Movement in the 'vine garden'

If you peer down into any of the 440 grow tubes that have protected our new grapevines (planted last weekend with the help of so many friends) you’ll see bud swell. That’s great news because even though we followed every procedure by the book when embarking on this agricultural adventure, we still had to rely on faith because when you farm you quickly realize so many things are just out of our control.

The bad news for us this weekend is: all our friends are elsewhere; 210 plants remain to be set in the ground; and the vines in the plastic bag waiting to be planted also are experiencing bud swell. That means on this long memorial weekend, hubby and I had (have) our agenda pretty much set. We’re getting down and dirty. (And boy could use a manicure!)

Saturday was a brutal day in the vineyard, with winds gusting to 35 miles an hour all day long. We got a late start as there was compost to acquire and holes to dig. Still, we persevered through sore muscles and gale-force gusts to get two of the remaining five rows filled. We were setting bamboo poles and grow tubes through a stellar sunset until inky darkness and then sharp rain droplets forced us inside at 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, the weather was completely different. It was sunny, humid, and about 20 degrees warmer. Unfortunately, a late-morning stroll through the vineyard revealed a new challenge: gnats. They were everywhere. We opted to spend the hottest hours of the afternoon watering rows 16, 15, and 14, the first three planted a week earlier. It took us most of three hours to deliver buckets of water to those 120 plants.

After a late lunch (eaten at 4:45 p.m. so we figured it also qualified as dinner), and with a breeze pushing the humidity away, hubby and I headed into the vineyard with a plan for the three empty rows that awaited us. Instead of attacking the length of one row, we decided to partition the last three rows by section – that’s nine plants per section. Our first goal was two sections but we pushed on to tackle three. The last was a bear since the flying gnats where swarming us – and biting too. (It was biblical, I swear!) I never thought I could plant so fast but we finished and abandoned the vineyard as fast as possible.

So tomorrow, which is Memorial Day, there’ll be no parades, no visits to a cemetery, no picnics in the park or bike rides or boat rides or naps in the hammock for us, because there are 90 budding vines sitting in a bag in the stable waiting to become something magnificent, if only allowed to wallow in the things we seem to have here in surplus – black dirt, sun, water, and prayer. If you have an opportunity to relax on Memorial Day – enjoy it and be grateful. We know we’ll get our chance to enjoy a day in the park soon because this project, which we embarked upon two months ago (18 months, really) is almost over. Just 90 more holes to dig and then fill.

We realize, of course, the vineyard will require much of us throughout the coming years. We’re hoping, though, that it will not be the endurance challenge that it has been, consuming every moment of every weekend since the beginning of April. Because if it does, these grapes, this “vine-garden” as someone recently called it, just might be the end of us.

Hubby and I took possession of this land on June 30, 2006. The craggy field shown above had been a grazing haven for five horses before we arrived. Now, it is Four Cedars vineyard.