Planting Wine Bottles

Before I get to my latest revelation in planting, I have to introduce you to a new face in these photos. 

This is Kevin, my best friend from high school's husband.  Kevin, a farm boy from Iowa, and Aaron, a farm boy from Wisconsin, both found themselves married to two Minnesota girls.  They've found some common ground (no pun intended) in their small town background and have formed a bit of good ol' boy bond between them.

Sometimes Kevin will call up Aaron and say, "Hey, can I come over and burn some leaves?"   And the two of them will stand around burning leaves, drinking beer and talking about tractors. 

It's a type of male bonding we women will never understand. 

There should be no doubt that they would take the opportunity to bond over stump grinding a few weeks ago. 

I really hate to admit this, but one of the stumps was from an old lilac tree we cut down last year.  It was a painful decision to make to take that down because fresh-cut lilacs are one of my favorite things in this world.  But for the two weeks in May they are actually in bloom, their scent and beauty are almost enough to make their dry and dead appearance the rest of the year worthwhile. Almost.  But the unattractive straggly bush blocking the view of the vineyard 50 weeks out of the year was enough to pull the string on the lilac bush.  Plus, we have another one, so I didn't feel like I was totally losing out by cutting one down.

The boys went to work.  

Using big machines requiring them to sweat and flex their muscles...while I supervised.

It was male bonding at its finest. 

And I wasn't about to stop them. 

And after a long morning of stump grinding, they sat back in the Adirondack chairs with what I can only describe as a Big Gulp.

While they relaxed, I was left to ponder what to do with the big plot of dirt in the middle of the yard where the stump once resided.  We either had to plant grass seed... or plant something else.  After careful thought and consideration, I decided to make good use of all of our empty wine bottles and try and increase our wine production.  I planted wine bottles.

What?

Oh.  That isn't how you make wine?  Plant a bottle and grow a wine tree?

Well, a girl can try. 

They do, however, make a pretty cool garden border.  At least the one I saw in the magazine looked pretty cool, and this seemed like a good opportunity to turn this little plot into a garden area and try it out.

My arm got a little tired after digging a few holes to fit the length of a wine bottle, so I asked Aaron if he had any tricks up his sleeve for some quick hole digging. 

Never doubt him.  He has a trick for everything.  He pulled out the extension cord, power drill, and an attachment and drilled me some holes.

Seriously, have you ever seen gardening so masculine? 

When was the last time you used a power drill when you were gardening?  I'd recommend it.  It saved me a lot of blisters on my hands.

And I got my wine bottles planted, laid some fresh red mulch...

And am still toying around with the aesthetics a bit.  Like, should I use all green bottles, or a mix of clear, green and brown?  And if I mix them, should I alternate colors?  Should I keep the two champagne bottles in there for size and dimension?  Should I plant hostas in here or flowers?  So many questions. 

I thought briefly....very briefly about using our collection of wine corks for mulch.  But thought that would be a little too much.  Plus, I'd need a lot of corks. 

I'll let you know how it all turns out in the end.  But for now, I like the open view much better.

I think it's fair to say I've done my "green" duty for the year in finding new life for used wine bottles as chandeliers and garden borders.  If you have any creative ideas for recycling wine bottles, I'd love to hear them!

Q & A with the Winemaker

You asked, he answered.

Thank you for encouraging Aaron in his blog post debut!  Due to the number of topic suggestions and questions we received for him on a previous post, we decided to make this a "Q & A with the Winemaker" to address them all. I paraphrased a few questions that were similar and sent them to Aaron to answer himself.  

Without further ado,

Aaron, take it away....


Q: How did you get into winemaking? What sparked your interest in wine-tasting, wine-making, and eventually, vineyard development? Did one thing just lead to another? Did this happen a long time ago or fairly recently, like a decade ago?

A. In college, I started working as a bartender at a fancy restaurant and my boss held a wine tasting for the employees. I was immediately hooked. Within a week, I searched on the net on how they made wine and found out that you can make it at home from almost anything that has sugar. I ran out to buy some Welch’s grape juice and some yeast and started to experiment. The first couple of batches were horrible. My college roommates as well as family members probably still remember the horrible taste from those batches, but the roommates didn’t care because it was free booze! Out of college, my wine making passion grew until I found out you can grow hybrid wine grapes here in Minnesota and realized this can be done in this climate. Growing grapes came as a second job because I feel the winemaker and grape grower really need to be as unified as possible (time permitting) to get the best quality. The best wine starts with the grapes.

