Maintaining the Carriage Roads
It's very important to keep up with the maintenance at my Bedford, New York farm - especially the four miles of carriage road that meander around my homes, my gardens, my pastures, and through the expansive woodland.
Every year, my outdoor grounds crew edges all the roads to make sure they are neat and tidy. This summer it was also necessary to re-cover the roads with a fresh layer of gravel. Once the 3/8-inch native washed stone was dropped, it had to be spread evenly, so the gravel was level and properly graded on the surface. Over the last several weeks, Pete Sherpa and Fernando Ferrari took on the tedious task.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- My farm sits on 153-acres of land that includes four miles of gravel-covered carriage road. Gravel roads are attractive and accumulate less pollutants over time, but it is important to keep them well-maintained.
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- This photo shows the carriage road leading into my Japanese Maple Tree Woodland. All the carriage roads were designed with my horses in mind. Whenever I can, I enjoy riding my horses around the farm, visiting all the other animals and viewing the gardens.
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- Over time, the gravel shifts, storms cause holes in areas where rain water tends to pond, and heavy use creates ruts.
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- High traffic areas such as this carriage road alongside my winding pergola often need attention and are edged and raked a couple times a year.
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- Strong storms cause run-off that also washes the road gravel away like this area along the carriage road through the azalea border.
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- Earlier this summer, we called in our friends from Lawton Adams Materials, Supplies & Recycling – a company in Somers, New York that offers a large variety of construction and landscaping materials including sand, gravel, topsoil, mulch, wall stone, and more.
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- Large 10-wheel dump trucks can carry anywhere from 13 to 25 tons of gravel per load. Here is a truck filled with the 3/8-inch native stone gravel I selected. It would take many truck loads to cover the entire four miles of carriage road here at the farm.
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- As the truck moves along the carriage road, the gravel is released from the bottom of tailgate.
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- The gravel is dropped slowly and evenly.
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- Here is the back all empty and ready to go back to the facility for another load.
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- And here is what it looks like once it is dropped. The gravel is in the center of the road and now needs to be raked to fill the width of the 12-foot wide surfaces.
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- Pete uses a landscape rake to spread and level the gravel to the edge of the road. This area is also high traffic. It leads from the allée of lindens to my chicken coops.
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- Fernando is in another area also leveling and spreading the gravel dropped by the dump truck.
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- This stone is not only pretty, but water drains more quickly through small stones and gravel, so it is good to use around the farm.
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- Around the stable, Pete also uses the tractor bucket to level and spread the gravel over a larger area.
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- And then Fernando manually rakes it closer to the stable buildings. We do a lot of our projects by hand – it takes longer, but the jobs are done more carefully and very nicely. Fernando also uses a landscape rake. This razor-back aluminum landscape rake has a wide head and teeth to level gravel quickly and smoothly.
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- Fernando also takes on the task of “raking the roads.” This attachment is made from four soft garden rakes secured to a wooden frame. Here is Fernando in our Polaris Ranger pulling the rake.
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- We created this special device to rake the gravel, so it is even. This is done every couple of weeks to keep the roads looking neat and tidy.
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- This is our Kubota M4-071 tractor. It’s designed to use auxiliary equipment such as the L1154 front loader that helps us transport so many things around the farm – potted plants, mulch, wood, etc.
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- On the back is our Land Pride PR1690 Power Rake. This piece of equipment has a 90-inch rake to work on large properties. We are using it to rake and grade the carriage roads, but it is also capable of windrowing soil, rocks, and debris in a field.
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- Here is a closer look at the roller of the power rake. When it is lowered onto the road surface and tilted to the proper angle, this attachment moves the gravel and road dust to the center, creating the proper crown for the surface. There should be about a three-percent slope from the shoulder to the center of the road. On less used roads, the power rake freshens up the existing gravel as it turns and brings any compacted gravel to the surface.
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- When maintaining a road it is important to ensure it has a crowned driving surface and a shoulder area that slopes directly away from the edge for water drainage.
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- Here is the finished area behind my stable with the allée of lindens in the distance – it looks great.
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- And here is the carriage road near my Winter House with the stately grove of bald cypress trees ahead. I love how the roads look after they are done.
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