The word ice is a homonym and can mean diamonds,killing someone and probably other things as well,but in this case it means frozen water. I stumbled upon an interesting ice related job that I felt compelled to write a post about. I hadn't given much thought to how ice palaces are constructed but didn't really imagine it involved a special occupation...Icicle Farmer. At the Utah based "Ice Castles" they grow around 15,000 man made icicles per day. They are grown on patented metal tubes that on a good night can produce icicles up to 3 feet long. The icicles are then harvested by hand and transported to the location of the ice castle in progress. Up to a half million icicles are then stacked like bricks and held in place using slush as mortar. Once the icicles are in place sprinklers are turned on nightly to continue to form more ice and to keep the structure strong. It takes about a month for the process to be completed and the results are all unique depending on the part Mother Nature plays in the finished castle.
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