Podcast 001: The story behind Stack of Stones

Welcome to the Stack of Stones community podcast. In this first episode, I am happy to share the story behind Stack of Stones. My journey into the world of geology, gemstones and minerals began as a personal passion deeply rooted in my person and slowly developed into a professional endeavor. Even as a child I was fascinated by stones, shells, fossils and bones, and my collecting passion only increased. My parents supported my hobby by constantly creating space for my growing collection, from the chicken coop to part of the barn that served as my own museum. Sharing my enthusiasm with others was always a passion, from opening my museum to neighborhood children to giving courses and lectures in later years.

While I found my way in the world of health care as a nurse and later as a teacher, my love for stones and minerals always remained present, albeit sometimes in the background. But in 2023, I decided to pursue my dream of having my own business in the mineral world and focus entirely on Stack of Stones. This move brought new challenges, but also new opportunities, such as the development of an online course platform and the pursuit of honest and reliable information within the community of gem and mineral lovers.

The podcast is in Dutch, but available via YouTube with English subtitles, so you can listen in – even if your Dutch is not perfect.

The story behind Stack of Stones

In this first episode, I would like to tell you the story behind Stack of Stones. My journey into the world of geology, gemstones and minerals has only recently become a professional endeavor, but stems from a personal passion that is deeply rooted in my person.

My younger years

More than forty years ago, I was already “stacked” (crazy) with rocks. As a child I used to put all kinds of stones, shells, fossils and bones in my pockets. I remember well our vacations in Zeeland in the Netherlands, where we spent days scouring the beach. But also the flints I found in the municipal park, everything had to come home with me. Collecting was part of my life from an early age, but my mother always said,” It will pass.”

When the shelf in the bedroom became too small, my parents kept providing a space where I could display my stones. The empty chicken coop at the back of the garden, later the attic room and even a separate part of the barn were transformed into a real museum. I also always wanted to share my collection and my enthusiasm with those around me. Museum “My Find” on the Tulpstraat in Eibergen was open on Wednesday afternoons for the children in the neighborhood. In group 8 of elementary school, I even celebrated the 4-year anniversary of my museum with my classmates, with a small exhibition and a real playback show.

My environment always encouraged me to keep collecting and learning. My parents made me go to the “discovery club” at the local community center after school. Grandpa and grandma brought stones from their vacations in Austria, Spain and Italy, a few pieces of which I still have, by the way! An aunt took me to “the nature box,” as I called museum Natura Docet in Denekamp, where I got to buy one of my first stones. I got books about stones on my birthday and together with an uncle and aunt I bought hydrogen peroxide to bleach bones. I was always busy with my collection.

It did not pass…

Where most kids leave their rocks behind when they move to high school, I kept collecting and in 1990 my “museum” was moved to part of the converted barn on the Borculoseweg in Eibergen. It became more and more professional with real showcases, spotlights, a special case for my UV minerals and there was also an official opening. The local newspaper paid attention to it from time to time and that brought new visitors, who sometimes also brought me some stones.

In those years I also went searching by myself for the first time. It was still possible to do so close by then, in the quarry in Winterswijk, The Netherlands. There I found my first pyrite and celestine, but also a print of a saurian! I was also regularly to be found at Herman Schepers in Eibergen, he had an old farm behind his florist’s shop where he collected all kinds of things. Many archaeological finds, but I especially liked the stones and fossils he had picked up in the neighborhood. He liked to tell stories about them and every now and then I would get a little something from him.

Crystal Museum Borculo

For several years I had also been visiting Borculo with Boris Batjuchin, an eccentric Russian lover of stones from Sebastopol in the Crimea, with a store near the water mill, when in 1989/1990 the Crystal Museum moved into the former Borculo town hall. After an initial visit, I was sold and soon started volunteering there. I could be found there every weekend and more often if I could. In the beginning mostly unpacking stones, cleaning, weighing and pricing, but soon I was also helping out in the museum store, giving tours and attending fairs in the Netherlands and Germany. Even made an exhibition there around a dinosaur egg at the time of the first Jurassic Park movie. I learned an enormous amount about minerals here, but also about the (international) trade in stones.

In 1992 I even got to go with the then owner to the largest mineral fair in the world in Tucson in the United States. We not only went to buy, but also sold our stones there from two hotel rooms… As soon as you woke up, make bed and boxes of stones on top, open the door and go! At that time I actually didn’t realize at all how big that fair was. Unfortunately, I hardly have any photos of the show either, except one of my bed with boxes on it. Not comparable to what the fair looks like now 32 years later, as you can follow via all social media channels.

