A picure is worth a thousand dollars.

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At least that's about how much a nice new camera costs. I'd been hoping to get mine repaired but, instead, any money we've been squeezing out has been going to things like vet bills for our lovable-yet-useless canine (do you have any idea how much time and money it takes to care for an aging and uncertainly diagnosed dog? I do now; $350.00 and I hope that's it, because that is his limit, sadly.) and feeding a hungry automobile a balanced diet of things like tires and bearings. However, the change to cool weather has been a blessing in the car department. We no longer are roasting in our A/C free and broken window environment. It's cold, and we have a heater that works. Life is good.

We have been blessed with really great weather, for the most part. So that I am able to work outside most days. I've been moving gooseberry bushes which were declining every year. They are now in a new and improved location and awaiting mulch, which I hope to obtain tomorrow - right after a visit to the car repair shop.

The man-child, Michael, is growing out of clothes faster than I can find them. I buy shoes two sizes too big, and he's outgrown them in 8 months. Every time I look at him, I swear he's taller. He'll outgrow me in a very short amount of time. We hit thrift stores again this week, hoping to find him a winter jacket. We found some working coats, but nothing for casual town wear.

However, he was absolutely thrilled to get a trench coat and two casual suit jackets today, tweed and corduroy. The thrift store was selling all their coats for half price, two dollars and fifty cents each, and these are classics that will not go out of style. We bought them big.... here's hoping they last.

It took a lot of straw, but all the veggie and herb beds are thoroughly mulched. We have some experimental winter crops growing out there; peas and Swiss chard. I want to see how long I can keep them growing by just covering them on cold nights. I dug up some of the pepper plants and potted them, bringing them indoors at night.

I am also growing lots of things in the house. It looks a bit like a greenhouse in here, but that's kind of fun. We hope to get the real greenhouse going soon. I've been saving up, here and there, and I think I have enough to do it, if I can find the time in between everything else.

We are getting some raspberry rootings this week, and I'm so excited that we'll have raspberries again. So I've got a 90 foot row to dig, fertilize, and mulch when they arrive. I found a great deal on some new strawberry plants on eBay to replace the ones that did not make it for some reason. I hope the soil is fine. But two of the varieties I had planted gave up the ghost very early. We got 50 strawberry plants for only 12 dollars. I'm so glad to have put them in the ground, so we have a better chance at a good berry harvest next year.

I found a place that I can order grapevines from next spring at only 3 dollars each. That's an amazing price. If I am able, I will rip out all 112 vines that are out there now, and replace them with only 28 Mars cultivars. Mars vines have the greatest resistance to black rot, so it would cut down significantly on the amount of slaving away in comparison to actual ingestion of grapes. Ratios. This is why I studied Algebra.

I'm rooting blackberries for sharing and replanting next spring. Having another go at rooting figs. Oh, that reminds me, I still need to cover them for winter. Yiketh already.

And lady bugs wars are on. With the warmer sunny days in the 60's, it's prime breeding weather. Today we finally succumbed and sprayed all around the doors with Raid - garden fresh scent, of course. So you can lie to yourself all the way to your death bed. It could not be helped. I was spending an hour a day, just trying to keep up on vacuuming them up.

OK, Lots more going on, but without photos, it's just no fun to write about them, and harder still to illustrate how we are doing things, so I'll leave it with this:

Thanksgiving - 17 days
Days begin to get longer - 41 days
Christmas - 47 days
Get out your seed catalogs - 57 days
Average daily temp begins to level and climb - 60
Order your seeds - 71 days

Not long at all until those crocus are pushing up.

~Faith

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Evil Maniacal Laughter Goes here.

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MWAHA MWAHA HAHAHAHAMWAHAHAHAHAHAHA









And that's pretty much the story of our lives here at home for the last half a week. We've been working in the vineyard, for the most part.

It has been stinkin' hot and muggy. Whew! We have been putting in as many hours in the morning as possible, and doing school in the afternoons and evenings instead.

We took a trip to the Ag Extension last week with our leaf, whereupon it was determined to be either downy or powdery mildew, in addition to the black rot of which we were already aware. Demons, demons, everywhere!

No problem, she says. Just scoot on down to the Co-op and buy some CAPTAN and some Immunox. The CAPTAN will get rid of all evil molds, fungi, and mildews, and the Immunox will boost the plants' health, thereby making it fit as a top notch heavy-weight to battle disease and grow big and strong. Insert whistling and skipping here.

Unfortunately, the smallest CAPTAN is 5 pounds and over $30 dollars. The Immunox was a different story. The guy at the Co-op didn't even TELL me the price, he instead made a phone call to find out if there was a generic brand for me. There was! It was much cheaper! - only $80 dollars for the smallest package....

I said skip that, thanks.

By the way. Did you hear that the price of food is expected to rise 40% over the next decade? That's why we're peddling so hard now!

