Foundation

This is the stuff. It is called "screenings". It is a byproduct in the making of gravel. I paid $340 for a 16 yard load.
In searching for this material I called around and finally found an ol' boy named McCowan with a top soil, sand and gravel business.
When he came to look things over we got to talking and we found he and I had a mutual connection with a nursery business I worked in right out of high school. He had trucked in the extreme high quality potting soil for the rose season in the year of 1977. He remembered it because his dad had been off working a job out of state. I remembered never having seen such high quality soil before or since.
What is important is that he may have been a little more expensive, but his knowledge of materials and his contacts and his willingness to help out made his services invaluable.
I needed to get the screenings in before the fence. A couple of weeks later, after getting my Certificate of Appropriateness, I made the decision to set things in motion by scheduling the fence installation and ordering the screenings. Mr. McCowan showed up in his enormous dump truck within an hour of my calling his wife and placing the order.
Now you may be tempted to think, "No big deal." But let me tell you 16 yards of gravel makes one giant pile.
McCowan listened to me carefully and I saw he understood the nature of my project. He climbed up in the cab of his truck and dumped two long piles along the side and back just inside where the fence would go, maneuvering under power and telephone lines as he went. Later as I was getting my physical therapy moving and spreading the stuff in small pinches in my wheelbarrow I would quietly utter prayers of thanksgiving for the help of such a capable and caring man.