Q. Why do you start certain projects before others--what are your priories?

A. For those that do not know my day job, I am a project manager (I plan out large IT stuff) so this comes naturally. I start with the end result in mind and try to work backwards by estimating how long each task takes and based on what needs to be done first and develop a critical path of tasks to reach the end result (ie. You have to plant the vines first and then put stakes for them to grow up.) Next I figure out the tasks I can do with a beer in hand without spilling and make those a priority as well – it takes a lot of beer to make wine (quoted from many prestigious wine makers).

Q. How do you learn all this stuff? Reading or hands on?

A. I started with reading material and lots of books and mixed in some courses provided by the U of M, which has a great introduction to set a good foundation. I also volunteered at a local winery (St. Croix Vineyards) which gave great hands on experience in both the vineyard as well as tasting room. Lastly, drinking wine at night on a regular basis also seems to seep in through osmosis.

Q. Can you speak to your Marquette grape experiences?

A. Yes, I have made two batches so far and have bottled only once. For those who do not know, Marquette is a new grape that has the best characteristic for a dry red so far within this climate (lower acid and good sugar levels). The challenge is because it is so new, winemakers are trying to figure out the best way to work it. My winemaker notes are here for those that are into this grape and winemaking for the geeks out there:


2008 Marquette

Harvested: 9-20-08, brix: 25.5, ph: 3.3, yeast: Pasteur Red, twice daily punch down, 9-26-08 added Malo-Lactic bacteria, 10-20-08 – added medium oak chips, 6-20-09 – cold stabilized and added a second level of Oak, 12-20 – 09 bottled – racked 4 times with no filtration.


2009 Marquette
Harvested: 9-28-09 beginning: brix 21.5, ph: 3.2, yeast: Pasteur Red, added 1 tps of yeast nutrient per gallon; twice daily punch down; 11-16- 09 –heavy oak chips. 1-26 -10 added Malo-Lactic blend.


Q. Where, did you get those sexy coveralls?

A. Thanks, this one you have to ask my wife on as she picked them up somewhere but I also used them as my Halloween custome (fighter pilot) and it worked out well. I was trying to go for Maverick but I was mistaken for Goose.

Q. What is your favorite wine and why?


A. Besides free wine, I have many favorites depending on what the action is taken with, white sweet in the middle of summer, port for desert. But my everyday favorite is a Meritage. A Red Meritage is a blend of two or more of the red “noble” Bordeaux varieties — Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and the rarer St. Macaire, Gros Verdot and Carmenère. If the blend includes any other grape variety, it is, by definition, not a Meritage. Also, to qualify as a Meritage, no single grape variety can make up more than 90% of the blend. I like the smoothness and complexity of this type of wine and my future goal as a wine maker is to create something with the complexity with these French hybrid wines.

Q. Do you have a brother?

A. Yes, unfortunately he is married with two kids and not nearly as exciting (just kidding, Corey). Actually, he is a pilot who has crashed an airplane and walked away, so he definitely has his own stories. But he is very happily married to one of my best friend’s childhood sweetheart (ironic story).

Q. I wanna hear the story of how you met your wife and dragged her out to wine country story- please please please?

A. I think I will reserve this for my wife within one of her future posts! But I will give you a teaser and tell you that it all started with lederhosen.



There you have it!  If you have more questions for Aaron/the Gentleman Farmer/the Winemaker, feel free to pose them at any time and we will try to do these Q & A posts periodically. 

Our Vineyard Protectors

We thought we'd be making a name for ourselves in our neighborhood as that nice couple growing the beautiful vineyard. Turns out, we might be making a better name for ourselves as that nice couple with those two adorable big dogs.

Okay fine.  That nice vineyard farmer and his wife who's always chasing after those two gigantic dogs that she has no control over. 

With nearly 13 acres, our dogs have plenty of room to run and play.  The problem is they don't know which 13 acres.  A number of recent incidents lead me to believe our neighbors must think we are completely nuts.

• My neighbor and his two small children came to our door on Saturday morning returning Belle, who had broken free of her tie-out without our noticing.  I answered the door in my pink fuzzy bathrobe as they explained that Belle had run over to their yard to play soccer with the little kids. 

I never would have put her as a soccer player, but maybe we have a Pele on our hands. 

