ICF is definitely for DIY’ers and we have begun making progress on ours once again! With pruning the vineyard soon to start, we decided to have a steel structure put up for the metal roof before beginning the ICF walls.
Pembroke Welsh Corgis have such personality and while she is still new to our family, Bangles is no exception! As with all Corgis, there is a perpetual smile on her face and it is already obvious that she is a fun-loving girl!
With the footers and support walls finished, it is time to pour the concrete for the front porch. This is truly a family affair with John and the boys working well into the night to finish the concrete. That is what you get for being do-it-yourselfers.
Harvest is over and we are gearing up for a new year of vineyard work. But before vineyard work starts, we get to make some progress on the house – YAH! The boys have been working hard and I can’t wait to share the progress with you!
If you have free-range chickens, you can probably sympathize with the embarrassment that having poop on your porch brings – ugh! Now, thanks to my chicken coop, there is no more poop on my porch. Complete with a clay tile roof it has five, easily accessible laying boxes! It is definitely one of the “little things in life” that bring pleasure to look at! No more can the chickens fly out and poop everywhere!
Four Season Gardening – here I come! The greenhouse is finished and I just feel the need to brag a bit. Yes, I may be weird, but I am excited about the work that is ahead of me. Winter veggies are planted inside and beginning to grow plus, I now have room to start my garden seeds without taking up every windowsill in our home!
You might be surprised but there is a slew of emotions when grape harvest is over. And, it is over for 2015! You would expect there to be great relief and there is! But there is also anticipation, thankfulness, disappointment, elation and even sadness!
Even though we are still early in October, grape harvest for 2015 is almost over with 166 tons of Roussanne, Montepulciano, Aglianico, and Petit Verdot being harvested already. There are only about 26 tons of grapes left in the vineyard – we better get to eating before they are all gone!
The anticipation is over – Margie had her calf. That is the good news. The birth went easily and mom and baby were healthy. Unfortunately, there is some bad news. Like a good old fashioned John Wayne movie complete with cattle rustlers there is a happy end to the story.
Spring is here! How do I know? The vines are beginning to bud! Bud-break in the Vineyard means the grape crop is on its way! So far, it is the younger plants that are budding but the others are not far behind.