Monday morning, May 19, 2014

The length of time since our last blog post reflects not neglect, but high level busy-ness here at the farm!

Here are some highlights of last week's activities.

--Sherry was here to clean all residences and prepare the Cottage for weekend guests.

--Clay stopped by to pick up the body of the carriage.

--Steve dropped off the plans of the elevations he had measured the previous week.

--Grelen Nursery workers were here to take down the mostly-dead maple tree behind the workshop.

They also felled some of the "weed" trees at the western edge of the field beyond the Grigg barn in order to create a better line of sight for the wireless reception for the farm.

--Kyle was here all but two days.  He spent part of each morning watering the new trees on the main driveway and also the trees that were transplanted from the main driveway to Cottage Lane.

--Patsy and Louis were here to weed and dead-head the gardens around the Estate House.

--Topsoil was delivered to fill the new raised beds for the vegetable garden in the field just beyond the Grigg barn, and Stephen and Kyle moved it into the frames.

--I completed a plan for the new vegetable garden by using the Garden Planner on the Old Farmer's Almanac website, based on the owners' requests for particular types of vegetables and herbs.  The plan can be viewed here:  http://gardenplanner.almanac.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=545422.

--I corresponded with Shane and Beverly at "Turnip the Beets" farm about purchasing organically-raised starter plants for the vegetable garden.  They reviewed the garden plan and called me on Friday to let me know which plants they could supply.  We made arrangements to pick up the plants at the Nelson County Farmers' Market first thing Saturday morning.  Here they are at the market with some of their beautiful produce and plants for sale.  They had our order all packed up for us and ready to bring back to the farm.  We now have healthy starters for heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, Swiss chard, lettuce, bell peppers, and a variety of herbs from this wonderful couple and their farm.

--I did the "first morning breakfast" grocery shopping for the Cottage on Friday morning.

--Stephen arranged for the landscaping crew who does the lawn mowing to come on Tuesday instead of Thursday because of the weather forecast, which included torrential rains and flood warnings for Wednesday night and Thursday all day.  It was a wise move, because the forecast proved to be completely accurate, and by the time the weather changed for the better on Friday, everything was ready for Graduation Weekend guests at the Cottage.  Some shadows on the carpet-like lawn in the paddock around the barn...

--The storm on Thursday did little damage, but there were some limbs down and clumps of leaves on the lawns.  Stephen and Kyle had everything cleaned up quickly.

--The chickens are doing very well, and are laying four eggs per day.  There is one hen who is on a later schedule, as there are three eggs usually by mid-morning, and a fourth one in the early afternoon.  I let them out and feed and water them in the mornings usually by 6:30.  They go to bed by about 8:45-9 PM, so I go out then and close their door so they will be safe for the night.

--Stephen has been mowing the pastures, with some help from Kyle and Billy, and he is also keeping a pathway around all the fields clear to provide access to all areas as the grass grows, apparently inches per day.  These pictures are taken from the middle field between the first gate and the northwest field--such a huge difference from ones I took in the snow from this same spot in March.

--Stephen met the Cottage guests on Friday and provided orientation and local information.  He kept the outdoor fireplace stocked and a fire laid, and everyone seemed to very much enjoy the space.  They are scheduled to leave today.  We're glad everyone had such a beautiful weekend for UVa's 2014 Graduation.

--Yesterday, Stephen went with me to drive the farm truck for the first time, so I will know where all the bells and whistles are.  Today I need to pick up some organic compost from Countryside Organics in Waynesboro (using the truck), as well as a few more vegetable plants and some seeds from Waynesboro Nursery and the Mennonite nursery in Stuart's Draft.  There's so much going on here this morning that Stephen won't be able to leave, so I'm helping out.

Once the compost is dug into the raised beds, we'll be ready to start planting, and this week's weather looks perfect for it.  Last week's storm saturated the beds and caused further settling of the soil, which has worked out well because now we know how much more to add as we turn in the compost.  At the moment, the garden plants are waiting inside the old greenhouse foundation where they can get some sun and be watered while they wait for the beds to be ready.

--Stephen and Mike are making plans to have the fence built around the vegetable garden in order to keep ground hogs, skunks and hopefully, deer, from eating our new baby plants.  So far, we have had no deer around the "home" part of the farm, possibly because of the scent and the sound of our dogs.

Today, Bobby and his helpers started the restoration work on the Grigg barn at 7 AM.  They have just opened the second floor double doors--here's a view we hadn't seen before!

Karen and her landscape-painting class will be here this week, starting this morning at 9.  They'll be setting up their easels around the property and capturing some of the spectacular views both on the property and in the distance.

So, another week is starting out busy!