Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Saturday was a beautiful day in Greenwood.  The group of visitors who had made arrangements for a tour arrived around 11 AM, and enjoyed seeing the main house first, hearing about the history of the area and particularly of the Ramsay estate.  Before going out to see the garden and the other buildings, we gave them "coffee break" in the dining room, which featured an apple-cinnamon-walnut coffee cake, Skinny Jeans cookies (gluten free, egg free), and Shenandoah Joe's coffee, all from The Green House in Crozet. 

In-house volunteer catering manager, Susan, preparing
coffee break

Coffee setup

Cake and cookies

All the guests, who were in Charlottesville to visit sites for Virginia Historic Garden Week, enjoyed their visit, and were thrilled to have had the opportunity to see such a beautiful home and gardens, and to learn about the local history and significance of the property.  The leader of the group emailed on Monday to say, "the ladies were all delighted and each one made a point throughout the day to personally tell me how much they had loved the morning we shared at Ramsay.  The general consensus was if we did nothing else that day, the day was a success.  I must admit the other houses seemed pale in comparison."

Sunday was an increasingly cloudy day, and by Monday, the skies were overcast and rainy throughout the day.  Stephen did a lot of mowing in the fields on both Sunday and Monday in order to have them cut before the predicted rain arrived today.

Sunday evening view from the Farmhouse deck

Today was eventful for the Main House and the Carriage House, as the carpet company arrived in the morning, followed by the decorators in the early afternoon, despite pouring rain throughout the day.  Workers were on site until after dinner.  Electricians will be returning tomorrow to hang light fixtures, having done some preparatory work this afternoon.  The decorators will return tomorrow with finishing touches.

New carpet in the living room

The chickens are well and lively, and seem to have grown a lot over the past nearly three weeks, but there have been no eggs laid yet.  

Friday, April 25, 2014

Painters and landscapers were here this morning by 7 AM, putting the finishing touches on this week's work, just in time for an afternoon of rain, and even some lightning and thunder.  The timing of the rain was great, as it soaked all the new plantings, and was followed by some late afternoon sun.  Stephen went out to do some driveway maintenance after the rain, and we walked around all the garden areas before dark to make sure nothing had been damaged by the heavy rain.  Everything looked fine, and I took some pictures of some of the little "vignette" areas Patsy and Heather created.  The wide vistas of lawns and mountains here are beautiful, but I do appreciate all the little mini-landscapes within the larger property.

Entry at The Cottage

Next to the sidewalk, The Cottage

Walkway to the Carriage House
 (I call this area the Secret Garden)

The Birdcage and its garden

Next to the door into the Carriage House

This morning, all the hens were quite lively, all enjoying pecking in the grass and gobbling up their feed.  They seem to have become accustomed to all the activity here.  This afternoon while it was still raining, I looked out to check on them, expecting them to be sheltering in their upstairs boudoir, but they were all sitting in the grass looking out, seemingly unperturbed.  Here are a couple of pics from this morning when I had just opened their upstairs door to let them out.  You'll note that Stephen devised a clever way to fasten the door open, with a string which has a washer tied to the end, to we can fasten the door open in the morning and not worry about the wind blowing the door shut and keeping the girls from being able to get into their upstairs room.

So far we have kept the coop within sight of our windows
so we can keep an eye on them.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

This week has been very busy at Ramsay.  We've been blessed with sunny days, still on the cool side, and much work has been done to get the property all dressed up and ready for spring and summer.  Patsy, Heather and Louis, landscapers extraordinaire, have been working steadily on planting new flowers in the borders and planters, weeding and mulching as they go. The urns on the gate posts are brimming with bright blossoms, as are the urns at the parterre garden and the large urn in the ellipse.

 

 

The painters were here yesterday and today, scraping, cleaning and painting the fence along Farm Lane.

The mowing crew was here today, and all the lawn areas are freshly mowed and emerald green.  There are trees blossoming around every corner--truly beautiful.

The Grelen tree-planting crew was on site yesterday, moving one of the trees along the main driveway.

Stephen has been busy helping with landscaping, coordinating all the work underway, keeping all the equipment running, and many other tasks.  

The chickens are adapting well to their new home, having been here now for a week.  They spend more time in the "run" part of the coop rather than inside the upstairs part, having become better accustomed to the noises and traffic here on the farm.  They respond to my voice now, and are often waiting at the door of the coop when I get there to check on their feed and water.

I volunteer at the Crozet Library on Wednesday mornings, and yesterday, I found a wonderful brand new book called "The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Keeping Chickens."  It is very helpful, and complements two books I had ordered a couple of weeks ago on chicken care--one on how to have a beautiful and chicken-friendly garden, and also the "Storey's Guide to Keeping Chickens," both of which arrived in the mail yesterday.  We have no eggs yet, but one of the books says that most hens must be between 20 and 24 weeks of age to begin laying, and these hens are now 21 weeks, so it probably won't be long now.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter weekend was lovely at Ramsay.  There were guests in both the Cottage and the Carriage House, and they are still here until tomorrow.  Tonight, they have built a fire in the outdoor fireplace and are enjoying the beautiful evening outside.  Each day brings new spring blooms--here is the little fruit tree on the south lawn, resplendent in white.

Heather and Louis, part of Patsy's landscaping crew, were on site in the afternoon continuing their tidying, planting, weeding and other preparations for guests coming to Ramsay on Saturday for a tour.

The hens seem to be happy in their new home.  They haven't laid any eggs yet, but they love their food, drink lots of water, and go in and out of their upstairs roosting area off and on throughout the day.  I am moving the coop every day to minimize damage to the farmhouse lawn, and today I cleaned out and replaced the shavings where they were wet and soiled.  As Joel advised, I put "the girls" to bed each night by closing them inside the upper part of the coop, and first thing each morning I let them out.  They like sunny days the best, and seem to be slow getting up on the cool, gray days.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

This week began as do many weeks--cold and rainy, with mostly maintenance activities underway, but then evolved into a whirlwind of spring-related and other activities.  There had been guests in the Cottage for a long weekend, who departed on Monday with many kind words for the beauty of Ramsay and its setting, and the hospitality they received as guests.  Paul, Ramsay's plumber par excellence, came and repaired the shower fixture in the master bath at the Cottage, which had malfunctioned while the guests were here.  On Tuesday, Sherri was on site cleaning the Cottage and the Carriage House, preparing for more guests, who will be spending a long Easter weekend here.

On Wednesday, Ramsay's delightful interior decorators from northern Virginia where here, working in the Main House, the Carriage House, and the Birdcage (formerly known as The Studio).  Stephen and I went to Free Union Grass Farm in the afternoon and brought back four Golden Comet hens for the new mobile coop.  Even though the night was very cold, resulting in frost on the roof of the coop this morning, "the girls" seemed not to mind and were snug in the upstairs part of the coop.  They appear to like the feed from Countryside Organics, and are sipping from their water container, so we think they are settling in.  Joel, from whom the farm bought them, says they are 20 weeks old and will be ready to start laying eggs soon, probably in a week or so.

Today, Thursday, was a very busy one.  Sherri was on site early, continuing to prep the Cottage and the Carriage House for this weekend's guests and doing maintenance cleaning in the Main House.  Soon, a two-man crew from Commonwealth H2O from Charlottesville were here to install a high-tech filtration and acid-neutralizing system to the estate well and water supply.  They will return tomorrow to complete the installation, which will involve repairing and/or replacing some old pipe and will require shutting off the water supply to the estate.

Darin, the representative from Tru-Green Lawn Service, was on-site in the morning, continuing the lawn fertilizer and weed-control program launched last fall.  The lawns show good results from the earlier treatment, as the new grass has come in thick and green.

Piedmont Landscaping arrived mid-day and launched their customary assault on all the grassy areas on the estate except the pastures.  Their efficient workmen clipped all edges and cleared sidewalks and driveways after completing the mowing.  The lawns now look like watered silk!

Later this afternoon, Mike's fencing crew dropped off the supplies to start on the new fence in the southwest pasture next week.

After such a long winter and seeing snowy landscapes for so many weeks, the green we see creeping up the sides of the mountains and springing up in the woods and fields seems almost miraculous.  The new banner photo was taken from the Farmhouse deck yesterday in the late afternoon sun.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

I took this picture in the NW field this afternoon--I believe this is a wild cherry tree.  It's growing right where the spring rises there in the lowest part of the field.  Wild cherry bark and wood are poisonous to animals, and presumably, to people, but its blossoms are certainly beautiful.

