Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Ramsay is bustling with activity on jobs large and small!

Kevin is closing in on the last of the 70 shutters from the main house that he had to rework, and in many cases, rebuild.  It is truly amazing the damage that happens to wood exposed to weather, even when it's encased in several layers of paint.  He has been getting this work done while Bobby and his crew continue the restoration work on the siding and trim.

Cleaning and re-assembling a shutter with custom millwork.

Kevin re-assembles the "puzzle" of a
 louvered shutter--one of 70.

Puzzle completed and ready for hardware and paint.

Stephen has been busy coordinating supplies for all the projects, supervising work schedules, and delegating jobs to be done by the farm's part-time help. Yesterday, he picked up some of the custom millwork from the woodworker in White Hall--some 5/8" trim mold that encases the dentil block molding on the soffits of the main house.

On Monday, he delivered all the hinges and hardware from the shutters on the main house to a company in Waynesboro. They will strip all the layers of paint from them and apply a powder coated new finish. This process has proved much more cost effective than having this work done on-site--which we had attempted--and the finished product is little short of amazing! See below:

Old shutter hinges with decades of rust and 3-4 layers of paint.

Rusted hinge and "frozen" hinge pin. (before)

Above hinge after sand-blasting & electrostatic-ally powder-coated!

Bobby's carpentry crew is nearing completion of the monumental task of repairing and restoring the exterior of the main estate house...

Chris and Bobby hard at work.

... and John's painting crew has been working every day--following Bobby's carpentry repairs-- scraping, sanding, and priming the siding and trim on the main house.

The bluestone for the surround of the fishpond arrived recently and this past week the stonemasons laid the new bluestone and  mortared the joints for a beautiful finished result.

Grinding the surface of the concrete apron surrounding the
fishpond, blowing dust away, in preparation for laying
the new bluestone.

Applying mortar prior to laying bluestone.

Beautiful!

We had some light rain daily for several days which was welcome because recent weeks had been so dry.  On the "misting" days, Bobby's crew and Kevin worked through the falling dampness, but they missed a day or two when the rain was falling in a more determined and soaking way.  Geo continued with his work, devising a temporary but effective roof for the Gator.

The Gator "convertible."

Trimming the tall hedges along Farm Lane and around the Carriage House garden has always been a challenge, but Geo solved the problem this week by creating a cantilevered platform on the side of the Gator so he could stand on it to trim the top of the hedges.

Connie was here and has done a lot of cleaning up, weeding, trimming, and mulching in all the garden areas.  Today she reached the greenhouse herb garden which has thrived in the sun and in the recent rain.  The marigolds in the tub below the bird bath will soon be replaced, but all the herbs are healthy and beautiful.  It's hard to believe all these beautiful plants--shrubs, really, started out in 4-inch plastic pots from Milmont three months ago!

L-R:  Lemon balm, dill, variegated sage, "Aristotle" basil.

The mowing crew has been operating on an "on call" basis the last few weeks as we have had so little rain  that there was nothing for them to cut.  After running sprinklers for days and then receiving some showers last week, we summoned them last Friday to work their grooming magic on all 8 acres of manicured lawns here at Ramsay!

Tripod sprinkler on the east lawn.

Geo and Stephen incinerated the "burn pile" in the bottom alongside Stockton Creek on Tuesday because there was no wind and a light rain was falling and predicted to fall throughout the day.  The pile had grown to a huge heap of cuttings, tree limbs, leaves and sticks from the lawns, and other material from gardens, lawns and walkways.  The burn was uneventful but effective, and is now extinguished.

There have been guests in the Guest Cottage both weekends and into this week, with guests also in the Carriage House 2 weekends ago.  Everyone was most complimentary of the amenities here and took advantage of farm tours provided by Stephen.  Sherry has done her usual excellent job of laundering linens and cleaning the properties, and Stephen has been on site and on-call as innkeeper and tour guide.

