We're Oyster People Now

Yup, we are now oyster farmers.  We "planted" 1000 baby oysters by our pier this past weekend as part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Oyster Gardening Program.  The oyster population has been severely compromised in the Bay for decades now, and the Foundation works to restore the oyster population as one aspect of Bay clean-up.  A single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day - that's a lot of water cleaning by a 3 inch oyster!

A combination of over-harvesting and diseases introduced by Pacific oysters have taken its toll on the Bay oysters since the 1960's.  The oyster gardening program was developed to enlist citizen assistance in raising oysters and replenishing the oyster population.   We will grow these babies for 1 year at which time those that survive will be mature and able to reproduce.  (The goal is to produce oyster baby-making machines.)  The mature oysters that we return to the Foundation next year will be planted on one of over 100 protected oyster bed reefs that have been started in the Bay, safe from harvesting, to allow the oysters to reproduce and their offspring to be spread throughout the Bay.

I'm not exactly sure what we were expecting when it was time to receive our 1000 oysters after the seminar, but the small net bag that fit in my hand was not it!

Baby oysters are very, very tiny.

As you can imagine, oysters this tiny are tempting food for a lot of predators.  As such, we have to provide a habitat that allows the oysters to be suspended in the water column with room to grow, but protected from blue crabs and the like.  So, we opted for the "mesh bag" habitat, which is then attached to floats on each side to suspend the oysters in the water.  Here you can see Rob attaching the floats to each side of the mesh bag:

Once the floats were attached, as instructed, we placed the oysters in the bag...

gave the bag a good shake to spread out the baby oysters and maximize their exposure to the water (which provides them food and oxygen)..

and tied off the top to keep them inside the bag and potential predators outside:



Once they were safe and snug in their new home, we placed them in the water and secured them tightly to our pier.

Oysters can pretty much care for themselves - as we were told, growing oysters is really just one step above having a pet rock!  We'll need to flip the float once each week, clean off any algae and sediment to maximize the oysters exposure to the water (and their growth), and check the bag for baby blue crabs that sometimes get inside and eventually could grow big enough to eat the oysters.  (As they told us, if that happens, we'll have no oysters left but one big happy crab in our bag!)

A few fun facts we learned at the seminar:

• Oysters can be out of the water for several hours or even a day, but if you put them in a bucket of water, they will die very quickly because they will deplete the oxygen in the water.
• Oysters can survive being frozen in ice in the winter, but they can die if exposed to the winter elements outside of the water.
• Oysters reproduce externally (the egg and sperm are released into the water and hopefully meet up).
• Oysters are either male or female, but they can change sex during their life cycle.
• Oyster shells are an important part of water habitat, so returning shells (even sans the oyster) is good for the Bay.  Oyster shell driveways were very popular (but not good for the Bay) and we still see the remnants of the old oyster shell driveway at Glenlochan.

A final look at our oyster farm, below.  Stay tuned as we report on survival and growth rates!

Good News, One Step Done!

Finally, a bit of good news.  Because our house sits in a designated federal historic district, all changes to the exterior of the structure require approval from the Urbanna Historic Review Board (after notice to adjacent property owners and publication in the paper).  Although we were told our HARB hearing on our plans for the house (scheduled for July 6th) had been postponed until the 20th due to an anticipated lack of a quorum of the Board to function, there ended up being a quorum that night.  We weren't there for the hearing since we didn't think it was happening, but apparently all of our design plans for Glenlochan were approved with great support from the Town!  We are super excited that this step is out of the way.  Next steps include building permits and final construction blueprints.  Check out the conceptual design of our home (front and back) below, thanks to the talents of our architect, Chris Riddick.

