God has been good, life has been full. I cleaned up the garage with the help of my younger siblings. It badly needed it, we use it as a wood shop and it gets messy. I can now work on a few projects without danger of serious death or injury. ; )
After that they helped me fill two rain barrels in trade for me helping them build a terrain for the LotR models they are into. I agreed and they hauled the water to fill 2 55 gallon barrels. I filled up the one with the hose first and than filled the other. I checked on the one with the hose and it was half empty. The spigot is broken, no matter which way you turn it water comes out. Rather than bother to return it I will probably just place the hose where I need water and fill it up. Its what I do half the time anyway.
The fruit order arrived at my cousins house today. I talked on the phone with him about how to keep everything from dying until next week when he comes. He put the asparagus and rhubarb in the fridge and put the others in pots. One of the raspberries was dead upon arriaval. Sent an email. If it is to complex I will not bother with refund. He is already planning on bringing me several apple cuttings, more red raspberries from them, and black raspberries. More blueberry cuttings, and grass seed. We will be working hard in the garden while he is here. Along with having to work a few days on the bread route, though I might be able to get my two younger siblings to go. That would be nice. Give us more time to work.
Anyway, can't talk a whole lot. 8.5 hours of sleep and about the same last night doesn't give me enough. And I am getting about the same tonight. But, I have fresh coffee and biscotti to look forward to. I have a deadline to till (the owners have to use it), so I will be doing the tilling I have put off until now tomorrow. Along with trying to fit in school. And probably end up doing some research about something on the internet. I love it!
Good night dear friends! Sleep well in peace, and God be with you!
English Vintner
"Such stuff as dreams are made on"-Shakespear, The Tempest
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Gardening
On Sunday night I picked up a few pot containers, probably 35-40 gallon size, along with planting pots and hanging containers. This evening I put one outside the greenhouse and filled with a mix of dirt I made up. Bottom 2 inches had some sand than top soil with straw, than leaf mold with horse manure for the top 10 inches. I sifted the leaf mold and horse manure for fine soil. I planted out an Amethyst Purple Basil plant. I will direct seed a few more soon. After getting it filled up and before planting in I watered it with 8 gallons of water. It thoroughly soaked the soil and drained out tons. I thought about this, and saw that the resulting liquid was brown from the manure. So I quickly dug a small trench down to the garlic bed. I than placed rocks all along it, filled it with sand, and covered with soil. Now whenever I water it any that drain will go down into the bed, conserving water!
I made labels for the raspberries and hops. Several of the raspberry plants from last year are coming up from the root, though the original canes are dead. And two blueberries made it through last year with absolutely no care. My cousin brought up with him on spring break 10 plants of one variety, and is bringing up 6-8 more of another kind. They are just cuttings. All the ones he brought are budding. So, if all survive I will have 18-20 blueberry plants. In 3-4 years they should be producing well. And when I have my own house I can take cuttings from here. I ordered a few red and black raspberries that my cousin is bring with him in two weeks. I think three of each. I will probably make a deep bed and plant them in a deep bed, I have heard good results from it. Also, I have a friend whom I should be getting some more raspberries from soon, maybe even some golden! The strawberries are doing VERY well. They are getting quite big, and flowering!!! Yes, so we should be having some fruit by May! I don't know how much to expect this year, but next year I am sure I will get even more. Probably in 2-3 years from now I will replant strawberries and take out the strawberry bed and turn it into a vegetable bed. What I will more than likely do is take runners from these plants and plant in new.
I just ordered grape vines. I am hoping they come in time for my cousin and I to plant. I also ordered a few for him, so I am hoping that they come for that reason too. I ordered a few table grape vines (a few seedless, but thinner skin and less sweet). I ordered a Chardonnay for white grape vines. I ordered for red grape vines, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Concord, and a few others. I plan on planting all of them along the fence of our property, but I might plant a few some where else. Along the fence provides a slope, which is good for drainage, and is what grapes are typically grown on. I hope in a few years to be making some wine from these.
Another thing I recently ordered was currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, asparagus, I also ordered the raspberries from the same place. I ordered black, red, white, and champagne currants. I ordered pixwell and the other kind of gooseberries. I ordered a few crowns of rhubarb, and I think 20 crowns of asparagus. This is a big example of something I am planting here, and plan on taking cuttings when I have my own house. Currants and gooseberries are not easy to buy (plants), and are expensive. Not only to say it is almost impossible to buy them in the US. (Makes me want to live in Ireland or Scotland!).
