Spring!

This is the first time I can remember when the official first day of spring actually seems to be a little tardy.  March 21st in Minnesota usually feels like anything but spring.  Often still some snow on the ground and if we have had any spring-like temps, it is usually just a teaser before they fall into the 40s again for a few days.  I  usually declare "open-toe weather" to be mid-April thru September, but I've broken my rule this year and have already pulled out my flip flops and sandals.  Nearly a full month with temps in the 60s and 70s with the 10-day forecast showing nothing but comfortable spring temps, a little rain, and this spring is actually looking like....spring!

In Minnesota, the ice doesn't usually come off the lake until somewhere around the first or second week of April.  This year, the ice was off on the lake in front of us by March 18th!  The grass was still looking a little brown on Sunday, but after a night of rain, it turned completely green on Monday.

Aaron has been in heaven with this weather since he's had a brief reprieve from his consulting work.  A combination of the down-time and the nice weather has allowed him to actually make a dent in his long list of projects.  Stringing wire, raking up all the pruned grapevines, cleaning out the garage and even planting some new grapevines!  Yes, we are a little worried about getting early bud break followed by frost this spring.  We can get frost into early May around here, which is still a ways off!  Aaron has left lots of buds on the vines this year just in case this happens and we lose some buds.

Last weekend, Axel and I went out to help a little bit too.  He's at a great age right now since he is exploring his independence and there is just so much to see and do outside!  I can plop him in the big wagon with some toys and take him out to the vineyard and he'll walk around digging in the dirt, eating it (yes-he did try!), while Dad (and Mom too!) do some work outside.  We were so proud to see dirt under his fingernails!  He even helped by carrying around the bamboo poles and the colored tape we use to identify the different grapevines.

Aaron tried out a process called grafting.  It is a way to turn one type of vine into another by attaching a cutting of one type of grapevine onto the established root and vine of another.  In this case, he wanted to turn a Briana into a Petite Pearl simply because he wants his Briana plants in a different location and there were three Briana plants where he decided he wants to have all of his Petite Pearl instead.  He figured if he could turn those three existing plants into Petite Pearl through this grafting process, we could get fruit on it by next year, rather than tearing out the old plant and planting a new one and waiting another three years for it to grow again.  Pretty cool way to do it if it works!

This weekend's big project--planning out the garden!  After last summer when my hands were pretty tied up with a little infant, I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty again this year and getting my prize zucchinis and all sorts of good veggies back in my garden!!  We decided to start from scratch this year, pulling up the landscape fabric, tilling it up, building a new fence and making it more aesthetically pleasing and gardener friendly.  Thinking something like this...

Which means, we have a lot of work ahead of us!  

Catch-up

I didn't post about this earlier, since it came up rather quickly and per my usual, I got caught up on something else and forgot that I forgot about posting about it.  Then we went on vacation, which was bliss (pictures below), and now I am just getting back into the swing of things again.

So I am posting it now.

Aaron and I had the chance to present at our Township board meeting last month!  As I mentioned in a previous post on our winery progress, getting over this hump is a big one for us.

All it took was one email to the Township saying we wanted to start discussions on our winery plans, and boom, we were on the agenda for their next meeting.

We went in prepared, confident in our story and our plan, but cautiously optimistic.  We didn't want to be too hopeful the outcome would be totally in our favor.

I have to hand it to Aaron because after we introduced ourselves and gave some background, Aaron gave a presentation that covered all of their concerns.  He was able to proactively address any issues that might have come back to us.  He explained exactly how we plan to mitigate any potential issues.  These include, traffic, parking, water and sewer, etc. And, it's hard not to be captivated and inspired when listening to Aaron talk so passionately about his vineyard and winery plans and dreams. By the time he was done, there wasn't much to argue with.  The board members were practically raising a glass of Marquette and toasting to the idea!

Okay, maybe not.  But by the end he had cracked a few smiles on their previously stoic faces and got them asking questions (purely out of their own curiosity) about Minnesota wine.  We considered that a win.

And so, while we still have a long road ahead of us and still have to circle back with the Township on the  issue of traffic and dust control, we were given the go ahead to proceed with the county in applying for our Conditional Use Permit.  That is our next task to tackle.

The wheels are in motions!

With regards to our vacation, it was wonderful!
We had a little vacation getaway to Cabo San Lucas earlier this month.   4 adults and one toddler was a pretty good vacation ratio.  Axel was such a trooper the whole week!  We hardly heard a whine out of him from the time our plane took off.  He knew we were in paradise and spent the week exploring all the new sights and sounds and made lots of friends with other vacationers along the way.  Here is just a sampling of pictures from our week: