Then and Now

The other morning at the breakfast table, Aaron and I realized it has been over three years since we moved here. The official anniversary was March 1st, but it took us until now to realize that date had come and gone. I thought it would be a good time to do a little then and now post since so much has changed since we moved in.

Moving just before spring and having adopted nearly 13 acres, about 3 of which were all lawn, Aaron informed me one of our first purchases would have to be a riding lawn mower.

Having never mowed a lawn in my life before, that thought hadn't crossed my mind. 

That statement alone should give you a gage of my naivete of the country life at that time.

We owned three houses between the two of us at that time (which a whole other story and another indicator of how things were much different in 2008), so I was bit hesitant to go out and tie up even more funds on a bunch of equipment for our newest property. 

Aaron was not.  We are a good balance for each other that way.

So we went easy on the budget to get us through that first summer and found a lawn tractor on Craigslist.

A re-habbed 1969 Cub Cadet.

Check this baby out!

It was about as ghetto as they come...but it did the trick.

Aaron used that "lawn tractor" as his one and only tractor that first summer to do all the planting of the initial 250 vines.  Here he is planting the first of what has now grown into 3500 vines.

He put up with it until that August, which was when he called me while I was traveling for work to tell me he was at Home Depot and was buying a new riding mower they had on sale.  He didn't ask.  He told me.  If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right!

He's learned that sometimes it's best to just do what he needs to do, because me being fresh out of uptown, I didn't always understand the needs of a farm or starting a vineyard.  "Now, tell me again what we need that machine for?"  It's a common question I ask.  But I have come a long way.  I've come to appreciate the riding lawn mower. 

And that following March, he bought the big red vineyard tractor, because, let's face it, a riding mower isn't going to cut it for vineyard work.

Sorry about the snow picture...it is the only good tractor picture I can find right now!

If you are counting, that is three "tractors" our first year.

But it all started with a 1969 Cub Cadet.

Another thing Aaron did that first year was plant grass seed since there had been corn and soybeans planted in the field.  For some reason or another, it is good for newly planted grass seed to get run over at  high speeds with a rake so that it gets spread evenly and can get buried under the dirt.

But without any type of 4-wheeler or rake attachment, Aaron had to use his home built Hummer with a chainlink fence attached to the back to utilize as a rake. 

We hadn't met our neighbors yet.  Little did we know at the time, they were looking out their windows watching their new neighbor speed across the field at 60 mph with a chainlink fence attached to the back of this a big black Army-like truck.

Whaaaat in the world???  I can't imagine what they thought of us.

Today, that same neighbor who was laughing at Aaron three years ago is now our newest employee.  That's right...Schram Vineyards has hired help!

I've mentioned Les in previous posts as he's been out to help for our planting parties.  Now that Les has gotten to know Aaron and better understands the method behind his madness, he's really warmed up to what we have going on in his backyard.  As a retired carpenter who loves manual labor and being outdoors, this seemed like a good fit.   Aaron has been training him on some of the vineyard projects we have going on for this year and Les can work at his leisure since we are just in his backyard.  Takes a lot of pressure off of this new mama too! 

Three years ago, Aaron came home one day with about 15 packets of vegetable seeds and threw them on the kitchen table.

"What are those for?"  I asked.

"Our vegetable garden!" He said. "I was thinking you could be in charge of that..." 
And a monster was created.  Grow a vegetable garden I did.

Last night, I caught found Aaron on a seed company website.  But instead of buying the cute little 25 seed packets, he was ordering seeds in bulk. 

Like by the pound. 

We still have this vacant 4 acres plot of land, where eventually we'll plant more grapevines as we expand. But for the time being, are thinking we could grow one kick butt pumpkin patch. 

Because, you know, we don't already have enough going on this year...why not grow a boatload of pumpkins too! 

We're are still trying to make some decisions about that, and need to do so quickly, so more to come...