I am feeling anxious and some what discouraged with some of the things that are not coming up in my garden, or are doing poorly. But I need to remember, that most people around here don't even have any plants in! So, I need to keep that in mind when I get discouraged, that I am still doing better than most people, so be thankful.
Bees. I have not fixed the hives yet. But it is easy to do, it will just take an hour or two to do all of them. The frames are all built, but the frames that hold the brood I cannot put in the foundation (wax) because I don't have wires or pins to hold them, so I am a little bit at a dilemma.
Anyway, enough rambling. :) My brother is telling me it is time to go watch a movie, so I will go! Have fun, enjoy life, and live it for God!
God Bless you!
English Vintner
I made labels for the raspberries and hops. Several of the raspberry plants from last year are coming up from the root, though the original canes are dead. And two blueberries made it through last year with absolutely no care. My cousin brought up with him on spring break 10 plants of one variety, and is bringing up 6-8 more of another kind. They are just cuttings. All the ones he brought are budding. So, if all survive I will have 18-20 blueberry plants. In 3-4 years they should be producing well. And when I have my own house I can take cuttings from here. I ordered a few red and black raspberries that my cousin is bring with him in two weeks. I think three of each. I will probably make a deep bed and plant them in a deep bed, I have heard good results from it. Also, I have a friend whom I should be getting some more raspberries from soon, maybe even some golden! The strawberries are doing VERY well. They are getting quite big, and flowering!!! Yes, so we should be having some fruit by May! I don't know how much to expect this year, but next year I am sure I will get even more. Probably in 2-3 years from now I will replant strawberries and take out the strawberry bed and turn it into a vegetable bed. What I will more than likely do is take runners from these plants and plant in new.
I just ordered grape vines. I am hoping they come in time for my cousin and I to plant. I also ordered a few for him, so I am hoping that they come for that reason too. I ordered a few table grape vines (a few seedless, but thinner skin and less sweet). I ordered a Chardonnay for white grape vines. I ordered for red grape vines, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Concord, and a few others. I plan on planting all of them along the fence of our property, but I might plant a few some where else. Along the fence provides a slope, which is good for drainage, and is what grapes are typically grown on. I hope in a few years to be making some wine from these.
Another thing I recently ordered was currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, asparagus, I also ordered the raspberries from the same place. I ordered black, red, white, and champagne currants. I ordered pixwell and the other kind of gooseberries. I ordered a few crowns of rhubarb, and I think 20 crowns of asparagus. This is a big example of something I am planting here, and plan on taking cuttings when I have my own house. Currants and gooseberries are not easy to buy (plants), and are expensive. Not only to say it is almost impossible to buy them in the US. (Makes me want to live in Ireland or Scotland!).
I am feeling anxious and some what discouraged with some of the things that are not coming up in my garden, or are doing poorly. But I need to remember, that most people around here don't even have any plants in! So, I need to keep that in mind when I get discouraged, that I am still doing better than most people, so be thankful.
Bees. I have not fixed the hives yet. But it is easy to do, it will just take an hour or two to do all of them. The frames are all built, but the frames that hold the brood I cannot put in the foundation (wax) because I don't have wires or pins to hold them, so I am a little bit at a dilemma.
Anyway, enough rambling. :) My brother is telling me it is time to go watch a movie, so I will go! Have fun, enjoy life, and live it for God!
God Bless you!
English Vintner
Monday, 12 April 2010
Hops
I got the hops from a friend at church, picked them up for me at eBrew (the wine/brew store in Charlotte). I didn't get around to planting them this morning, cause I was working so I stuck them in the 'root cellar'. Did I tell you about that? I dug a hole 18" in diameter and about 3 3.5' down. Put a few rocks in the bottom, and stuck a metal trash can inside with a lid. So I will use that for keeping my water cool, or like I did last night, I stuck the hop rhizomes (female root stock hops) in the bottom to keep cool since I could not plant this morning. Anyway, it stays below 60º in it, probably closer to 50º right now.