Reinforcements and Demo Prep

One would think that demolition to take a house down to the studs just involves jumping in and starting the destruction.  That's what I thought, anyway, but nope - it actually requires quite a bit of preparation.  Luckily, our son Jake arrived on scene from California to give us a hand with the prep.  Jake landed at the Richmond airport first thing in the morning a few days prior to the Fourth of July holiday and "fresh" from the red-eye for his vacation, luggage and all, we whisked him out to Urbanna and put him to work.  Never mind that he hadn't slept at all on the plane, we were on a mission and a schedule.  It was a hot sweaty day, and he didn't complain (much), and we got the house largely ready for demo.  First on the list was clearing the attic of the remaining trash and debris - it was hot and sweaty, so I stood at the bottom of the attic stairs while they hurled items and trash down to me.  Surprisingly, there was one good "find" still in the attic:

And under the old rule of "finders/keepers," Jake is now the proud owner of a fantasic pair of old spectacles:

Jake and I were able to test out the temporary slide that Rob had built for the demo (another prep item) and it worked like a charm:



We also removed all of the light fixtures and doors and other items we wanted to save.  During a quick break, Jake decided to try out the machete (yes, as in my bamboo machete) on the walls - we quickly determined that was not the tool of choice for plaster and drywall demo.

Later that week, we decided to give Jake a deserved break (it was his vacation after all!) and Rob and I went back out to lay the protective boards over all of the hardwood floors we intend to save and refinish.  We purchased and wrestled 50 four by eight sheets from the home store in Richmond to our trailer and then to Urbanna and into the house. 

Actually, I think it's fair to say that I wrestled with my end of the boards and Rob didn't even break a sweat the entire time.  The good news is that the floors are squarely protected for the demo to come.

A Series of Unpleasant Discoveries (And Bad News, Too)

Not only are we not making as much progress as either of us would like, but Rob has also made some unpleasant discoveries about the house - discoveries that will actually set us back some.  So, you might say we are regressing, rather than making progress, which is the completely wrong direction.  But, as Rob constantly reminds me (and himself) this project is a marathon, not a sprint.  We need to do it right, from the ground up, so that the house will be around for hundreds of years to come.  (And, a couple of our unpleasant discoveries stem from previous owners not doing the renovation they undertook right, which means we have to "undo" their work.)

Unpleasant Discovery Number 1:  Rotten sill plate in at least one section of the house.

We've always known that there was a slight slope to the floors in one front corner of the house.  By removing the existing siding and the old clapboard under that, Rob found the cause, a sill plate that needs to be replaced.  Here's another shot of the rotting plate:

The remedy involves jacking the house up and replacing all of the rotted and compromised wood, before settling the house back down on new plates.

Unpleasant Discovery Number Two:  A Very Poorly Built Addition

At some point in the house's history (our best guess is in the 50's or 60's) a two-story addition was added to the back of the home.  Unfortunately, we've discovered that the entire addition was actually built very carelessly around an existing two-story porch.  The addition was simply framed in around the porch, and it wasn't tied in at all to the existing structure of the home.  The result is that the addition is not safe or practical to use for our planned further bump-out of the rear of the home.  Here's a shot of the old exterior wall that was covered by drywall:

And below you can see the side view of the house that shows the addition - look closely at the roof line and you can see where the addition starts (right by the second story screened porch):

The remedy will involve tearing the entire two-story addition off the back of the house and rebuilding it from scratch, with our slightly enlarged footprint in the back.

Unpleasant Discovery Number Three:  Not one, not two, but THREE ceilings.

The third nasty discovery involves attempts to cover up failing plaster ceilings by previous owners - two different times.  As you can see in the picture below, there are three distinct ceilings in this bedroom - the original plaster ceiling with lathes showing, a thin drywalled ceiling over that, and finally a third ceiling with thicker sheetrock nailed onto added cross boards.

The remedy is unfortunate.  We have made the decision to take the house all the way down to the studs on the interior walls and ceilings.  With all of the repair jobs over the years, the plaster simply cannot be saved in this home.  We wanted to save it, but there is just too much wrong with it.  By getting the interior down to the studs, we'll be able to ensure easy access for new electrical wiring throughout that is up to code, new plumbing throughout, high efficiency and green insulation, and a final interior finish that will last for many years to come.  Now that the decision is made, we have a lot more demo (and Tyvek suits) in our future. 

