The Outbuildings

There are four outbuildings along with a cool down shed on Christian's farm, and several were in desperate need of roof repairs when he bought this farm. We immediately re-roofed the large horse barn ourselves, tarped the stone smoke house roof, and recently hired roofers for the garage barn. This building will have a Canadian "Ideal Pocket Ribbed Roof" ($2.35 sq. ft.) with Titanium Underlayment on plywood, lasting 50 yrs.

First several rafters and fascia boards will be replaced. Later some wall boards will be repaired as well. The proportions and roof pitch of this structure seem just right to me.

Finished. The roof took one day for Christian, Alex and Bill to install with an insulated ridge cap.

  

The small animal barn roof was missing a cupola from the 18th century part and we added one to the newer horse stalls connected to it.

Below are the horse barn roof we replaced with a metal roof after removing the old plywood and asphalt one, and a team of 10 men re-roofing the garage barn with repaired plywood and high definition asphalt shingles.

Finished...

Polo Match June 9

The Hunterdon Polo Classic this June 9th in Pittstown NJ, will again donate funds to the Toshiko Takaezu Studio Project where Bill fires his clay work. My favorite parts of this event are the prepared field the size of ten football fields bordered by farm lands, the gorgeous horses & hounds besides the charitable nature of this event. Tickets are $35.

Christian's farm can keep seven horses in two barns where a previous owner bred stallions. What a marvelous woman she must be for what he has inherited. (Photo credits: Russel G. Kowal and the Hunterdon Polo Classic facebook)

 

 

Suiting Up

Living on a farm one hour from NYC means you can get there to be fitted for a new suit in one day and back. Leif went to a custom made suit shop on Madison Ave. this weekend for a fitting and a suit to wear to this summer's weddings. He's ordering Charles Tyrwhitt shirts to go with it and following his older brother Alex's advice.

Leif also commutes in to NYC some weekends for specialty courses in physical therapy, as a doctor in the field. He is certified to practice the Norwegian physical therapy "Red Cord" system and has his own equipment in the big barn at the farm.

Buying Bees

This Spring, Christian is buying more honey bees for the lower fields near his stream. He will buy a nuc, which is 4-6 frames of honey bees ready for the new hive.

Recently, New Jersey nearly passed new laws restricting 5 acre land owners and less to only two hives, which met with terrific disapproval from hobbyist and professional beekeepers. The bee mite and colony collapse disasters challenging honey bees survival and all the good they do pollinating has challenged this critical NJ's state insect and our affected crops (tomatoes, blueberries, cranberries, fruits & vegetables etc.). Many enthusiasts have been inspired to help save them after a loss of 10 million hives and near extinction of wild bees in some areas. Hopefully new guidelines rather than costly regulations will allow all existing hives in NJ to continue as in Washington DC where 4 hives are allowed on a quarter of an acre.

We kept honey bees for many years at our house, and now it is fun to pass our equipment on to the boys. Christian uses the tack room in the big barn to store his beekeeping equipment.

A New Barn Roof

The garage barn at this farm is as old as the house; 1780. I believe the house and barn were originally built here because it is a terrific location for water. Christian chose pewter gray high definition shingles which were installed after many plywood repairs were done and a fascia board was added to one side. The entire job was done in a day thanks to A. Damiano & Sons; a fourth generation roofing company whose work is the best! Next is new gutters and then paint.

Both Christian and Leif store their cars here while the third old bay has a table saw and lumber. The left addition is a vintage workshop.

Garden Seats And Tables

Finally the weather is warming enough to open up seasonal rooms and get furniture in place. Bill's garden seats and tables are used all over our houses as well as outside, so enjoying his purposeful art more, is great fun. The library doors here are kept closed in cold weather except when it is being used and seems more of a seasonal room. These ceramic garden seats and table will soon be out on the back deck in sunshine.

Creating A Built-In Mirror

This dressing room needed a large mirror and building one into the space seemed best for a less cluttered room and custom look. Since the ceilings are low here, we built it to the ceiling which makes the room look larger. The cost was about $200 for materials and took part of a weekend to build the frame. It is made of clear pine; 1" X 3", with a 1/2" bead on the inner edge; routed behind for the mirror fit. The joints are only mitered across the bead while top and bottom frame pieces extend the full width. All frame pieces were primed and painted before installing them around the mirror in place.

The other sides of the room have a built-in window seat and storage closets; half of which are cedar. There are two heat sources; a hot air duct and Runtal cast iron Swiss floor radiator which will make this a warm place to dress. The bathroom has a heated floor with it's own thermostat insuring a cozy space as well.