Sunday, November 30, 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014

All the leaves are gone...

The famous Ramsay view NW - November 30, 2014


Thanksgiving Week is often the time that Mother Nature begins the transition from Fall to Winter in this part of the world. This past week was textbook!  Early in the week, the weather people called for the first major winter storm to blast the east coast from the mid-Atlantic to New England. Our local forecast called for 2"-4" on Wednesday, but once again, the Blue Ridge Mountains proved a formidable barrier. We had no snow at Ramsay at all, but could see it falling on the mountains to the west and north. This was the view on Thanksgiving morning. 

First snow on the Skyline Drive
I (Stephen) zipped over the mountain late Wednesday to see what our friends on Facebook were saying about snow in the Valley. They did receive about 4" of snow there.

Heading east down Afton Mountain -- Wednesday afternoon
All the livestock are demanding additional food now that the pastures are fading for the winter. At the first sign of human movement early in the morning, the horses whinny and the cows bellow just to make sure we haven't forgotten them! Good thing we have chickens and no roosters!

"Can't you see we can't pose right now! We're eating, please!"

The major project underway up at the Grigg Barn continues to move along well. (See earlier post) The excavators have completed grading the second pad, and seed and straw matting are in place for the winter. There may be enough warm days for the seed to germinate before the serious cold weather sets in. But even so, some blankets of snow during the winter will work wonders on the seed over the winter, resulting in an explosion of green in early Spring.




The installation of restrooms in the Grigg Barn has required quite a bit of ground work for the plumbers and electricians. We rushed to get most of that work completed before Thanksgiving. 

New water line to the Grigg Barn

Chuck, Todd, and Matt


A procession of earth movers

New power line to the leveled pads












Preparing for pipes


New sewer system coming to life

There are numerous tasks involved in preparing the estate--the grounds in particular--for the oncoming winter weather with its challenges and surprises! Too numerous to mention them all, but here are just a few: Care of the animals with food, water, and shelter is paramount. There are four residences that require constant attention to the heating systems, and a number of places that require supplemental heat sources to prevent water pipes from freezing. Back-up generators are maintained and monitored constantly.  Farm equipment must be kept in good operating order, ready for bad weather and snow removal. Keeping the main house, guest cottage, and outdoor fireplace well-stocked with firewood seems never-ending. With no fish to sustain for this winter, we drained the small fish pond and plan to restock a fresh crew next spring. A protective cover is being custom-made.


We have enlisted Stefanie Newman-- http://artrestorationinva.blogspot.com/ --an artist who specializes in restoration work (see earlier post), to restore the beautiful painting that hangs over the fireplace in the library in the Estate House. Early last week, Stephen painstakingly removed the painting from the larger frame to deliver it to Stefanie so she can begin her magic!

Stefanie testing the canvas



















Have Painting--Will Travel!


The early winter sky produces some magnificent sunsets that enhance the already 
wonderful views here at Ramsay. We leave you with these three.




Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Winter comes to Ramsay ahead of schedule


Early sunrise overtaking the Grigg Barn

The north portico of the main house on a cold day
Local meteorologists are calling our current weather pattern a "mid-winter" type, very unusual for our area at this time of year.  At the end of last week, the arctic weather pattern behind the curve of the Jet Stream--which has made national news headlines because of its severity in the mid west last week--slid south and our weather became cold and rainy over the weekend and even colder, but clear and windy today.  At noon today, our phones' weather apps showed the temperature to be 29 degrees with a "real feel," given the strong winds, of 13 degrees.  The following picture is of a little icy stalagmite that has grown up in the grass underneath the spout of the hydrant at the barn where there was a little drip.

 Mushroom?  Plastic pipe?  Nope.  A frozen water drip!
This morning, the horses stood like statues in front of the barn, soaking up some sun and warmth.


In our earlier post, we included some photos from the early phase of the latest project at Ramsay--developing  two new level turf "pads" just west of the Grigg barn. The first pad is being constructed immediately west of the barn inside the fence, and the other one just to the west outside the barnyard fence. At this point, the first pad is just about complete, and the remaining one is ready for topsoil, seed, and straw matting.

Construction of the pads included installing a drain system for them both so that water won't collect on their surfaces.



The lower of the two pads adjacent to the barn has been completed and grass has been sown and covered with straw matting to protect it through the winter.  On dry days with the temperature above freezing, Stephen is managing sprinklers on this and other newly sown areas.


Mike's fence-building crew was here early last week replacing the row of fence that was removed to accommodate the new barnyard pad.  It took two tractors, Mike's with a post hole digger and the Ramsay one adding weight with its bucket, to get the new posts into the heavily compacted ground.


Another phase of this project will involve installing a new restroom area in the south wing of the Grigg Barn. This development will call for a new drain field which requires the expertise of a licensed  technician from the Albemarle County Health Department who came out recently to obtain soil samples from the designated area.  He initially tried taking a core sample with a hand auger, but determined that a larger sample would be needed, resulting in what looked like a burial site!


Hand auger yields small core samples from 3-4'



Track hoe makes quick work of it.



"Ah, that's what I needed to see!"

