I have been in the tropics and then to Alaska – all in one week! Yes, it is tiring being a world traveler, but somebody’s gotta do it – right? OK, I really didn’t go to the tropics – or Alaska. But, I felt like I had been! We had both extremes right
 Yeah – we are almost finished pruning the vineyard! The pruned vineyard still looks a bit bleak but clean and sunset is a beautiful time of day to be on top of the filter house overlooking the vineyard. We have had some very warm weather followed by freezing weather! Once the sap starts  We have expanded the vineyard another 5 acres this year! We added 4 acres of Montepulciano and another acre of Aglianico. Both are Italian red varieties and make full bodied, dark red wines. I would have to say that harvest is definitely the most exciting time of year but planting is the next!  Our vines arrived Thursday – all 5 acres of them. And, it only took two FedEx boxes to hold them! We will be expanding the vineyard another 5 acres this year. The new grapes to be planted are more Montepulciano and Aglianico. Both are Italian varieties and make full bodies red wines. We  Today on Family Fridays I have a couple of highlights to share. The week started with decanting the Aglianico and Montepulciano wines we have settling in our shed- 90 gallons of each – that is a lot of wine! Don’t worry mom, we will not drink all of it – we give a  Last week on Family Fridays, I explained about pre-pruning with our Pellenc 4560 grape harvester. After pre-pruning is completed, hand pruning is done to further prepare the vineyard for fruit production. We are in the process of hand pruning the vineyard now. You can see a vine which has been pre-pruned in the picture  It is that time of year again! Time to break out of our lazy winter, no-work lull (ha-ha!) and start pruning the vineyard. Pre-pruning is done mechanically and saves us a lot of time. The pre-pruner cuts the vines down to the desired height, removing and mulching the excess vine growth from the  We will be planting another 5+ acres of grapes in the spring – 4 1/2 acres of Montepulciano and 1 acre of Aglianico – that equals 16 more rows! While we will not be doing the actual planting of the vines until sometime in March, we are already getting ready! Our slow season (fall  I thought you might enjoy seeing what a change has occurred in the vineyard since harvest. No longer is it the vibrant green signalling life and growth. After harvest, the vines continue to store carbohydrates in preparation for next year. Once the first freeze occurs, leaves began to die and start falling off the  As I posted earlier, we are hobby winemakers with the aspiration of having our own, real winery one day. As a result, our batches of wine have been scaled up to larger volume – of course, having your own grapes helps! The Montepulciano we ferment in our tote was pressed out and will |
     
 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has definitely been challenging. Besides frugality, farm life and simple living, I have learned the importance of diet, quality of food and traditional cooking. Through the GAPS diet, I am successfully reversing my rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and food allergies. I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have as I share my life with you. 
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