I did make one purchase that I did not expect. They have apparently come out with a Sevin XLR or something like that, and the co-op recommended I get it. It has a duration of 2 weeks, even through hard rains. As it is right now, we have to run out every time it sprinkles and respray with regular Sevin. This ought to save money in the end, as well as time.

I also asked if I could mix the CAPTAN with the Sevin, and the Ag Ext office said 'Yes". That's good. Now I don't have to juggle spraying, and I am hoping the CAPTAN will last longer, mixed in with the XLR as well.

I am so far from my hopes and dreams of organic food any more. But this is war!!!





Did you know, that if you put on 3-D glasses in preparation to watch "Meet the Robinsons" on TV, and discover that it is not going to be shown in 3-D and you leave the glasses on for about 15 minutes anyway, your mind eventually adjusts your vision to begin to balance the two different colors?

Furthermore, did you know that when you take OFF those glasses, after wearing them for about 15 minutes, then you alternately close your left and right eyes, you will see more red in the eye that had the blue lens, and more blue in the eye that had the red lens?

Not that I did that or anything. I'm just sayin'...

Here is our 2/3 of the way done point in the vineyard. Each one of these rows took an hour, and there are fourteen of them.





WooHoooooo! All done! Again. Until next time....





Still shopping for disease resistant grapes!

~Faith

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New Look to the Blog

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How is it?

I like it better than what I had before, but it seems to take a lot longer to load. My dashboard kept telling me it had something wonderful for me to try, but it was not working so wonderfully. The preview at the bottom never did load.

Not sure if it will stay this way, I was just playing with it.

Don't you love the Sweet Pea time of year?





We loaded up our 'tractor and trailer'. It's our giant rig, ready to take on the care and husbandry of our little corner of the great big creation.





First stop, planting some cukes and zuchs we got on sale at Lowe's, replacing the ones that have not grown. My cuke seeds from last year did not sprout at all, and the squash bugs have done in about half our zucchini plants.

I love these beds. You walk down, pull the mulch away, drop the plant in, and you are done. Cukes...





Putting in the zuchini...





Then it was down to the barn to give aid to the horses.

We let the chickens out in the barnyard. There are our two surviving chicks from the broody hen. We have too many eggs, so we didn't want many anyhow.





The face flies have been awful this year. Of course, now that I took the camera down the horses kept shaking their heads, so you can't see the hundreds of flies that cover their faces, encircling their eyes, and making them miserable. Here's Ginny, our very clever, mischievous, and trouble-making filly.





Bronco does not even make a dent! I put this on and if fifteen minutes the flies are back in full force.





So I bought the big guns. Well almost. I bought the medium guns, because the big guns are 30 dollars a bottle.

Here is a roll-on that is supposed to last for days. If I can keep the flies off their faces for a few days, even through sweat and rain, I'll be satisfied. The bottles are 10 dollars each.





We also bought these drop applicators. You dribble a few CCs here and there every couple of weeks and I believe the product enters their system, making them less tasty for pests. I've used it in the past and it was helpful. I think this package was about 25 dollars. It should last 6 weeks for the two of them.





The roll-on seemed to help right away. I'll let you know how it goes when I check them again. Time to change out the water.





Then it was time to prune and spray grapes. Michael took a break to bring the kiwi vines up across the arbor.









Whew! Need an iced tea break. It's hot, muggy and uncomfortable out here!





The black rot.









And we've got some sort of mold, mildew, fungus, or something. Front and back...









This meant a trip to the Ag Extension office. The Japanese beetles are all over, so we sprayed the grapes and fruit trees.





Lots of grapes. But will we get a harvest? I may rip them all out and plant Mars only. A blue seedless, resistant to black rot.





Thursday night we were back to our usual schedule.

Young people having fun before the guys head off to their class.





And the girls began a class for themselves.








We discovered that the game Mad Gab is remarkably similar to trying to communicate with a very persistant eighteen month old.

Hilarious!

Yum! Steak!

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Boy do I wish these were ours!





But they are not. They are the neighbor's cattle who keep breaking through the fence.

Go get 'em!





Yeah. They KNOW they are not where they are supposed to be. The mares say, "Good riddance. Better you than us!"





Doyle Thornless getting ready to bury us in berries again.





Last year we had a lot of trouble with grass being stuck all over the berries every time we picked. It really added a lot of time to harvest and processing. This year we've been practicing mowing and making sure everything gets tossed in the opposite direction. I haven't figured it out on the grape side, but Michael has.





The black rot has got me trembling again. I'm about ready to take them out and replace them with Mars vines. Those are a type of blue seedless that are resistant to black rot. I'm looking into it now.





What ARE these?





And these are either Nanking or Hansen's bush cherries. I'm not sure which, but they are ripe and they are good to eat!





Just haven't decided what to do with them yet.

~Faith

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School and Vineyard Labors April 12, 2010

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Spring days are just too wonderful to do school inside. So Michael brought out his work to do while I pruned and tied grapes.









That's the kiwi arbor.





Sun, cool breezes, blues and greens...

~Faith

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