecan trees, walnut trees, sugar maples, and hazelnut trees.
Mont Clair has plenty of trees, but not a single hedge. The farm also has a pack of coyotes who wander through at night and devour the barn cats. Enter the Porta Hedge: mobile observation platform for spotting coyotes and dissuading them from entering onto the property.
We learned, however, that the two Great Danes who recently joined the Ewing family are excellent coyote deterrents. There’s also the fact that the Porta Hedge is shorter than the surrounding corn (hedge on stilts?)
Alternatively, after seeing the modern dwelling that Lauren recently designed and had built at Mont Clair, we decided that the Porta Hedge could make a stylish, modern, prefab landscape element. Look out for Lauren’s home in the November issue of DWELL Magazine
Mark Ewing Discussing Soy Bean Crops
Chloe and Duke Scout the Soy Fields for Intruders
Porta Hedge at Mont Clair
Chloe and Duke Join Chris in the Porta Hedge
The Porta Hedge in Front of Yellow Corn #2
Lauren Ewing at Her Home at Mont Clair