The guests who are here this week reminded us how different our perspectives can be at times.  I had mentioned that it was too bad that the weather was rainy and foggy while they are here, since it meant they wouldn't see the beautiful views around the farm. But Stephen said they are from Texas where the daily average temperature now is over 100 degrees, and they said they haven't had rain in so long that their water is rationed.  So they were very happy to be here while it was raining and cooler, and now today, they've been here while the views are beautiful and clear.

The garden is doing well.  Some of the Bibb lettuce is still going strong, but some has been pulled out and discarded as it had bolted.  The tomatoes are finally ripening, and we have several colors--a beautiful golden yellow one with red streaks, dark purple ones, and pale red/orange ones.  I can attest to the deliciousness of the dark purple cherry tomatoes in a salad with the Bibb lettuce and some of the basil from the garden.  Well worth the effort to plant, care for, and harvest.

Heirloom tomatoes.

Beautiful basil and some peppers.

The Swiss Chard is rallying, perhaps with the shorter days and some cooler nights, and the cucumbers persist in producing several each week.  The green beans are really happy, and are growing faster than I can pick them.

All the animals seem healthy and happy.  The chickens look forward to their feedings each day and, in return, provide the guests and us with fresh eggs--a dozen every three days.  We haven't had to buy eggs for the breakfasts for the rentals now for months!

Today was a beautiful day after the several days of rain and low-lying clouds on the mountains.  There was less humidity, so the mountains looked clear and beautiful, with shadows on them from the clouds breezing by overhead.  Donny and Wayne were here earlier in the day cutting hay, so the fields are beautiful and fragrant.  Everyone worked full days today to catch up on jobs that had been delayed by weather, and everything looks tidy and "Bristol trim."

Looking north from the small "in-between" west field,
 toward Afton Mountain.

Looking south across the southwest field.

Looking northwest, Ridgeley fence line among the trees.

Looking northeast from the driveway of the Farm House.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Yes, we are still here at Ramsay and all the aspects of work in progress at the farm are going well. After a busy week at the time of our last post, last weekend was relatively quiet in terms of projects, but there were guests on site who enjoyed the amenities and the pleasant weather.

South lawn, horse shoe pits--looking toward Wintergreen

We were sorry to have to say goodbye to our faithful farm hand, Kyle, as of July 25.  His baseball team--"Albemarle Post 74" of the American Legion league--was undefeated over the summer, and they went on to the state playoffs last week which were held in northern Virginia. We see in today's Charlottesville newspaper that they won the state championship yesterday, so Yay Kyle, and congratulations!  Kyle is going on to college at the end of this month, so won't be available to work at Ramsay in the immediate future.  We hope he will come back during breaks from school, as we will miss his diligence and his excellent work.

This is Kyle at bat during a local game, pic taken by
Stephen who was in the stands.

Albemarle Post 74 team, Virginia State Champions! I found this pic on the
American Legion site, and it can't be enlarged without losing the focus.
We *think* that is Kyle, front row, right end.

Kyle can be credited with keeping the new trees along the main driveway alive and well, as he spent a major portion of each day watering them.  The already sizable trees were dug up out of season, with millions of their roots being cut, transported here from a different climate zone over hundreds of miles of highway, and planted during weather that was already hot and dry.  They have survived remarkably well, thanks to the daily ministrations of Ramsay workers, and will undoubtedly benefit from the dormant season here, which will begin within a few months.

To pick up some of the work Kyle has been doing, Richard, who worked with Kyle last summer here at the farm while all the construction projects were underway, has returned to work parts of three days a week.  He and Geo will continue on the daily maintenance routines plus special projects as assigned.

Bobby's crew has  made wonderful progress on their repair and restoration work on the estate house. John's painting crew came last week and has begun prepping and painting the parts of the outside of the house which Bobby's crew has finished.

