Bundoran Farm – A Beautiful and Bountiful Landscape

Hello all! I hope that this post finds everyone well and that you are staying cool through this very hot spell! The heat index today will be about 110 degrees, so the summer heat is certainly on. The rains have been plentiful this year at Bundoran Farm, providing good conditions for the pastures and orchards. [...]

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards – DAY 34: one of those days…all starts and no finishes

Today was a bit of a strange and frustrating day…in that we worked on a large number of disparate phases and were not able to finish any of them.  the eaves are almost done but because we had plumbing inspections, etc–some of the foundation is not backfilled so we were unable to get our machine [...]

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards – DAY 23: lower frame finished–Christmas clean up

Yesterday we completed all the framing up to the upper beam….and after I left the crew spent the afternoon cleaning up the site for the Christmas Holiday and the increasing flow of prospective clients being shown the venue…. Seeing it come together over this five/six time frame has been an emotional experience–to say the least. [...]

Virginia Low Impact Projects

Bundoran Farm as been identified on Google Maps as a Low Impact Development Project by Rain Dog Designs. It joins other projects in Central and Western Virginia that demonstrate sustainable building practices protecting the downstream Chesapeake Bay estuary. Also included in this list is the Lewis Residence at Bundoran Farm that was designed by Sunbiosis [...]

Late Winter Afternoon at Bundoran Farm

Here are few quick snapshots of the Bundoran Farm landscape sent to us by Dorothy Tompkins that were taken from the front of her home over weekend.  With dramatic views like this, who needs anything else

Bird Notes by Dorothy Tompkins – The American Goldfinch

The American Goldfinch Carduelis tritis American goldfinches delight us with their beauty in the spring and summer, with their affinity for our feeders in winter and throughout the year with their songs and calls.  They are vocal little birds with six different types of calls.  Goldfinches appear to continue learning calls into adulthood and paired [...]

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyard – DAY NINE: TEMPESTS, TUMULT AND TUMBLING TEMPERATURES

It has been a  tough couple of days with pouring rain, high winds, the onset of an intense cold front, and no sleep due to staying in the camper that replicates a snare drum in the current weather.  We worked as best we could–getting drenched yesterday with just myself and Thom–and then today in gale [...]

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards – DAY SIX: forklifts. floors an fancy framing

We had a great day today–which made me pretty happy as a precursor to driving home tonight after picking up my youngest son and his bride in Washington DC…. The bridal loft floor system is done and flooring has started–and we began framing the walls of the venue center with some basic tutorials in diagonal [...]

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards – DAY TWO: stormy night, windy day…going postal…

The day began at midnight last night with a thunderstorm and high winds–shaking my camper until I thought it was going to roll over–and then a midnight run down the hill to the site where most of the tarps had been ripped off the lumber, now exposed to driving rain.  For most of yesterday–instead of [...]

Albemarle Garden Club Field Trip at Bundoran Farm

Lief Riddervold, Bundoran Farm’s Natural Resources Manager, led the Albemarle Garden Club on a horticulture event of a different sort on October 21st. On a trail up Israel Mountain the fall colors were spectacular in the late morning sunlight. Spicebush, hickory, birch and others were bright yellow with black gum and maple providing bright red. [...]