Vineyard....legit.

We took the plunge and made it official. Jodi got the paperwork done and the vineyard is officially named "Leaping Fox Vineyard, LLC". So, it's a bit off from the original "Elsa Run Vineyard". We figured it wasn't fair to little Nadia but hey, she wasn't around back then! Leaping Fox came from me watching a fox cruising through the vineyard in the snow. He/she disappeared from view down towards the creek below a little knoll that sits on the property. Out of nowhere the fox leaps into view then drops out of view again. This happened a couple of times. I found it odd but intriguing, certainly entertaining to watch! I figure it was drumming up a mole or something and was playing with its food! Wah la....Leaping Fox Vineyard. Just in case you were wondering. -s

Winter 2008 and the Vineyard

It's farming. Nothing goes on in the winter right? Wrong! I've been spending what little free time I've had, away from the studio and either working in the vineyard or doing vineyard related things. As much as I would prefer being at the beach and diving, I've been suiting up in the ole trusty Carhart's (and yes, it is quite a fashion statement!) and clearing tree-lines, building fences, augering fence posts, and carrying lumber around the property. Sounds like fun right? At one point I did start to question if I was doing the right thing- I mean, doing all the work myself. Upon running the numbers this morning, yup, very glad that I'm doing things myself. We're coming in under budget and I'm THRILLED! So, where're we at?


Trellis + fence! The order came! That was about where the excitement ended. I guess I really should have asked them to bring a forklift as well. Nobody died, that was the good thing. I did however probably kill my tractor and my nerves trying to unload almost 9,000 board feet of lumber from a flatbed. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with a semi, sitting in your frozen field, full of lumberwhile the frozen earth begins to warm, slowly sucking the semi's tires into the earth. If it had taken an extra half hour we would have had to bring a wrecker as well. Eeek. Oh yeah, and to the lady driving the Mercedes on Pageland Lane that morning who, while the semi was taking a wide turn into the driveway, decided that she would cut it off on the inside at top speed.... I truly hope you never run into a trucker like this again who isn't quick on the brakes. You should have died and it would have been all your own fault. F U mercedes lady.

So, to date I've put in a bit over 250 posts, 79 end posts (8-9" X 8'), and around 30 (4" X 10') posts for the deer fence. I figure I still have around 200 more posts to go. We changed the original layout of the deer fence line to encompass more of the surrounding area around the house. This will eliminate running deer fence through the backyard and takes greater advantage of the existing property fence line. This also means that plant and flower borders around the house itself will be protected. Um, or that's what's supposed to happen. The deer have come back with a vengeance now that deer season is over and the fields are full of lovely treats for Elsa and Nadia to eat. Shiny coats and all that! Now, as part of the fence changes- I have yet another 300+ feet of three-board fence to do to fully enclose the property. I've purposely made this fence a bit higher than normal and the jury is out on whether or not I will need to add a hot wire to the top and bottom of the fence for critter control. For those looking for supplies- all the trellis posts came from ACME lumber out in WV. I HIGHLY recommend calling them. Their prices were super cheap even compared to the Farm Co-op.

Deerbusters! Public enemy #1....."the deer". I placed an order today with Deerbusters.com for, what I hope to be, all my deer fence needs. 1900' of extra-strength 7.5' tall deer fence, a couple of gates and all the extra little bits to get it all attached. I've heard that this can be a hit or miss project so I'll let you know how it goes.

Vines. I had a heart stopping phone call from Ute at Grafted Grapevines up in NY. Seems that due to the extreme heat last year and a problem with their irrigation that they had trouble with their Viognier #1's that we ordered. For a brief moment there I thought that we wouldn't have any Viognier at all this year. Phewww. She apologized and said that she could accommodate our order but would have to use #2's instead. Though we would have preferred the #1's to get a bit more of a growth headstart, by all accounts her #2 vines are fantastic and she cut us a break on pricing.

Nadia. 33+ lbs now. She's going to be a big girl and is nothing short of "tank-linke" in her approach to things. If dad's in the vineyard, then she's right there as well! Elsa prefers the couch in front of the tv!














The Viognier section with trellis posts










Truck o' wood










Nadia keeps an eye on her sister!

Vineyard, Fools and Horses, The Speaks!

Winter's just about here. 50 mph gusts and a call for snow. As reluctant as I am to stop working outside, I'm not crazy. I'm impatient. I know that I don't really need to get everything done for the vineyard until next year but I'd almost rather get it done now than to worry about it in the spring. I still have a tremendous amount of clearing to do around the tree-line in order to get the deer fence in. I've already pulled 4 trailer loads of vines, briars and barbed wire out of the fence line and fear that I may have another 10 or so ahead of me. This is gonna be a hell-uva bonfire!

Drilling holes for the line posts has also begun. The original plan was to wait until planting time, take the tractor and auger and drill all the holes for the line posts AND the vines at the same time. I still think that it's a good idea but it feels almost overkill doing it with the tractor. The current thinking is that if I can start getting line posts and, more importantly, end posts and anchors installed that it will allow them to settle into the ground a bit before they really need to support any weight. Probably doesn't matter at all, right? Now if I can just find a place that will deliver a combined 800+ posts I'll be in business! Free would be awesome too!!!

Now that it's getting cold again I'm heading back into the studio for a number of projects over the next few months. First I'm in with the great "Fools and Horses" from Baltimore. I love these guys. Our last time in yielded three songs that I'm very proud of and I've got high hopes for this next batch of tunes! Also, "The Speaks" record that I just produced is being released this friday with a special show at the State Theater! Should be an amazing show!

Tilled and Ripped!

