Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Ramsay's trees and hedge rows are showing all the signs of fall, with more color in the leaves and bare tree limbs visible in places.  We have had some cooler than normal nighttime temperatures this week, with the temperature being in the mid-thirties two nights.

Despite the cooler days and nights, we have optimistically planted some cool weather starter plants in the vegetable garden, hoping that they won't be frozen before they can grow up, since we were late getting them into the ground.  I've been limited as to how much walking and standing I can do since my accident last month (well, to me it was an accident...to my horse, I think it was intentional!), and Connie hasn't been able to work here because of a death in her family, so purchasing the plants and deciding how to place them got put off last month.  We have planted the little starters of Russian kale, broccoli and cauliflower I had bought earlier at the farmer's market, and added collards, Brussels sprouts, two varieties of sage, and rosemary.  In past gardens, I've had sage and rosemary winter over, providing some wonderful fresh flavors for holiday roasting and baking, which is what I am hoping for with these new plants.  We also put in ornamental "flowering kale" at the ends of two rows to replace some of the marigolds which had begun to struggle a bit.  Stephen did all the work, while I sat on the garden chair and gave directions!

Other projects underway since our last post have included having Bobby's crew on site to complete installation of downspouts and gutters on the main house--true finishing touches on an almost year-long project.  The results are beautiful as well as functional--the exterior of the main house should protect this treasure for decades to come.

Oscar and several other of John's painting crew have been on site, painting the parts of the guest cottage that have been recently repaired.

Stephen, Geo and Richard have completely cleaned up the staging area which was used to stockpile supplies during all the stone work and carpentry work during the past year.  This week they have enclosed that area with fencing in order to include it in the cow pasture as it had been originally.  They were able to complete the work by using the farm tractor and post hole digging attachment, salvaging and re-purposing some planks from old fencing that has been replaced, and adding new material where needed.  Stephen sowed grass in the area as soon as possible in order to take advantage of the rain we've had over the past week, but has also added water via sprinklers on the dry days.  Today they built and installed a gate to complete the enclosure.  It is designed to match the gate from the farm lane into the barnyard.

Topsoil to amend the soil before planting grass

New posts...the fence begins

All straight and true, awaiting a new gate, with grass seed planted and tucked in

Richard and Geo helping build the new gate

New gate in place

Recently, Stephen has been called twice to deal with wandering cows on the property, not the Ramsay cows, who remain peacefully in their pasture, but cows belonging to someone north of the Ramsay property.  He found the owner and he and Geo and Richard helped get the cows moving in the right direction, so all turned out well.  Last week, Stephen noticed our horses were grazing in the barnyard of the Grigg barn rather than in their big paddock, apparently the result of Toby, the naughty Haflinger, having pushed through a weak spot in the old fencing, no doubt in the interest of finding greener grass.  The others don't push the fences, but they will follow if Toby starts, so here they are enjoying their reward.

The exterminator was here at the end of last week, treating all the residential spaces.  Sherry has been here doing cleaning and laundry in the main house, the Carriage House and the Guest Cottage, as we have had guests in the rentals over the weekends.

Since I've been on the injured list, Stephen has been taking our dogs out each day in place of my usual daily long walks with them.  They discovered one of Donnie's hay wagons sitting in the lower part of the north field near the creek, and must have decided they'd like a ride back home.

Laddie, Obie and Buster

 The lower light in the mornings and evenings is providing some lovely views around the farm.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Early morning light, east lawn

The weather is making up for the earlier lack of rain, having sent along several rainy days and some heavy downpours since our last post.  Today we are having more nice, soaking rain, which will be great for all the garden and lawn areas.  Leaves are falling from the many ash trees around the property, and the hickories, poplars, and maples are all beginning to show their fall colors.

Last week, Kevin and Richard finished the work on the back of the Guest Cottage, removing rotted wood they had discovered at one of the corners and replacing it with new wood.

They also replaced all the posts around the edge of the carriage turnaround at the top of the main driveway, which involved custom cutting all the posts and resetting them once the old ones had been removed.

The well-drilling crew was here several days, attempting to put in a new well in the top of the southwest field.  Despite their best efforts, the water source they eventually found provided a very low flow rate.

Geo was here several days and did a lot of clean-up work as well as splitting firewood for the outdoor fireplace and the fireplaces in the Guest Cottage and the Estate House.

Connie did some maintenance work on the Gator as well as attending to her gardening tasks.