We stopped by Aldi today after work, I was hoping to get another hose. They did not have them, but they had raspberry plants, ever bearring for $6.19 with tax, for two plants. So, I thought it was a good buy, and raspberries are probably my FAVORITE berry. Though currants and gooseberries I am thinking might surpass them. :) Anyway, back to raspberries. I planted them on the fence.I planted both of them on it. I dug a pit pretty deep for the first one, and quite wide. Added 3 buckets of kitchen scraps, a shovel full of manure, mixed dirt on, and put bone meal that I had made. (I dried bones and used our old blender (doesn't hold liquids) to grind them up, worked well!) I put in a drain from the hole that I dug, as I am doing with all the plants I am planting on the fence. The drain for the apple tree goes down to a herb I have, the drain from niagara grape vine leads down to the comfrey I got. The drain right near the manure pile leads down to silverdollar, a ornamental plant of some sort I think. And the drain I put in under the mulch, that leads to the top deep bed where we planted onions. Well, it keeps the soil right there nice and moist. I love doing drains! I dig out a trench, put rocks in the bottom, and then sand on top, then soil on top of the sand.
Alright, hops. I got two kinds, Casecade and Mt. Hood. It sounds like I will get about 3lbs from each this year, but a lot more next year. And next year or the year after that I should be able to give you quite a few hop rhizomes and plant more my self!!!! Not only can hops be used for beer, but you can make tea, or even flavor wine with them. You add them fresh to a white wine and it gives it a nice flavor and aroma. Hops are only bitter when you boil them. Hops can grow up to 40+ ft high in one growing season! Though more tipically 25ft. I cut down branches from a poplar tree, and cut down one long one in particular, a 12ft long one, about 3 inches diameter at the bottom. I stripped it of branches and tied two strings to the top of it. I than dug a hole where I am planting them (really hard to explain where, best to show you when you come) and put the branch in the hole about 18" down, I put two rocks at the base and filled in with some dirt, tamped the dirt around the pole and than added more. I added two 5 gallon buckets of horse manure to the dirt around the hops (they need to be well fertilized). I did about the same for the other one. I am more than pleased with the hops, and look forward to a fun growing season with them. They should be really fun to watch and grow!
On Saturday my dad helped me finish up putting shingles on the back wall of the greenhouse. That should add a little more insulation this winter, and hopefully catch some sun and warm up the greenhouse. The peas in the greenhouse are flowering (4-5 plants) and I am hoping to get some pods pretty soon.
For more information on growing hops, go to: http://www.growinghopsyourself.com/ also do some searching around. I am planning on doing some research on the benefits of hops, if there are.
English Vintner
We stopped by Aldi today after work, I was hoping to get another hose. They did not have them, but they had raspberry plants, ever bearring for $6.19 with tax, for two plants. So, I thought it was a good buy, and raspberries are probably my FAVORITE berry. Though currants and gooseberries I am thinking might surpass them. :) Anyway, back to raspberries. I planted them on the fence.I planted both of them on it. I dug a pit pretty deep for the first one, and quite wide. Added 3 buckets of kitchen scraps, a shovel full of manure, mixed dirt on, and put bone meal that I had made. (I dried bones and used our old blender (doesn't hold liquids) to grind them up, worked well!) I put in a drain from the hole that I dug, as I am doing with all the plants I am planting on the fence. The drain for the apple tree goes down to a herb I have, the drain from niagara grape vine leads down to the comfrey I got. The drain right near the manure pile leads down to silverdollar, a ornamental plant of some sort I think. And the drain I put in under the mulch, that leads to the top deep bed where we planted onions. Well, it keeps the soil right there nice and moist. I love doing drains! I dig out a trench, put rocks in the bottom, and then sand on top, then soil on top of the sand.
Alright, hops. I got two kinds, Casecade and Mt. Hood. It sounds like I will get about 3lbs from each this year, but a lot more next year. And next year or the year after that I should be able to give you quite a few hop rhizomes and plant more my self!!!! Not only can hops be used for beer, but you can make tea, or even flavor wine with them. You add them fresh to a white wine and it gives it a nice flavor and aroma. Hops are only bitter when you boil them. Hops can grow up to 40+ ft high in one growing season! Though more tipically 25ft. I cut down branches from a poplar tree, and cut down one long one in particular, a 12ft long one, about 3 inches diameter at the bottom. I stripped it of branches and tied two strings to the top of it. I than dug a hole where I am planting them (really hard to explain where, best to show you when you come) and put the branch in the hole about 18" down, I put two rocks at the base and filled in with some dirt, tamped the dirt around the pole and than added more. I added two 5 gallon buckets of horse manure to the dirt around the hops (they need to be well fertilized). I did about the same for the other one. I am more than pleased with the hops, and look forward to a fun growing season with them. They should be really fun to watch and grow!