• When I took them out early one morning for what I thought would be a quick bathroom break, I wore Aaron's size 12 tennis shoes and my pink fuzzy bathrobe, simply out of convenience.  Tux saw a bird, and took off, breaking free of my kung fu grip on the leash.  And since I was using one of those coupler leashes, Belle went with him and they chased a bird three doors down.  As a size 6 foot myself, I might as well have been wearing clown shoes and a red ball on my nose while chasing them across the neighbor's front lawn. 

• Tux is a peeping Tom.  

He will peak through our bedroom window and wait for our neighbors to come outside.  Or their dog.  I'm not sure which.  But, I believe he is one set of binoculars short of the neighbors getting a restraining order.  We're still working on manners with him.  He doesn't know it's impolite to spy. 

• Last Saturday night, I chased them 1/2 mile down the gravel road, through the full length of the grass-strip runway in the airport next door and down the long gravel driveway of some neighbor's house across the way that we've never met.  I lurked in their backyard as I whispered sharply, "Tux. Belle. C'MERE" and lunged towards them to grab their collars while nervously eyeing the large living room window facing the backyard, wondering if anyone was watching.  Or calling the police. 

• On Sunday, when the dogs saw a bird while I was "walking" them on the leash, they pulled to the point I couldn't hold on anymore.  I let go, only as an alternative to taking a nose dive and being dragged into the neighbor's cornfield.  I ran back to the house, panting, and told Aaron to get the 4-wheeler.  When we retrieved the dogs, who still had the leash attached, I drove the 4-wheeler home while Aaron rode on back holding the leash with the dogs running and panting alongside down the gravel road.  If you really want to tire out your dogs, walk them next to a 4-wheeler. 

These dogs are smarter than we originally thought.

I find their bird chasing annoying.

Aaron finds it brilliant.

Birds + Grapes = Not much of a wine business

It is apparent now that Tux has surpassed me in weight.  And power. And he knows it.  Every day seems a bit more difficult with the two of them on the leash, and quite frankly, I can't walk both of them at once.  Tux knows that if he really wants to chase that bird, I really can't stop him.  And apparently he doesn't care if his mama makes a fool of herself in front of all the neighbors.  I never thought I would meet so many neighbors because they've found me in their garage trying to capture my dogs.  That's usually where I end up catching them because they end up in a space where they can't run. 

It's a great first impression really; Trespassing on other people's property, trying not to be noticed, and then introducing yourself when they find you in their garage. 

Now if only we could find a way to let our dogs, run, play and chase birds in the vineyard, but find a more effective way to teach them our 12.5 acre boundary.  A way where I can get some of my dignity back.   

Hmmmm....

And so, this weekend's project is to install an invisible fence.

Around ALL 12.5 acres. 

We just have to convince our accountant it is a business write-off.  It's for our vineyard protection and bird defense!

The 11am Farm Wife

One of the most difficult things for me to adjust to living on a farm is the whole getting up at the crack of dawn to start working outdoors until sundown thing.  You see, I'm not a morning person.  My mom will tell you I've been like this since I was young.  It's not that I sleep-in to an ungodly hour, because I do get up at a reasonable time.  Maybe not a farmer reasonable time, but early enough.  It's just that I like to sit around in my pink fuzzy bathrobe and drink three cups of coffee while doing putzy things around the house before I really feel awake and ready enough to get to my chores outside.  Which is usually around 11am on a Saturday. 

Take this morning.  When the dogs started whining and playfully thumping their tails against our bed at 5:30am, I promptly swept them out of the bedroom so that I could sleep longer.  Aaron was out of bed by 7:30am, hooking up the trailer to the Jeep and off to rent a stump grinder so that he can, well, grind some stumps on the property today.  Apparently, this is really important. 

And here I sit, in the office-blogging.  Taking sideways glances at our whiteboard with Aaron's honey-do list for me.  Knowing I should be getting the riding lawn mower started or tending to my flats in the greenhouse.  I'll get to it.  I will.  It's just that I don't know how to start the mower by myself. 

Did you think I was kidding about my pink fuzzy bathrobe?  

This is only my second cup of coffee.

We have a list of Aaron's chores and a list of Ashley's chores.  We throw things on there for each other as things come up.  And you'll notice at the top of Aaron's list, boldly written, is his job to fix my shoe closet door, which fell of its track.  One of the downfalls of living in an older house.  I mean, really, what good farm wife can get any work done without easy access to her shoe closet?  