Finally! I'm just about done with my tractor time for the year. It's starting to get cold out and sitting on a tractor in a nice breeze with temps somewhere between 35 and 45 is not my ideal cup of tea. I've measured and marked and remeasured and remarked a million times to find enough space for the vines that were ordered. I begrudgingly called one of the vine suppliers to ask if we could change our order and they were happy to do so. Doing so would have meant me being defeated by our space limitations and I'm a stubborn bastard! I have officially managed to till enough space for 1,000 Vidal Blanc vines and 1,400 Viognier vines!! The next step will be working on getting the deer fence marked and installed. I'm going to try and follow as much of the existing fence line and possibly use the original barbed wire posts so I can preserve as much of the interior property as possible. The only issue with this is that there is a ton of undergrowth on the perimeter, old rusted barbed wire and a number of trees that will need to be trimmed. Looks like I have my winter work cut out! As we marked out the fence lines, we found a space that could be used as a vegetable garden without having to do a separate garden area on the property. We can enclose it within the vineyard fence. Ahh, life is good when things are easy! Speaking of easy! I want to thank Jim over at Hartwood Winery for his generous offer of free Blue-X grow tubes. He had posted on the Virginia Vineyard Association website about having some grow tubes that he wanted to get rid of. We took a nice 45 minute drive out to the vineyard and low and behold- grow tubes!!! I do believe there are a few more than the "couple hundred" that he had listed! I'll head back out this week and pick up the rest. It's a great drive and Jim's a fantastic person to talk to so grow tubes or not, it'll be a good day! Now if I could just find another couple thousand of free tubes! ha!

Vineyard: The Beginning

I had this nice long article about "ripping" the fields and working with the sub-soiler, talked about our vineyard consultant, and so on but for some reason the post was lost within Blogger and I'm not really in the mindset to recreate the post again! Summary: I spent a good deal of saturday and sunday creating the rows that will eventually make up our small (2 acre) vineyard. This process utilized our 30hp Kubota tractor and a "sub-soiler"



that I purchased over at Tractor Supply. The sub-soiler basically "rips" the top 12-14" of soil (hardpan) giving young new roots an advantage to dig down into the soil. I was a little nervous at first, crossing my fingers that I wouldn't hit rock and that the soil would give to the tractor/sub-soiler combo. End result- no problems what-so-ever and now we're on to the next phase. I believe we're going to till over top of what has been ripped and I'm going to start digging holes for deer fence and trellis systems. I'll post a total count needed but I'm estimating somewhere in the 500+ range. This world is so much different than my "rock" world in the studio but it's a nice release and clears my head in between projects! More later- got a gassy puppy sleeping next to me!

Birthday Eve....11-16-07

I'm sitting here contemplating my birthday, not really, but I am thinking.. "hmmm, maybe I am starting to grow up..". I'm starting to do grown up things like vacations with groups of people instead of a weekend at Ocean City with crazy friends, wine dinners instead of beer and ballgames, and tracking stocks over viewing porn. Well, ok, not all the time! I do like what my life has become but it's a strange stage to go through. I went to a "grown up social event" last nite and it was interesting to be taken seriously. As if I have anything relevant to say. When I'm looking around the room and realize that I'm the youngest in the immediate vicinity and everyone else has a title prefacing their name but yet they are still interested in what I'm saying....hmmm, kind of twilight zone'ish! Mayor, Dean, Doctor, Father......weird. Cool. Weird.

Ah, speaking of "father".....I got a call from Jodi who was at the vet with Elsa the other day. All I heard were the words "could you come down here"... Regardless of her saying "it's not serious"...doesn't matter. Thats my little girl who may be in trouble! So I arrive at the vet and suspiciously everything looks fine... in fact, it looks so fine that they are playing with a ...... puppy?In fact that puppy is now asleep on my foot at home while I'm doing this blog. Do evenings get any better? Fireplace is rocking, Johnny Dangerously is on the tele, giant glass of white wine and a small dog sleeping on my giant foot! Ladies and gentleman, let me present....um, er, puppy? Got any recommendations? Sasha is currently the #1 name on the list! Send me some thoughts!

Riviera Maya, Mexico

Ah...Mexico! My vacation officially starts today even though we've been here for 5 days now! I've spent the last 3 full days studying and diving, doing something that I never really thought that I would do- getting my dive certification! It put a damper on my drinking agenda and my night hours but totally fulfilling! So far I've made 4 ocean dives spending a little over 3 hours on the bottom! What a cool, other world! I wish I had an underwater camera! The book studies sucked- not difficult, just a lot of information thrown at you in between dives, dinners at the resort, etc. Lots to remember and multiple written tests to go along with it. (4 main tests of 10 questions and then a 50 question final exam). Of course the tests are setup so that if you fail by a certain number then you can't dive, need to study more, and then take additional tests. I didn't really want to do that so somehow I stumbled through and managed to get 47 of 50 right! woot! I'm taking today off and staying off the bottom but I believe Mark, Dave and Eric and I are doing a night dive tomorrow- it's supposed to be pretty spectacular as that's when things like Octopus come out. To date I've seen a million fish, a couple of sea turtles, rays, lobster, moray eels, and copulating flounders. So cool!

We're staying at the Aventura Spa Resort in Riviera Maya Mexico. The resort is very nice, service impeccable, food.... eh, booze.. lovely and accomodations and spa are fantastic! As far as I'm concerned, any place that has bottles of liquor mounted to your bedroom wall, delivers 24 hour room service, champagne and bottles of bailey's to your room is just fine with me. Of course, its all included so hey- I'm fine with abusing the system! Well, enough sitting in the room- time for me to head out to the gym and then maybe a stop in the hydrotherapy spa. Life's tough right? Hmm, do I have the champagne and orange juice or the mudslide on the way over to the gym? Decisions, decisions, decisions..... :)

Here's a link to the dive shop and the god folks over there! Dive Aventuras