And finally, the bad news:  Our Chestnut Tree is Asiatic, not American.  We finally heard from the Foundation that the second round of testing has determined that we have an Asiatic species (most likely Chinese or a hybrid).   Oh well, we'll love it anyway, and that does explain its long and healthy life.

So, even with all of these not-so-great discoveries we are still looking forward to moving this project forward so we can move into this home before we are too old to enjoy it.  And, we don't really have to wait to move in to enjoy it - on a recent nice summer day, Joe and Tereasa joined us in Urbanna and took a nice long kayak ride down Urbanna Creek from our back yard:

Holding Pattern

Having just spent 2 days in the Chicago O'Hare airport during a bad weather jag, I cannot resist the analogy to our progress - we are in a long, boring holding pattern.  You may have noticed the lack of blog posts and progress reports lately.  Visible progress is spotty at best.  So what have we been doing with our time?

• Finalizing our design plans - we've worked with Chris, our architect, to finalize the final layout of the house, as well as the elevations - we are very excited about the designs.

• Filing our application with the town Historic Review Board to obtain approval on our design plans - the hearing is scheduled for July 6th, so a little more waiting before more work can begin.

• Exploring and selecting materials for the rennovation - roof shingles, exterior siding, paint and color schemes, exterior dentil molding, etc.

• Clearing brush piles and sticks from the yard:

BEFORE

AFTER

• Clearing the yard of unwanted trees and brush:



• Planting a small garden



• And hanging out on sunny days, envisioning what it will be like when the house is done and we are living in the fruits of our labor.



And the Verdict is....

......INCONCLUSIVE!  We have heard from the American Chestnut Foundation and the leaf sample we sent does exhibit many characteristics of an American Chestnut tree, minus the typical amount of glandular hairs located on the underside of the leaf.  These hairs are an identifying characteristic of an American Chestnut and can be seen using a strong microscope.  We've now been asked to provide a "mature" leaf sample to see if they can positively identify the tree.  The Foundation has indicated that if it does turn out to be an American Chestnut, they are interested in learing a lot more about our tree and potentially using it in the breeding program.  If so, we are interested in participating in the program but we also want to learn about the proper care of the tree to ensure that we do not do anything to harm it, regardless of the variety.

Unfortunately, you (and we) will have to stay tuned for a little while longer.

An American Chestnut....or Not?

We may have a rare and blight-free American Chestnut tree in the front yard.  We have been told by several people that it is an American Chestnut tree, but a bit of research on the subject has revealed that these are very rare.  American Chestnuts were native to eastern North America and they were an important timber tree when they were plentiful.  In the early 1900's, a blight that was present on Asiatic Chestnut trees was accidently introduced to North America through imported trees -  the blight is said to have killed over 3 billion American Chestnut trees.  Some resources say that there are fewer than 100 surviving American Chestnut trees larger than 24 inches in diameter within the former range of these trees.  If ours is an American Chestnut, it's a BIG one:

The tree is over 9 feet in circumference:

There are plenty of blight-resistant Chinese and Japanese Chestnut trees, which are similar to the American Chestnut, so it is possible that ours is some other species.  How to tell?  The American Chestnut Foundation , which has the mission of restoring the American Chestnut tree to its natural range through research and "back crossing" techniques offers a testing program for people who think they may have found an American Chestnut Tree.  We've been waiting for spring to arrive and our tree to leaf out so we could send our sample in for testing.  With the tree now fully leafed out, this week we carefully collected our leaf and twig and burr samples....

...followed the instructions for packing and shipping, and sent them in for testing.  Now we wait for the official verdict in three to six weeks.  In the meantime, tell us what you think:  check out the close-up of our tree's leaves, below, and compare these to the leaves posted on The American Chestnut Foundation website

Stay tuned to find out if it is an American Chestnut!