Kevin continues his restoration work on the shutters and other items for the estate house, and Stephen coordinates for special milling work that has to be done at various off-site locations for trim work for the windows and the shutters which cannot be replicated on site.

Kevin examines damage to a porch column, uncovered by the painters
 during prep for painting.

Custom millwork for repairing damaged shutters

Connie was here several days last week doing garden maintenance, the mowing team from Piedmont Landscaping was here on Wednesday and completed their weekly assault with mowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers, leaving everything looking like a green carpet, and Sherry was here to clean in the estate house as well as the rental properties, which had to be ready for guests this weekend.  There were several equipment repairs that had to be made, so Stephen, Kevin and Geo got everything running again.

The stonemasons completed the brick walkway from the fish pond to the south lawn, and are now awaiting the arrival of some beautiful pieces of bluestone to finish the surround of the pond.

Lovely new brick walkway. Bluestone will be added to top the
concrete edge of the fish pond.

Despite the dry weather over the past month, the parterre garden is looking beautiful, thanks to daily watering and manicuring by Stephen.

Parterre garden

The vegetable garden is mostly thriving, with Stephen and me doing the work that needs to be done.
So far, the stars have been the cucumbers.  We are just starting to harvest green beans, as they were planted late and from seeds, and there are dozens of healthy green tomatoes on vines which are beginning to topple their cages because of their weight, but they are slow turning red.

Blue Lake bush-style green beans, seeds from Southern Exposure

Heavily laden tomato vines

The eggplants were successful in a very modest way.  Two plants produced one reasonably-sized and beautifully colored eggplant apiece, and the two smaller plants made a valiant effort, but have produced only "token" eggplants--we applaud their effort, but believe their days in the garden are numbered.  We fought dusty mildew on the squash and zucchini plants but to no avail.  We have now uprooted them and thrown them out so as not to allow the mildew to spread to any of their neighbors.  Next year, we can try planting the squash closer to the front of the garden where they will get more sun, and running a drip line along the tops of the raised beds rather than using a sprinkler, which should help to prevent mildew.

We've harvested a few bell peppers, and a great deal of Bibb lettuce, which has been extraordinary in salads.  The herbs have also done quite well, especially the basil and oregano.  This month, we can think about any cool weather plants we would like to start for fall and/or winter once the temperatures drop later in September and October.

Bell pepper plants, basil and a tomato plant

Lettuce

The hens are happy and healthy and reliably produce four eggs per day.  We feed them twice a day and make sure they have clean water, clean the coop about every 10 days, and gather the eggs each day, usually in two shifts, as "the girls" apparently rotate through the nesting boxes in shifts--two boxes, four hens.

"The Girls" having breakfast

During a walk this week, I spied a lily growing right in the middle of the low part of the northwest field.  I wonder if it is one of a group which might have been growing around one of the houses at some point and was perhaps dug up while dormant and dropped in the field while landscaping debris was being moved to one of the burn piles.  However it got there, it seems happy and healthy.  To myself, I think of it as an "outlier;" a point in a data set or map that is way off the trend grid.  In the case of the hay field, most of the data points would be grass, clover, poison ivy, Queen Anne's Lace, blackberry bushes, and honeysuckle vines, heavily concentrated in the grass and clover categories.  The "outlier lily" seems more beautiful out there on its own than it would in a crowd of ones like it, I think.

Early last week

Later in the week

Earlier this week the dogs and I discovered what I believe to be black bear scat in the lower part of the north field (thank you, Google images!).  I think that if a bear or bears lived here on the property, our dogs would have discovered it, so I imagine the bear was passing through, browsing on blackberries, and maybe went to the creek for a drink.  So we will be watchful, but not fearful!

