Mulch Project Completed! I spread the last load of mulch this fine Sunday morning. In total I spread 17 yards of mulch. All boxwoods and a few select annual beds were covered. To mulch every annual bed and every boxwood properly would have required at least 45 yards. The other 30 yards can wait until next fall  

Garage Entry Door. Our new garage/mudroom entry door – along with it’s complete jamb – have been leaning against the mudroom wall for four weeks. I’ve been so busy with other projects that it took until this morning for me to find both the time and inclination to install it

The new door replaces the 6’6” tall door and transom pictured at right. The transom is a period colonial style – with its width equal to the width of the door. I like this door style. In fact, when our mudroom was built into this section of the garage during the summer, I chose two interior doors that match this original exterior door exactly. But for the new mudroom entry door, I wanted to make a bigger and bolder statement while sticking with the home’s Colonial Williamsburg style.

When shopping for the entry door I tried very hard to find a local supplier that could provide a style that fit my vision. I didn’t have a specific door in mind, but I had a specific “feeling” that I wanted the door to evoke and my local searched turned up nothing of the sort. So after an exhaustive internet search – conducted over two to three evenings – I found a style of door that seemed ideal. I ordered the custom millwork and seven weeks later it arrived by truck. The installed door is pictured at right, leveled and shimmed. The door is 8’ tall and made from solid brazilian walnut. This wood is absolutely beautiful. And heavy. And, oh yes, did I mention it was heavy? The door and jamb as shipped weighed in at 445 pounds! Installing the door proved to be a challenge as the opening was not tall enough due to the placement of a steel header to support the brickwork above the door. I had to remove the bottom of the new door jamb, cut 1 2/16” off the bottom of each jamb side. Once those cuts were made, I was able to level, shim and secure the jamb. Then I cut 1 1/16” off the bottom of the new door (gasp!) so I could ensure a full swing out into the mudroom now and – in the future – when I install 3/4” flooring.  Mounting this door on its hinges was a challenge – my best guestimate put the door slab at about 180 hernia inducing pounds. Once the hinge pins were set I took the bottom of the door jamb removed earlier and – after some creative jigsaw notching – re-installed it into the jamb. I’ve never installed a door, but I was pleased that my prior woodworking experience helped me solve every problem I encountered.

I’ll make my custom trimwork next weekend, to exactly match the home’s trim style – used universally on all windows and doors. Once the finish work is complete I’ll post an updated photo.

Machine Shed to Horse Stall Conversion. I managed to cram nearly all of the gathered farm flotsam and jetsam into a single 24’ container. My 3720 tractor was indispensible, turning a two day project into a single day of hauling and compacting. The 24’ x 14’ machine shed is empty and next week I’ll level the footing. Hopefully the stalls will arrive next week so I can mark this project completed!

Mulch. I spent the better part of Friday weed trimming and leaf blowing our south side lawn and landscaping. It was a big job even with an array of two stroke toys at my disposal. Our giant Oak Tree pictured at right hangs on to most of its leaves throughout the winter, but a goodly amount of its leaves were clogging the boxwoods lining the circular drive. Today I’ll be adding mulch to this area. Then I’ll have only the north side lawn and landscaping remaining.  

Machine Shed to Horse Stall conversion. I almost finished clearing out the debris from the machine shed today. The container is 24’ long – not 34’ as stated earlier – and it’s nearly full. I have more areas with more debris, so at this point I believe I’ll still need a second container – even if I manage to cram lots of small debris into voids inside this first container. Since doing that will take too much time – I’ve decided to have Franklin Container pick up this container and drop off a second for the remaining junk.

Indoor Arena Irrigation. I’ve received the mini sprinklers from Berry Hill Irrigation and will install them this weekend. I’m excited to learn how well they work for my particular application!

This is more for my benefit than anyone else’s, so forgive my “out loud” thoughts on current active farm projects and those set to begin by this weekend.

Mulch. Four more half-day work sessions oughta do it. It’s going more slowly than I wanted, due in large part to the amount of trimming and leaf blowing required to prep the beds. To be honest the mulch goes in mighty fast with a John Deere 3720 tractor loader and a bow rake – it’s the prep time that is so labor intensive.

Barn Aisle. I’m almost finished setting in 6×6 posts horizontally underneath all stall doors and walls in preparation for barn aisle concrete pavers. I’ve been “almost finished” for two months now – this has been a project I’ve often set aside for more entertaining jobs. Out of ten stalls I’ve got two and one half remaining so it’s time to tie up this project. I hope to be finished by the end of next week. The concrete pavers will have to wait until January.

Indoor Arena Irrigation. Dry indoor arena footing is dusty – especially now that the 8×8’ arena window panels have been closed for the season and ventilation is no longer abundant. I’ve repaired the PVC piping for the three rows of ceiling mounted inverted sprinklers, and have repaired leaking sprinkler heads, and have now determined that the sprinkler heads are too high-flow for the available water pressure. Only one row at a time can be activated – turn on more than one and the sprinkler heads just stream down creating a puddle in my leveled footing – grrrr. This problem was addressed by the original builder with the installation of a complicated electronically controlled irrigation system that would open up only one row at a time. Row one would run at 1am, row two at 2am and so on. Overkill, yes, and evidence suggests it created more problems than it solved. So….. I’ve ordered new micro sprinkler heads commonly used for irrigating strawberry crops and should receive them early next week. After replacing the eighteen existing sprinklers with the new low-flow heads I hope to be able to run all three rows simultaneously. I’ll also be adjusting the grade of the truss mounted pipelines and installing a drain line to prevent water from pooling and freezing in the overhead pipes. I hope to be completed this project by the end of next week, in time for consistently colder weather.