I hear Aaron--he's home.  I better get going before he finds me still in my pajamas. 

*We haven't forgotten about Aaron's post!  Thanks for all of your questions for him.  We'll try and find a day this week to get to that, right after I get him to fix my shoe closet door.  But right now, grinding stumps is his priority.

Shopping Cart Corral Update

I love when people ask me what I did over the weekend.  My response to those questions is usually something fairly generic like, "Oh, we got a lot of projects done outside."  I guess because that makes me sounds like less of a lunatic and doesn't provoke as many follow-up questions as a more specific answer does, like, "We built-out and painted some shopping cart corrals and moved them into the vineyard with the tractor." 

Which is what we did today.  Generic answers are just easier.  If you are just starting to read now and wondering why the heck we have shopping cart corrals to begin with, you can catch up here.  

Once we finished enclosing them, Aaron drove the tractor, which held up one cart corral with a big yellow bar.

I was supposed to be directing him since we were moving it from the garage, (where we had enclosed it with plywood, put doors and locks on, and painted it), out into a spot in the middle of the vineyard to be used as a storage shed. 

As you can image, Aaron couldn't see very well from inside..

So he was relying on me to direct him on where to go and where to turn. 

And you can see by the number of pictures I took, I was clearly very focused on my duties as a shopping cart corral traffic director.

While we were performing this circus act, I couldn't help but think of the movie The Jerk, an all-time favorite of mine.

I was remembering the scene where Steve Martin was a gas pumper and called the cops to describe the criminals who had just left his gas station. After he failed to keep them at the gas station by hooking a rope from the bumper of their car to the building next door he said to the police very non-challantly, "They'll be driving a blue Chevy 4-door.  And they'll be heading south on Furtado Street.....And they'll be pulling a small church.  So any blue, Chevy 4-door going south on Furtado Street, pulling a small church.  That'd probably be them."

And this looked about as ridiculous.

I waved to some neighbors who were out on their deck, watching, what appeared to them to be, just a white shed-like structure moving at the speed of 3 miles an hour across the field.

Hey Neighbors!  Nothing to see here!  Just a typical day at Schram Vineyards.

And I couldn't help but think of The Jerk again and putting that into my own movie script. 

"Yeah, he'll be driving a red, Massey Ferguson tractor.  About 28 horsepower."

"The driver will have brown hair, about 6'3."

        "He'll be going west through Schram Vineyards...

...And he'll be hauling a large shopping cart corral."

"So any red, Massey Ferguson, 28 horsepower tractor driving west through Schram Vineyards...

hauling a large shopping cart corral....

Yeah, that'd probably be him.  That's your guy."

It's a lot funnier if you've actually seen the movie.  

 And if you haven't seen The Jerk...you should. 

It's a classic.

And finally we got the new shopping cart shed settled into place in the vineyard. 

Phew!  We made it.  There it is!

And when we walked back up, I snapped a picture from up above, thankful that the white shed in the field looked more like a charming barn from a distance.  I also wanted to get a picture of Aaron, who was going out in the vineyard to spray with his spray backpack on. Just because I thought it was cute, like he was going out on his first day of school. 

Aaron?  Aaron?  What are you looking at?  Smile for the camera.

"Don't take a picture of me!" He said. 

"Get a picture of that! What's going on?"

So I turned around...

And saw this!

All of these pictures were taken from our yard as I watched traffic on our road pick up.  The whole Township was out trying to find out the source of all that black smoke. 

And then I saw our neighbor jump in his plane on the grass strip right next to our house. 

I've always thought this was the coolest looking plane.

 I watched him take off into the smoke, probably trying to get a view from above.

But then I lost him, right as he was about to fly right into it.  At least it looked that way to me, but he probably was just circling around it.. 

I went inside the house shortly after this and when I came back out, Aaron said I had missed all the fire trucks and the helicopter that landed on our lake to get water for the fire.  Dang it!  So much for my thorough photo-journalistic reporting.

I thought about sending my pictures to the news station, but figured they probably didn't care that much about our little Township out here.  Until I went to Kare11.com and saw this on the front page!  At least now we know it was a grass fire!  And thank goodness it didn't spread over to us! 

I don't call this Adventures in Vineyardland for nothing.  What did you do this weekend?