In anticipation of the heavy rains which were forecast for later in the day, Stephen spent most of Sunday morning this week spreading plastic over the newly excavated and leveled second pad. Today's winds had begun to disturb the arrangement of plastic, but it had done its job, as the soil remains where it should be rather than having washed away despite steady and at times, heavy rain late Sunday and all day yesterday.

Plastic covered upper pad with cinder block and  rolls of matting as weights
Other, smaller projects were underway in various places on the farm.  Art restoration and conservation expert, Stefanie Newman, came to inspect the painting above the library fireplace in the main house.  She examined some sample areas of the painting in order to assess how much work needed to be done and what it would entail.  Stephanie cleaned another painting from the collection in the main house this past summer and did a fantastic job.


The chickens seem to be doing pretty well in the cold weather.  In these sub-freezing temps, Stephen checks their water supply several times a day and often has to add hot water to the water fount. One of "the girls" regularly flutters up onto the top of the coop when he is leaving their area, apparently just checking to make sure she doesn't miss anything.


Connie was here last week continuing her work cleaning borders and pots and replacing the remaining decorative plants with ones which will be more cold tolerant.

Large urn in the ellipse on the north lawn
As usual, Sherry has been busy cleaning, doing laundry, ironing, and other maintenance tasks she does so well in all the residences.

Before the cold snap and wind, there were a few remaining colorful leaves on the maples last week:

Young maple on the south lawn


Afternoon with Chiswell estate in view
The end of a busy day at the farm.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

Another beautiful Fall unfolds at Ramsay

Humpback Mountain from the south lawn
A radiant oak tree on the south lawn 
Main driveway and estate house
Lots of leaves are gone and fields are beginning to fade a bit
Despite the cooler weather and the end of some of the major projects undertaken during the spring and summer months, there's still a lot going on at Ramsay.  Here are some pictures of some of the activities underway, as well as a few featuring some of the fall color on the farm.  Even though we see it every year, it's still always surprisingly beautiful.

We have had to say goodbye to two of our excellent part time workers who did so much to help maintain the property over the summer.  Richard, who just completed his second summer with us, has found full time work at the Charlottesville Regional Airport and left for orientation in Philadelphia last week.  In addition to doing many tasks here on his own, he provided invaluable assistance to Geo and Kevin with landscaping and carpentry work.  Geo's last regular day was last week also, and he will be on call for special assignments while conducting IT-related contract work in the area.  Many of the jobs Richard and Geo did so well during the summer won't need to be done now that the weather is changing and much of the landscaping will not require as much work, but we will miss their presence here at the farm nonetheless. We are genuinely grateful for their contributions to the work here at Ramsay and wish them all the best!

Connie continues to work--and work her gardening magic!--all around the estate, including some decorating for fall in addition to the fall cleanup of the many flower beds and planters.

Connie's fall decor on the gate posts at the main entrance
Connie has "put to bed" many of the borders and other areas where
fading annuals and perennials lived, which had flourished over the summer

Last weekend, Oscar and his painting crew primed and finished putting the first coat of paint on the picket fence around the vegetable garden.




Also last week, with direction and a quick sketch from Stephen, Kevin built a new storage rack to house the firewood at the outdoor fireplace, again using many materials already on site from previous projects. Richard assisted Kevin at the start, and Stephen helped with finishing.  The result looks great and will enable guests to keep their evening fires going longer if they wish without needing a re-supply, and now the wood will have some shelter from rain as well.




Toward the end of last week, Clay and Josh were here dismantling the rail fence on the west side of the Grigg Barn in preparation for the beginning of a new, major project at that site.



Once the fence was removed, they began buildinga new patio along the west wall of the barn. The patio is being constructed with dry-laid, re-purposed brick formerly part of the sidewalks on the east lawn of the main house and around the parterre garden.  As of this evening, Josh was almost done with the brick-laying.


























Today, two additional crews arrived on site to begin work on the new barn yard terraces.  The excavators were here early to start removing the sod and re-grading the lawn just west of barn to make two level terraces linked with a graded slope.  As they were getting underway, the tree-moving crew from Grelen Nursery arrived to relocate the small maple tree which had been planted near the barn last year year.

J. C. Arnold crew begins excavation and grading work
The "tree whisperers" from Grelen...



As the light was fading around 4:30, we took these pictures of the day's work. One can see the new lower terrace mostly graded adjacent to the Grigg Barn and the upper terrace beginning to take shape.




There were guests here for the weekend in the Carriage House, so Stephen wore his "Innkeeper" hat over the weekend and Sherry did laundry and housekeeping today in several of the residences to restore everything to its usual apple-pie order. Ramsay hosted 26 guests in the month of October!

I took my first walk by myself outside today, as my broken knee and the one with all the torn ligaments is improving weekly, thank goodness!  I couldn't resist taking these pictures of one of the beautiful maple trees along the main driveway.



With Daylight Savings Time  ending this past weekend, the mornings are light earlier, which is nice for all of us who get an early start, but the evenings seem to come on so quickly, with the light fading noticeably by 4:30 or 5 PM.  The Blue Ridge mountains in the picture here have a beautiful purple hue in the early morning light.