Winter Plans

Hoping to spend more time at Grape Hill, maybe even to get the arbor up?  The real estate activity looks to be mighty lean and light in the months ahead.  Could be a great time to do some writing and spend more time on the farm.  Talk was of everyone going to Connecticut for Thanksgiving, but that seems impossible...so expensive and such a long journey for the five of us.  Hate missing out, just not enough time or salad.  After fermentation, during malolactic is a pretty good time to enjoy the farm.  Cannot reserve the dates yet, too much to consider, so it all might be moot if the rental guests don't slow down...

Our longest stay yet.

Eleven glorious days.  The first three days we had poor visibility with smokey haze coming in from fires to the north.  Could not even see the Blues!  We watched a giant red glow at night; miles upon miles away there were men and women fighting to save their crops and we truly felt sad and hopeful for all of them.  So surreal, viewing a tragedy from thirty miles away.

Spent lots of time working in vineyard.  Tough year for the grapes.  Cold and wet through July.  We have abundant fruit, but so many challenges...now have to wait for nature to work its course.  The bunches are so weakened...berries fall off with just any tug at all.  On the happy side, we do have some nice potential for cab franc and merlot...could be the year of the Right Bank if we get enough consistent heat to ripen the fruit and no frosts ahead of harvest.

David took us out for a ride on his combine during harvest.  Not the wheat on our farm, but on another farm high into the foothills.  This was such a great experience, climbing the ladder up into a machine the size of a house, and even driving it up and down the steep fields as we brought in the crop.  It would probably drive the farmers nuts, but they could make a bundle just offering tourists the chance to do this each harvest.  Man...better than Disneyland on the fun side, and so connected to the land, to our foods,  to the whole process of getting our wheat down the Columbia River and onto the freighters that take it along to feed the world.

The new patio is poured, so the arbor goes in next spring.  I left two secure, deep planting spots lined with wire for the vines.  Between now and spring, I'll be studying as to whether to plant grapes, hops, or something else.  Each vine has its pros and cons, beauty, shade, growth speed, how long they hold their leaves, how well they can stand the winters, whether they attract too many birds, whether their fruit will stain the concrete...

The views are stunning.  What a difference it makes to simply move around the corner of the house.  Sunday AM, four elk in the fields below alongside the creek.  First time that I have ever seen elk around.  Later, four mule deer including one fellow with a giant rack.  Since I don't hunt, I sure hope he finds some deep cover soon.  The hunters will be after him like nobody's business.

We did enjoy some trap shooting.  This was the first time that I ever shot at two clays launched at once.  Much more challenging than just one and four times the fun!  I keep the shotgun handy throughout the past week.  The starlings stayed away once they knew that I was meaning business.  I have no sympathy for gophers or starlings...varmints!!!

Spent one evening watching Shakespeare in the park at Fort Walla Walla...so enjoyable...and returned in the daytime to see the museum there.  Really great exhibits, including full-size representations of how the farming was done a generation or two ago.  Then we strolled down to the old buildings that have been moved there from different pioneer farms.  The best one of all is the Union Schoolhouse that was donated by the Whites from off their farm just down from Grape Hill.  We found Grape Hill amongst the farms showing on the very old map displayed on the schoolhouse wall.  Such a joy to have a personal touch to the rich history to which we have become so attached.

The Arbor

The next big phases for the house are so cool...really unique and innovative design that simply doesn't make sense to undertake. It's a shame, darn it, but producing the doubling on the house size means more stress than it is worth, even to realize a work of architectural merit.  So, that means that the south face of the current structure is getting a new patio and pergola instead.  I am going to set it up for new vines next year with table grapes in the future, plus seating for four chaises and a misting system to cool things down on the hottest summer days.  The design should not diminish views at all, and I think I can keep the deer off the vines (hope so!).  I'll be setting heavy galvanized mesh three feet below grade and eight feet up around the vines until these are trained onto the top.  Not the most lovely arrangement, but every critter out there seems to love grape vines.  Gophers love the young roots, deer love the young leaves, and birds love the fruit.  All I need to do is to put in a pond and we'll have the Serengeti outside our doors...