On Saturday (yesterday), the Waldingfield Beagles visited Ramsay for an informal, off-season hunt, arriving around 5 PM.  Ari, the huntsman, and his wife, Suzanne, brought the beagles from their farm Ridgelee, in Ivy.  Our friend Page came as a whipper-in, along with her boyfriend, Mike and three other whippers-in.  After gathering in the field just beyond the Grigg barn, everyone set off heading west.

The pack was sent into the woods due west, but didn't find a scent, then they moved to the upper corner of the NW field, and struck rabbit scent in the woods on the north side, and flushing three large deer out of the woods at the same time.  The whippers-in, who are responsible for keeping the pack together, got most of the hounds back out of the woods after they "ran riot," but one was missing, who later turned up on the other side of Ridgely where the pond is.  The pack was brought back to the starting point and returned to their trailer, but again, one hound ran away.  After some light refreshments provided by the huntsman, the hound had still not returned, and I eventually heard her in the woods behind the Sanderson's house, beyond the Guest Cottage, so we retrieved her and the hunt was gone by about 7 PM.

I had not heard from Joel last week about fetching the hens for the new coop, but he emailed on Saturday to say that Wednesday of this coming week would be a good day, so we will make a plan.  We have all the equipment and supplies for them.

The evening light yesterday was lovely, and I took these two pics while I was looking for the missing hound...

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

As the weather warms, activity increases at Ramsay.  Last week, Stephen and I assembled the new chicken coop, which had arrived in the mail, and will be the new home of several Golden Comet hens from Free Union Grass Farm.  On Friday, Joel, one of the owners of Free Union Grass Farm, came to Ramsay for a "chicken consult," and shared lots of wonderful advice, the result of much experience, about keeping chickens.

Susan and Joel with the new chicken coop

Stephen and I went to Augusta Co-op on Saturday and purchased a 3-lb hanging feeder, a water container, cedar shavings for "the girls" to snuggle in, and oyster shell supplement to add to their feed.  In order to get organic feed, I went to Waynesboro on Tuesday and purchased organic feed for laying hens at Countryside Organics (http://www.countrysideorganics.com/).  Today (Wednesday), Stephen and I added a coat of exterior latex paint (white for the trim and "Ramsay Barn Red" for the rest).  We may be able to fetch the hens on Friday, if it's convenient for Joel, otherwise, we'll bring them to their new home next week.

Central Virginia Builders has done great things with the south portico.  Having devised an on-site router table for creating the beaded edge on the wrapping material for the columns, they began installing the custom-milled finish material to the columns today.

Over the weekend, Ramsay's dedicated landscaping crew brought in mulch to start sprucing up the grounds, particularly around the Guest Cottage, in anticipation of guests who will arrive tomorrow for a long weekend.  Patsy added some early blooming plants to create a bit of spring color, and Louis, one of Patsy's helpers who did a lot of the work to prepare for the Farm Dinner in September, distributed this heap of mulch to flower and shrub beds all around the east end of the estate.

Other "Ramsay Team" workers on site over the past few days have included Zeke, from Grelen Nursery, finalizing details for placement of trees along the main driveway, David, the roofer, who is assisting with the roof over the south portico, a technician who repaired wind damage to the satellite TV receiver at the Guest Cottage, and Sherry, who has been spring cleaning in the houses to make sure all are ready for visitors.

Periwinkle and daffodils at the end of the driveway to the Guest Cottage

Thursday, April 3, 2014

The woods on the western edge of Ramsay have several patches of beautiful daffodils blooming.  This morning I saw this bunch on my walk through the area with our dogs, and it made me think of the line about the "crowd of daffodils" from the Wordsworth poem, which follows the picture.

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gaz'd – and gaz'd – but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

William Wordsworth Poems in Two Volumes: Moods of my Mind 7 (1807)

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Aside from enjoying flowers and green grass--Central Virginia Builders were busy all day on the south portico, and David, the roofing specialist, was here to work on the roof of the portico.  Susan and Stephen assembled the new movable chicken coop, pictures to follow tomorrow!