Three years ago, we were a couple of folks moving from the city to the country.  In hindsight, I really didn't fully comprehend the grandeur of the adventure we were about to embark on. 

Here we are, newly engaged, in our first picture taken at our place, sitting on one of Aaron's very first projects--a log bench for the campfire.

Here we are today...

 And just because I can't help myself...

Hope this smile brightens your day as much as it brightens mine. 

Long Overdue Update

Has it really been over a month since my last post?!  Ay ay ay! What can I say?  It has been a busy month. And this is just the beginning of the busy season!  I've had good intentions, but between baby and back to work, and lack of sleep, just haven't found the time.  I type this now, Sunday morning, with my little guy sleeping in my left arm. 

The snow has finally melted, but I don't want to jinx it!

The ice is coming off Reitz Lake...just a little bit left to go.

And with the temps finally rising, we've taken Axel out of hibernation, where he's been since he was born, almost three months ago!

Thought it was about time he got introduced to that big bright, yellow ball in the sky. 

I think he liked it!  Get this guy some shades!

Aaron and the dogs took a few minutes to soak in some rays also...

The dogs have missed this kind of snuggling, since we've gotten a new snuggle buddy in the house. So as soon as Aaron got on the ground with them, they were so excited to get some attention.  Notice the Duct tape on Aaron's hand?  He uses it as a band-aid for the cuts and scraps he gets in his workshop.

The dogs were in heaven.

People frequently ask us how the dogs are doing with the baby.  They really have been great!  Other than just being big and curious and totally unaware of their size, they have continued to be very protective of their new little brother.  Their favorite room in the house is still the nursery.  At bedtime, the dogs will usually come in the room when I am feeding him or reading a story and lay at my feet.  The challenge is always getting them out of the room when we put Axel in his crib.

Have you ever tried to move 200 lbs. of dead weight dog?  It's not easy.

Belle is particularly motherly. 

Funny how gender differences carry over into dogs. When I knelt down to let the dogs see and smell the baby while he was in the Baby Bjorn, Belle gingerly walked over and sniffed the baby, gently nudging him with her nose, tilting her head in curiosity.

While Tux just sat there scratching himself.

Rattling his collar.

He's been just as curious, but he lacks the delicate touch.  Poor guy...it's tough to be delicate with paws that size!

Belle even tolerates a ride on her back. 

Tux gets too excited when we try to do this to him. 

Our neighbors dropped by the other day too.

No, they are not Amish.  But they do have horses and came to stop by to see if we wanted to take a wagon ride. 

You just don't get that in the city.

Or the suburbs.

We had to pass on the wagon ride because we were expecting some vineyard equipment to be delivered any minute, but we did get a quick family picture with the horses.

Except we had to put the dogs inside.  They didn't quite know what to do seeing four-legged creatures that much larger than them. 

They barked and ran circles around the horses, who just stood there like, "Yeah, whatcha gonna do?"

Aaron's been busy, busy out in the garage building all sorts of machines and I finally got out to the shop to take a peek.  For instance, this debris fork and sprayer he built from scratch as tractor attachments.

Kind of intimidating looking if you ask me!  It's like a big, black, ominous piece of metal sitting at the entrance of the garage.  It almost looks like a security device! 

But I will say, pretty amazing Aaron's managed to use whatever spare time he's had this winter to build these things. 

And he even gave us a preview of the air blast sprayer he built for spraying the grapevines for fungicide this year.  It was pretty exciting seeing the final product in action.  It works!

The man is handy.

And resourceful.

And efficient.

....

And creative.

Why waste a perfectly good, clean pair of Pampers just because the tab fell off when putting on a new diaper? 

Duct tape can fix anything! 

Next weekend is going to be a big vineyard maintenance weekend.  Anyone around looking for something to do, come on out and help!  We'll get a big bonfire going if we have dry weather.  Just let us know if you plan on coming and we can talk details.

Have a great week!