Sherry was on site, preparing the Guest Cottage and the Carriage House for rental this weekend, in addition to cleaning the Estate House.  The Carriage House was rented from Thursday to Sunday by the wife of a world-reknown musician whose niece was being married over the weekend.  Stephen ran into the musician himself at the Brownsville Market on Saturday and had a brief "small world" chat!  A family rented the Guest Cottage for Saturday to today for a fall getaway, and Stephen took them on a Gator tour of the farm, which they loved.  They also got to feed the horses and gather eggs from the chickens, and are planning to come back again.

On Saturday, Ramsay was the site for a meeting of the Waldingfield Beagles.  This is their 130th season, and they have always held their meets at farms and estates in the area.  This was their first meet at Ramsay, and they had a fun outing, as the beagles got to cast for rabbits in all the thicket areas on the west side of the farm, accompanied by their handlers and a few spectators.  Personally, I'm glad they didn't actually catch a rabbit, and it didn't seem disappointing to any of the people with the beagles, as they mostly like hiking around across country and being with the dogs.  As is customary for these meets, we provided refreshments after the hunt, setting up under the east portico of the old barn, since it was misting rain.  Everyone loved being at Ramsay and learning about the history of the farm from their tour guide, Stephen.

Ramsay is in some pretty impressive company.  "Tea Time" is Rita Mae Brown's farm, and the
other estates are well-known in the area as well as nationally.

Arriving at Ramsay, ready to hunt.

Eager beagles!

Gathering the pack.

The hunt moves out!

Post-hunt "tea time."

We're expecting more rain this week, probably through Wednesday.  More guests will be arriving for the rental properties, but no further special events are planned.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The estate house exterior painting is complete.

A definite look of fall in the air!

First of all, the Ramsay Farm blogger (Susan) wishes to offer apologies for having allowed this many days to elapse without a post!  I was incapacitated by a serious fall from my horse Friday a week ago, and am now recovering, albeit slowly.  I got to have my first ever ride in a rescue squad vehicle, and spent most of that Friday in the ER at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, but am now feeling more myself.  Stephen has taken all the photos for this post, and has done an admirable job of supervising and assisting with all the work on the farm as well as helping me overcome the lingering mobility issues caused by my accident.

The focus of much of the work these past couple of weeks has been the Guest Cottage.  Kevin and Richard have successfully completed re-constructing the screened in porch on the back of the Cottage.  The new construction will last longer than the original, as measures were taken to prevent the accumulation of moisture between the frame of the porch and the concrete upon which it sits. Kevin did a lot of custom work on the frame of the porch, re-creating the arches as well as many other details.

Another aspect of rejuvenating the screened porch was having all the furniture cleaned, including an on-site visit from an upholstery specialist, who cleaned all the cushions for the chairs.

Also at the Cottage, the hardwood floors have been sanded and refinished.

While completing the work on the screen porch, Kevin discovered that the corner at the east end of the original cottage had sustained major water damage underneath the siding over the course of many years. He and Richard uncovered the damage, cleared out the rotted wood, and have replaced all of it with new.

Geo, Connie and Sherry have been on site, each carrying on with their assigned tasks.  Richard has spent much of his time helping Kevin, but has also assisted Geo in clean up tasks and with watering.

Our loyal Grounds Crew!

Connie, Ramsay's yellow-jacket magnet, was working in the border around the Studio last week and saw and then heard yellow jackets in the wall.  She reported to Stephen who called the exterminators. They found that a huge nest had been constructed in the wall of the studio just above the arched window in the bathroom.  In order to provide access to the nest for the Orkin tech, and remove the damaged sheet rock, Kevin had to remove some of the trim and a piece of the sheet rock from the inside, which has now been repaired.  And no more yellow jackets!

Despite many overcast days over the past two weeks, we have not received any substantial rain. This whole area immediately east of the mountains is extremely dry. The parterre garden is doing quite well, however, due to routine weeding, edging, mowing and manual watering via the irrigation system, but other areas of lawn and the pastures are beginning to show the signs of drought.

Donnie and Wayne were on the farm making hay several days last week, and all the fields have now been mowed, raked and baled.

There have been guests in the Carriage House for several weekends past, and we just had our second couple spend their Honeymoon with us! The Guest Cottage is nearly ready to be rented again with a new screened  porch, beautiful shiny floors, and fresh paint on all the exterior trim.

We're starting to see a bit of fall color in the maples, especially the ones which were moved from the main driveway to Cottage Lane in the spring.  Early mornings and evenings are looking particularly autumnal, with lower light and more mist.

Montie in a morning fog.

Little Maple fireballs transplanted from the main driveway last spring.

Sunrise over the barn.

For more photos of Ramsay, please visit our Photo Gallery (see right side menu).