When I started my nursing studies in Enschede in 1993 and moved to Oldenzaal, I could no longer continue to work at the museum in Borculo. Since a number of years I do have contact again with the current owners and we regularly work together or go on excursion together. In the spring of 2021, for example, I set up a number of display cases with a systematic mineral collection for the museum. During Covid time, I also gave several online sessions from the museum that can still be seen on my YouTube channel.

Being infected with the mineral virus, in the summer of 1992 I went on vacation with my parents and brother to the Idar Oberstein area. There we visited the “Deutsche Edelsteinstrasse”, the gemstone museum and the Fischbacher Kupferbergwerk and also went to search for crystals ourselves in the well-known Juchem quarry near Niederworresbach. I will never forget that feeling when I found my first amethyst geode by myself. And ofcourse those first finds are still in my collection.

Mentor

All kinds of people around me have taught me a lot over the years and continue to do so. Without short-changing the others, I would like to mention one person who has always stimulated me to keep developing and becoming more professional in the hobby. In the 1990s I had already met Thijs Besier from Hengelo in the Crystal Museum, a lover of micro minerals and rocks and an enthusiastic knowledge-sharer. In 1998 I took the geology introduction course with him at the Museum of Natural History in Enschede, the following year I took over from him. As I was preparing this podcast, I realized that by now I have been giving courses on geology and minerals for more than 25 years.

Moreover, Thijs introduced me to the geological association GEA Twente and to the Museum of Natural History in Enschede where I worked as a volunteer in the minerals collection for years afterwards. We also went on excursions together to the Eifel to look for micro minerals, where I often returned with students to the places he showed me. I owe a lot to Thijs and I was able to express that during his funeral after he passed away in August 2022 at the age of 97.

The run-up to Stack of Stones

While I found my way in the world of health care as a nurse, policy advisor and researcher and later as a teacher, my love of rocks and minerals always remained present, albeit often in the background. Nevertheless, many will agree with me that it had actually quickly become an “out of control” hobby. In addition to collecting stones, vacations were also dominated by geological trips, for example, to the Greek Cyclades, the volcanoes of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Hawaii, Italy, the Canary Islands, Iceland and many more.

In 2001 I founded my first business. For more than 10 years, in addition to my work, I gave courses and lectures under the banner of GEOimpuls. In the beginning only an introductory course in geology at the Museum of Natural History in Enschede, but that was soon expanded to include other subjects and also at other places, such as in museum Natura Docet in Denekamp, Erve Boerrigter in De Lutte and at geological societies around the country. I also organized several excursions for students and did tours at fairs. I also took several courses myself and still do. Due to circumstances I quit GEOimpuls in 2012, I moved and it took me a while to get back into it.

In 2014 my own “stone room” on the Boddenkampstraat in Enschede was ready and I was able to give courses again, this time at home in small groups. I continued on a limited scale where I had left off, but now under the name Stack of Stones. The blood runs where it cannot go, my activities grew and I had plans and ambitions. However, it wasn’t until 2021 that I registered with the Chamber of Commerce again to do business part-time. So in April of 2024, Stack of Stones will officially have been in existence for three years!

Meanwhile, I had also started writing a book in 2018. I came across so many commercial names and fake and counterfeit in the trade of gemstones and minerals that I spent 4 years looking into it and researched a lot of stones. Eventually all that information was compiled into my book “Belazeriet of niet? (Gem or Scam?) In May 2022 I presented it for family and friends and people from the mineral world in the Crystal Museum in Borculo. Since then, the book has found its way to many enthusiasts, sellers and professionals. I am immensely proud of that.

Meanwhile, the physical book is sold out but its contents and much more than that are available through the online Gem or Scam? library

A new path

Sometimes life is what happens to you while you make other plans. Within a few tumultuous years a new relationship, Covid, moving to Maastricht and a new job. And in 2023 I finally made the switch to full self-employment in the gem and mineral business, something I have always dreamed of has now become a reality. That means saying goodbye to the familiar, change, but most of all many new opportunities and ambitions.

My experiences with online education during Covid and the weekly live sessions via Facebook during that period accelerated the development of my online course platform. Currently, the basic course is running at full speed and there are concrete plans for expanding the offerings and opportunities within the online community.

There are also challenges. Where I used to spread my knowledge about stones from a hobby, it has now become my job. That means I can no longer do everything I did in the way I did. That takes getting used to for me, but also for the people around me in the world of gems and minerals.

In any case, I am extremely excited to continue to pass on the knowledge and experience I have gained over the past four decades to other enthusiasts through Stack of Stones in a reliable and honest way! And this podcast is one of the ways for me to tell the stories behind the stones, I’m already looking forward to the next one!