Machine Shed to Horse Stall conversion. Tucked away to the left of our stable barn is a 32’ x 14’ run-in style two bay machine shed. Since May it has served as a debris storage barn – all farm and construction plastic/metal debris has been gathered here as I’ve cleaned outbuildings and consolidated the previous owner’s “dump piles” – piles that were strewn throughout the farm proper. Tomorrow Franklin Container delivers a 34’ long container and I hope to have every piece of debris crammed inside that container by day’s end. Once the shed is emptied of its contents, I await the delivery of two modular 12’x12’ horse stalls from NorthernTool.com next week. I’ll be setting up these two stalls inside the shed and then two of our existing horses will be relocating there. This will open up a stall in the main barn for our new horse – due to arrive by the end of the month – and leave four stalls available for board horses due to arrive shortly. It’s a temporary, seasonal solution that will be attractive and functional. 

Fence project. Our contractors were scheduled to begin work two months ago but haven’t yet broken ground due to a 6’ t-post shortage on the east coast. Now that the five hundred or so t-posts have been received, delivered to the local body shop and then enameled white, the contractors are scheduled to begin work on Saturday. Hopefully, by the end of December, one six acre pasture will be fully converted to six +/– 1 acre paddocks. I can’t wait!

Adding mulch in our boxwood and annual beds is a task I’ve been looking forward to starting for some time now. We’re fortunate in Franklin County to have so many builder and landscape material vendors nearby – so just one call to Hilltop Mulch in Rocky Mount was all it took to have 17 yards of mulch delivered via dump truck by the end of the day. Will a grand total of one hundred fifty three cubic feet of mulch be enough to get the job done? Hell, no! I’m approximately half way ‘round the house and I’m sure I’ll run out before I’ve come full circle. Once I’ve reduced my mountain of mulch into a molehill I’ll know how much more to order. I’ll be rationing the mulch to make sure I won’t need more than a second dump truck load. Wish me luck!

And back to juggling various farm projects! But first, an update on the progress of my annual ryegrass on the hilltop of our north pasture. As you can see from the enlarge-able photo at right, I can now call mark this project Completed – at least until Springtime! The annual ryegrass has really taken hold of what was formerly +/– 80 tons of indoor arena dirt footing. If you scroll the page down two blog entries you can see what the hill looked like on October 28th and then later on November 9th. I think the most dramatic change ocurred once the weather cooled. With the recent soaking rain, I expect even more grass to emerge.

Nobody driving along Green Level Road may notice that the “big house on the hill” has a brilliant green pasture edge where there once was red dirt. But I take notice of it daily as I drive home – and I’m rather proud of my modest accomplishment

on the gnoll behind our indoor riding arena! Haha. This may not be an actual Ent from Middle Earth, but you have to hand it to this old grizzled tree. Despite it’s advanced age and brutal eastern exposure, it simply refuses to go quickly into that good night. I intend on leaving him there long after that good night; for taking him down would….. be…. too hasty

The gnoll behind our indoor arena rises at least 40’ before leveling off and sports a half acre of level land. My understanding is that the original owner planned some sort of round ring for this area but then changed his mind. I have begun evolving in my mind’s eye an interesting use for this land. More on that later! Until then, the gnoll remains the sole stomping grounds of Treebeard, may he yet live a long and storied life.

I can scarcely believe it, but I’ve managed to get some annual ryegrass established on the top of our north pasture! Establishing grass of any sort has become for me a very enjoyable process of learning. It’s certainly not a matter of throwing some grass seed down and hoping for the best. I’ve still got much to learn, but already I’m beginning to get a grasp on the importance of: aerating or working up heavily compacted soil so grass roots can establish themselves, irrigating heavily but sensibly so as not to pond water or erode away topsoil, and patience!

The bald spot visible in the photo is a result of insufficient watering. It was an experiment of mine; I deliberately watered that patch a few times weekly. The upper section I very nearly drowned in water, trying to push the watering envelope without ponding the water or creating rivulets. The lower section received half as much water. Using this section of pasture as a guinea pig may not have resulted in a consistent swath of growth, but I now know how to continue watering the hilltop to maximize growth through November!

The foliage on these dogwood trees are a wee bit past their prime though they are still quite stunning behind the yellow tones of the pergola. Their deep red leaves float in front of background golds, greens and blues as if trying to represent nearly every color in the visible spectrum. The lawn is stressed due to the lack of precipitation these past two weeks – I hope we can get a good amount of rain before the grasses go dormant for the winter!

This is the east side of our home, a side no one really enjoys except for myself while I’m mowing our many acred lawn, or when I’m backing up a tractor to gather tools for the next Big Project. Today while on a walk I noticed that the virginia creeper traversing the wall – which I very nearly removed during the summer – had transformed its green tendrils into the most delightful burgundy color. After seeing this display I’ll be thinking of ways to foster a stand of virginia creeper on the north side of our home for next season.