Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Another busy week of building, mowing, poultry management, inn-keeping, and maintenance!  My apologies for not having posted for a week--my time for contributing to the blogosphere has been limited by good weather, lots of jobs to do outside, and tiredness at the end of long days.  Most workers weren't here on Friday or Monday because of the holiday, but the place is hopping today.

Some highlights:

We've had no rain over the past week, so Kyle has spent the first part of each day watering the new trees along the driveway and the ones which were transplanted to Cottage Lane.  He's also been maintaining the clearing done in the early spring by Geo as the undergrowth has been coming back with a vengeance.

Kyle and Stephen have completed the raised beds for the vegetable garden and we have been holding off on planting because Mike's fence crew was hoping to be here at the end of last week, but is now scheduled to be here tomorrow.  In the meantime, all the plants are flourishing in the greenhouse garden.  We hope to begin planting tomorrow, fencing crew or not, and depending upon the weather.

Six guests stayed from Saturday to Monday in the Cottage.  They had planned their activities well, and went to Charlottesville the first night for dinner, but otherwise visited local sites including wineries, bike trails, and running routes.  As part of the "first morning" breakfast setup, we gave them eggs from the Ramsay hens, which the guests appreciated very much.  On the first night, one of them called to ask for help finding a taxi to and from Charlottesville for dinner, as all the commonly used ones were booked solid.  None of us had a vehicle large enough for a driver and six people, which meant finding a van.  Fortunately, I did find a Crozet service which took them, so now we have a good contact for guests who need help with transportation. Stephen gave the group a tour of the farm, and they loved visiting with the horses and later touring the Estate House and hearing about the history of the estate and the area.  They enjoyed the outdoor fireplace and made their own dinner there for their last night rather than going back into Charlottesville.  They gave the accommodations and the hospitality wonderful reviews, and are planning to make staying at Ramsay a habit.

(Photo by Stephen, used by permission of the guests)

Stephen and I went to Countryside Organics in Waynesboro and to Augusta Co-op on Saturday for feed for chickens and a larger feeder and water tank for them, then to the grocery store for "first morning" breakfast for the Cottage.  Stephen spent a lot of the weekend constructing a temporary chicken garden in the former dog pen so that we could move the coop from the Farmhouse lawn and give "the girls" some room to roam.

We have made a tent of bird netting using the big tree for support as well as some very temporary framing.  Yesterday, we moved the coop into the dog pen and let them out for the first time since they arrived here.  They are so happy!  I stayed and watched them for a while to see if they would find anything dangerous (which they didn't), and they seemed to enjoy having room to stroll or run around, and occasionally stood up tall and flapped their wings, just because they could!  Last night at 8:45, we went to put them to bed, and they had all already gone to roost back inside their coop for the night, so we didn't have to chase chickens in the almost-dark.  Smart girls.  Today I've found that they come to me when they hear my voice, which is great in case we do need to catch them.

The local blue jays are going to be sorry we've moved the chickens because each morning they would clean up any spilled feed or other goodies from the place where the coop had been before.  So now they can concentrate on cleaning up all the bugs from our front porch which are drawn there and die each night because of having the porch light on.  I imagine all the other lights on the property are attracting the same bugs, so our blue jay flock is well provided for!

Bobby and his crew are working on the barn again today, focusing now on the cupola.  Stephen saw Bobby taking a large black snake from the barn to the woods this morning.  I hope the snake comes back once the commotion of restoration is done, as black snakes are great at catching rats, of which we know there are a few in residence there.

I took this picture from our deck this morning--the workman on the roof isn't Bobby, but is one of his helpers.  Bobby was below, cutting boards as the man on the roof called down dimensions.  I had seen Bobby earlier as he did the initial assessment of the damage and what would need to be done to fix it.  Obliviousness about heights must be a prerequisite for this type of work, just as claustrophobia would be a contraindication for being a plumber.

The landscaping crew is here today mowing, trimming and blowing away clippings.  Rain is in the forecast this afternoon, and they should be done before it gets here.  It's been quite dry for this time of year, so we've been placing sprinklers wherever we can for bedding plants and flowers and hand-watering other areas and containers.  The garden in the greenhouse ruin is flourishing and growing inches per day, apparently.

The hedges are now full of honeysuckle in addition to blackberry vines and poison ivy, so the fields and woods smell wonderful!

Donnie has moved his haymaking equipment here in preparation for the first cutting of hay from the fields.  The grass must be three or four feet tall in the northwest and southwest fields, and slightly less tall in the other areas.  Some good hay in the making!

The rain is descending upon us now, and there's thunder rumbling.