A change of perspective

One of the joys of planting weekend was having Becky and Jason visiting from Michigan. Actually, they flew in from Cincinnati and you can read about that adventure on their blog.

The real news is that they soon will be moving from Michigan back into the Central timezone to that scenic area best known for overalls ('bgosh) and airshows -- Oshkosh, Wisconsin. We're all pleased as punch at the news.

Jason and Becky never leave Four Cedars quietly and today was no exception. Here's a picture of the vineyard-in-progress, as they viewed it this morning.

A quick update; full report to come

It is with aching fingers, and a grateful heart, that I post this update on Four Cedars Vineyard.

Because of Tony, Matt, Jerry, Mary, Dick, Anne, Tom B., Paula, John, Becky, Jason, Chris, Abby, Marc, Emily, Katie, Tom j. H., and Tom g. H., hubby and I can happily report that 440 grow tube-covered, bamboo-secured grapevines, 208 line posts, and 16 end posts can be viewed from the kitchen of our farmhouse. And they are a sight to behold!

Going into the weekend and coming off a cold and extremely wet spring, which led to post sinking falling behind schedule, I wasn't very optimistic we would progress this well, especially by the end of the day Saturday -- a sunny, warm and blustery day that saw only 100 vines get into the cold, hard ground. But Sunday, with many of our workers reassigned from post sinking to hole digging and planting, we made headway.

And Monday, with cool temperatures and a wonderfully overcast sky, we were able to finish planting all of the Marquettes, all of the Bluebells, all of the Somerset Seedless, plus get two and one half rows of Edelweiss into the ground. The roots for the latter varieties were thick and nicely spread, right out of the bundle, which made the whole process go so much easier.

I will post more photos from planting weekend later, but for now, here's a quick run through the weekend to help illustrate how one might build a vineyard, if one finds themselves like us -- in total leave of their senses.

These two bags hold 600 grapevines. Dollar value? A lot!

This is an Edelweiss vine. The roots are sensitive to sunlight. Both Saturday and Sunday were very bright days.
The young studly ones weilded shovels and dug holes by the row.

Water boy: On Saturday, we measured the 3-4 gallons of water needed per vine. By Sunday, we just dumped water out of the bucket.

When I drove the water/compost delivery wagon, I rolled over Jason's foot -- twice. When we put John behind the wheel, he was done pushing soil. He's invited to return to cut grass whenever he wants.

Only on Monday, with the overcast sky, were we able to lift the vines out of the safe haven that is a bucket of dirty water.

Some of us knelt while planting while the younger ones preferred the bend/stoop position. Either way, by the end of the day, we moved slowly. To be honest, by the end of three days of planting, I'm surprised we could move at all.

I heard one of the more macho planters say grow-tube placement was a sissy job. Thankfully, Jason is secure enough in his masculinity to proceed with this very important part of planting.

There are 40 plants per row, spaced 8 feet apart. Every hole stop gets a bucket of compost to mix with the soil and a bucket of water. From the house, the rows don't seem that long. Then, when you walk them ... carry a heavy bucket down them ... stoop down to plant all along them ...

This is a shot of our progress after day two. Tomorrow, I have roughly three rows of grow tubes to secure with zip-ties. Planting our last five rows of Edelweiss will likely have to wait until Memorial weekend.

To all of the wonderful people who helped us along the way -- THANK YOU!!!!

No more muddy shoes in the canoe

We've got good mud. It's thick and slippery and mucky enough to pull your shoe right off your foot. Of course, when that happens, you're not thinking: "good mud." Regardless, it's good. And there's plenty of it when spring brings rain, more rain, and more rain still. Like this spring has.
The benefit of a wet spring is a healthy lake level that makes you think CANOE, especially on those rare wind-free days. Of course, getting the canoe into the lake was always a trick. Because of the mud, the slippery, mucky good mud. But hurrah! A new dock!
What do you get when you put two heavy dock sections in the hands of three strong guys wearing muck boots? You get one, and then two, and then three guys dumping muddy jeans and pond-water soaked socks into the washer -- after they'd finished the dock, of course.
Just one view from a perch six inches above the mud.

A man can't just sit around...

Monday morning at the office involved a piece of rental equipment called a "dingo." It worked like our heavy bobcat, but since it is smaller and has tracks to distribute its weight, we felt it the better choice to begin installing line posts.

Here's a challenge for you dear reader. What's different about this picture than all the other pictures you've seen up to this point in the process?

Give up? It's the short sleeve t-shirts. Yes, finally we were blessed with a beautiful warm and not too windy day in which to work. We did apply sunscreen but all of us suffered a touch of sunburn by day's end. But after this winter, we didn't care. It felt GREAT.
With the dingo and a bit of perseverence, we completed line posts for 6 rows. In case you wondered, that 78 posts sunk in one day. Only 130 to go! (Not counting the 16 telephone pole-like endposts that go in at an angle on the south end.)