On Friday, a cool, rainy weather system arrived in the wee hours of the morning.  Most of the work on the farm was suspended for the day because of the rain.  This weekend Stephen has been the innkeeper for the rental properties, as well as putting in hours of office work.  The forecast for this coming week indicates more rain for our region, scattered in nature, but a few very nice days as well.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

This past week has been hot and mostly dry, so Stephen has been moving sprinklers around on the lawns trying to keep the grass alive, and Kyle has been continuing the daily watering of the driveway trees.  Connie has put in several days maintaining and augmenting garden plantings.  There have been several weather alerts for thunderstorms in our area, but we have seen and heard several storms move around our particular niche of the geography, either just on the other side of the ridge to the north or to the south of the property.  Stockton Creek is as low as I have seen it--all it takes to cross it at the moment is one step on a stone in the middle, or perhaps a little hop across; a sure sign that it's been a while since we had any substantial rain.

The stonemasons have completed re-grading and replacing the cobblestones around the fish pond, and this week have also worked on the brick sidewalk that leads away from the fish pond and into the south lawn.

Bobby and his crew continue their excellent restoration work on the siding and trim work of the Estate House.  Stephen has coordinated with several area wood workers to have special trim milled or pieces made in order to replace pieces that cannot be repaired.

North portico

Kevin is making progress on refinishing the shutters.  Because the old paint is lead-based and needs to be stripped before the shutters can be repaired and re-painted, he needs to wear hazmat equipment to protect himself from inhaling or absorbing any of the debris while removing the old paint.  The extra equipment has made for some really hot days for Kevin over the past two weeks.

Geo has been on site several days since last week, and he and Kyle perform a number of routine maintenance tasks each day.  Their work keeps the lawns clear, the edges neat, and gradually, is creating more cleared space where the woods have encroached over past years.  They have also helped split and stack firewood in preparation for cooler weather and cozy evenings at the hearth of the outdoor fireplace on the north lawn.

Ned and Abby, the couple who were staying in the Carriage House all this week, have been travelling to see local sights from Monticello and downtown Charlottesville to Waynesboro and Staunton, and yesterday, they asked if there was any work they could be doing to help out on the farm!  As there is always a little more to do than there are hands to do it, Stephen quickly accepted their kind offer.  Abby weeded and cleaned up the herb garden in the greenhouse area, while Ted stacked firewood in the wood shed.

Geo had begun stacking, completing the left and back portions,
 then Ned finished by filling the right side.

Stephen mows almost every day with the big tractor and its super-sized mowing deck.  This has kept the front pastures looking lawn-like, as well as providing access to all the fields by creating pathways around all the perimeters.  I noticed these grasses (below) growing along the west edge of the north field last week, and it struck me that all the grass in the fields would probably be this tall if it weren't for Donnie making hay and Stephen mowing around the edges.  It's hard to get a sense of scale in this picture, but I'm guessing, based on my own height, this grass is about 9 feet tall.

The multitude of wild blackberries in the hedges and fence lines on the farm began to be ripe last week, and there are still a number of them "in progress."  They ripened a little later this year than we have seen them ripen in the past, so we are guessing it must be due to some variation in the weather since they last bore fruit.

Some of the trees are producing nuts, preparing for fall.  The walnut tree behind the Farmhouse has clumps of walnuts, some of which are already falling, and in the woods, hickory trees are revealing a healthy crop of nuts.  The Ramsay squirrels will be happy!

A recent morning walk across the creek and around the north field resulted in a few pictures taken from vantage points I hadn't seen before.  No matter which way you look, it's beautiful!

Looking north-northwest

Looking west

Venerable poplar tree, a sentry for the Stockton Creek crossing

July 17, 2014--Happy Birthday to Stephen!

Happy Birthday to Stephen, who, among many other roles, is my husband of 41 years, has been a father for 36 years, and a grandfather for almost 3 years!  As of today, he is no longer married to an older woman (at least until November)!

Grandpa taking Gordon, Melissa, and granddaughter Haley, on a Gator
ride--Haley's first!

It was a beautiful day in central Virginia, with blue skies and scattered clouds making wonderful shadows on the mountains.

I'll post more pictures of this week's work as soon as possible.