Take Care of Your Tobacco Barn

Maintenance tips from farmers.

The roof is the most important part of your barn. Barn roofing is typically metal and needs to be painted periodically. Loose metal must be nailed to hold it firmly in place. Wind can get under a sheet of metal and bend it or blow it away.

Inspect the barn for signs of wood-boring insects. Treat immediately.

Replace siding when it deteriorates to keep the weather out of the barn.

Keep the doors in good condition and secure, especially on the north side, which receives the harshest weather.

Most barns have double doors over driveways with an overhead center bar for support—make sure all parts of the doors and the center bar are intact. If you have two sets of doors and one is bad, it is probably best to keep both sets open until they can be repaired. Do not let wind into the barn unless it can get out, or it can blow the barn down.

Keep vegetation away from the barn. Do not allow poison ivy or other vines to climb the siding. Do not allow trees to grow right next to the barn, and if seedlings appear, remove them when they are small. Existing trees growing up against the barn should be cut off at the ground. Their roots can be removed if they are not very large. Large trees will have large root systems, and grubbing them out could damage the barn. Consider spraying Roundup beneath sills once a year to keep vegetation down. Follow manufacturer’s instructions—it is useless to apply Roundup unless some foliage is present.

Inspect the sills and top plates for signs of rot or damage. Repair siding or roofing that may be exposing the frame to water or weather. Cut out rotted or damaged portions and replace with good wood. Inspect wood parts of the structure that directly contact the ground, such as ground-set posts that support sheds on the barn. Keep water from pooling around them. If the bases of the posts are deteriorated, cut out the bad wood and install concrete or stone piers to support the cut ends.

Paint may lengthen the life of siding, depending on the type of lumber. Virginia pine will last quite well without paint. Loblolly pine siding will not. Poplar siding may fare better when painted.

Editor's note:
The information published above (with photographs) is available via the St Mary's County Government website. It is located as a PDF document and can be down loaded at this link:
Tobacco Barn

St Mary's County Held 2nd Small Business Roundtable At Lenny's Restaurant

Monday started with a great turnout at our 2nd Small Independent Business  Roundtable at Lenny’s Restaurant. About 125 attended and heard about a wide variety of business resources available along with emerging ideas on how to raise local awareness of the many restaurants, construction trades, and other small business sectors throughout the County. We had businesses from Charlotte Hall to Scotland that employed one to 100. We heard from them, their concerns, challenges and opportunities. There is much work to do in 2010 to help the local economy.

This roundtable will be key to this effort. Many thanks if you attended the roundtable on Monday or our first one in November. The next one is scheduled for Monday, February 8, 2010 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. at Lenny’s Restaurant. Please consider attending to learn, help, network, and be part of the roundtable.

South County Businness Association (SCBA) January 2010 Meeting Scheduled

SCBA meeting for Wednsday the January 13, 2009

Location:
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (Glendenning Hall Annex)
18952 E. Fisher Rd
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001

Time: 7pm – 8pm
Moderators: SCBA Officers

Everyone is invited to attend and remember, we invite you to "Visit South County" !!!

Metcom Task Force to Hold Public Forum

Last year, the Maryland Legislature authorized a Task Force, comprised of St. Mary’s citizens, to review and study “the governance and structure” of the Metropolitan Commission (MetCom).

As part of this study the Task Force members would like to gather comments from the citizens of St. Mary’s County. MetCom was created by the Maryland Legislature in the 1950’s to supply public water and sewer services to St. Mary’s County.

Public Forum: Wed. January 27, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
County Governmental Center, Chesapeake Building, Leonardtown

The Task Force is asking members of the development, engineering, and surveying community as well as members of the building trades to attend this forum and provide comments concerning the Metropolitan Commission. Customers of MetCom also are encouraged to attend and offer comments. In case of inclement weather, the forum will have a rain date of Wed. February 10.

Citizens are also invited to send in written comments: The MetCom Task Force, c/o John Savich, County Administrator, St. Mary’s County Government, P.O. Box 653 Leonardtown MD 20650.
All comments given at this public forum and received by mail will assist the members of the task force as they make their recommendations in their Summer 2010 report.

There are ten task force members appointed by the St. Mary’s County legislators, the County Commissioners and the Metropolitan Commission. The co-chairs are Joseph Densford and MaryLynn Stone. Other members are F. Elliott Burch, Jr.; Ford Dean; Shelby P. Guazzo; Glen Ives; Robert Jarboe, Susan McNeill; James W. Spence, and Frank Taylor.

The public forum can be seen live on Ch 95 or on the county’s website at http://www.stmarysmd.com/ (click on Ch. 95). The Ch 95 schedule can be checked on the county’s website for rebroadcast dates. Minutes of previous meetings of the Task Force are available upon request to the Public Information Office at pio@stmarysmd.com. For other information about the Metropolitan Commission, log on to www.metcom.org.

St Mary's County News

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Buzzy's Country Store

Buzzy's Country Store
Old drawing of Buzzy's Country Store located in Scotland, Maryland.

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