Dumd, dumb, dumb, but it's MY blog...

So, I just got the newspaper. It's early morning, rabbits pattering around, birds jostling through the ground leaves. I noticed a new root crack in the driveway and looked up. This one is from a cedar, split into two and growing straight up like two competing towers.  I remember trimming it when it was about six feet tall.  It, they, are now more like fifty feet high. I had to cut away two broken limbs from the plum tree beside the driveway just yesterday. That plum was twenty feet shorter when we moved here.  I am always looking up and thinking about that measure of time, the trees I have planted, when I planted them, and how tall they have become, often crowding one another and jogging for the light.  In another month, Liliana goes to college.  We raised all three of them from babies here and now they are all gone.  That is one thing about Grape Hill...no trees. Nothing to measure time. Timeless. Permanent.  Wow. No kids in the house.  Makes me cry.

Sunhine...!

Seattle was still cold and overcast when we left for vacation. Came back to a hot summer evening and two more days or beautiful sunshine.  Then, poof went summer.  Cannot wait until August comes around...two whole weeks on Grape Hill...farmer's markets, getting some work done on the new patio, evening meals at Big Table. July 12th and it is seriously chilly outside. Good grief Charlie Brown!

A lovely weekend.

Just returned from such a nice weekend.  Waking up to World Cup & birds...pheasants, fly catchers, marsh hawks and a red tail.  The full moon rising just as the sun was setting and setting just as the sun came up.  Did almost no cooking, which was unusual, but Sue enjoyed the break.  We stopped in Union Gap and bought asparagus tamales from Los Hernandez.  Dinner at Brasserie Four on Friday night.  A lovely, fun party at Jay and Debbie's on Saturday night, catered by Graze. Amazing potato salad amongst all the good food.  Had some of Jay's library wine, 2002 cab, which was excellent.  Felix, Jay's son-in-law, threw down the gauntlet in defense of his mom's tamales being the best anywhere.  So Sue went to our house and brought back a taste of the asparagus tamales and we had a group tasting.  Scores ranged from 7 to 8 overall.  Very good fun.  Sue sent me to The Blue for some poker on Sunday while she caught up on magazines and relaxed in the sunshine.  Good outing at the poker table, so we splurged on the tasting menu at Whitehouse-Crawford.  The best pairing was a fresh morel soup with a Woodward Canyon reisling...magic.  The wheat is looking good and Tanya is doing a great job with the house.  I called Carlos to get out more help in the vineyard, with the star thistle, especially.  That is some pernicious stuff!  Very hard to tell with this year's grapes.  Late, slow start can mean a wonderful finish or sour grapes...we shall see.  So glad that we are not in the wine business or I would be whining.  Went to Yungapeti for futbol and the albanil burrito with fresh lime juice.  Man...I had never tried the hot green salsa...the best!  We stopped for more tamales on the way west, but closed.  What a difference it makes to have the third night at Grape Hill and not rush back.  Can't wait until next month...two whole weeks on the farm!

Liliana's is Graduating...

No more kids at home.  Sad, but nice having them all at UW and fifteen minutes away.  A good meal on mom & dad is always well-received.  But now the idea is to enjoy more time at Grape Hill.  So lovely that the farm is being well-loved by guests coming for stays, but also getting to be not so good that people are booking as much as a whole year in advance and it is getting so hard for us to be spontaneous in enjoying our own favorite place.  I may just block out ten weeks during next year so we are sure to have times for ourselves...  Tried both the 2009 cabernets and syrahs from Little Vineyard.  The cabernets are sublime.  The syrahs seem to be tasting better than they did the last time I tasted them, but so hard to tell...these seem to ride a roller-coaster of constantly changing flavors during the first year in barrel.  Definitely highly drinkable, but not likely to be cherished the way the cabernets are shaping up to that higher-level.