On Saturday my dad helped me finish up putting shingles on the back wall of the greenhouse. That should add a little more insulation this winter, and hopefully catch some sun and warm up the greenhouse. The peas in the greenhouse are flowering (4-5 plants) and I am hoping to get some pods pretty soon.
For more information on growing hops, go to: http://www.growinghopsyourself.com/ also do some searching around. I am planning on doing some research on the benefits of hops, if there are.
English Vintner
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Garden
Well, after much thought I have finally decided where I will put a lot of the potatoes. I rototilled a spot near the bird bath I put up. The space is roughly 7ft by 8ft on one side, and on the other side it gets wider to about 10ft. So the shape is a little odd, but thats no the point. I dumped one wheel barrow load of dirt (I'll to that later, where I got the dirt) and two wheel barrows of horse manure. I dug them in and than did a criss cross with 2x8s and 2x4s giving me something to walk on. I am doing it more of a deep bed or square foot gardening method. I am not doing rows. I checked on the potatoes in the winery and found that the white potatoes were doing good, but they had some mold on them and they were really damp in the bag. So I got them out of the bag and put them in a milk crate with the red potatoes. Both are just starting to grow eyes. I will do some 'earlies' eat them while they are still young. But hope to do some harvest ones, near the end of the summer for storing.
I am also hoping to do a lot of sweet potatoes, I have a deep bed I dug in the middle of the woods by our log cabin, and I am hoping it gets enough sun. I will probably try to plant sweet potatoes somewhere else too. I am picking up a few bales of straw soon, I want to try planting a few potatoes and sweet potatoes in them and see how they do.
I have just about everything (vegetable) that I am planting in the greenhouse or in the garden. I have a few things like pumpkins and squash, which some of it I want to plant later. Some of the squash I want to plant every month or three weeks. I am planning on growing pumpkins on the hill side where we chopped down trees to let in light. Just sorta let them go wild and hope the deer don't get them. :)
My dad helped me finish putting shingles on the back of the greenhouse, so that was nice. At some point I need to re organize me greenhouse. Take everything out for a day. Clean up everything. Put everything back in order. And before fall I would like to get about half or more of it tilled up so I can grow stuff all through the winter. I am thinking carrots, and lettuce and brassicas.
I am already planning my fall garden. Brassicas, peas, winter squash, lettuce (hoping on planting that every month or 3 weeks year round), some more root crops.
I have figured out what was going on with the bee hives. And it can be easily fixed, I was working on it when my dad wanted to put the shingles on, so it didn't get done today. I have to take off the sides and redo them, not to hard.
I put in a small 'root cellar' by the greenhouse. I dug down 3ft (hence the dirt for the potato plot), put a few rocks on the bottom and put a small metal trash can inside. In the winter I will put a bag of leaves on top to help keep it from freezing. It will keep some stuff at the garden, I can also use it to keep stuff cool, like if I make a lunch and bring it down to the garden or a drink.
I finished tilling the flower plot up by the house. Got the sunflower seeds from last year and found tons of mold all over them. I put 3-4 hundred at least in 3x3ft space in the middle of the plot, hoping I get a few. Last year I did the whole thing with sunflowers and the squirrels ate 1/8 of the seeds before sprouting, and than quite a few of the heads of the sunflowers. Next time we go to Lowes we will pick up a bag of wild flower seed mix and sprinkle that on, we've done that for the last 3-4 years.
I was looking into putting a root cellar in the corner of my winery, but have thought twice about it. The main thing being that that corner is the SW corner, which gets the most light, second it has two windows, which means I could cool it off quickly with out side air. But the main problem with them is that they don't have much insulation and it lets light in. So I am thinking the north west corner would be better. So, maybe this summer my dad and I can do that. He thinks we need to hook up a fridge to it and turn that on to keep it cool. I think if we get it just right it will work. Last year we had 20 bushels of apples and it took about 2 months to use all of them up. By the end they were going bad. But, they were in a room that was not very insulated, and I think that was the main problem. Second was that I didn't realize that to make cider I need to use the apples right when I get them instead of waiting a few weeks. So, this year I will be using them up sooner. So, I hope that I can convince him to try it without a fridge this time and see if we need it. I am looking at a space 5x7-8 ft. Don't need it real big.
Anyway, have a lot to do before tomorrow. So, I will be signing off. Every time I see rain in the forecast I rejoice! :)
~the Gardener
English Vintner
I am also hoping to do a lot of sweet potatoes, I have a deep bed I dug in the middle of the woods by our log cabin, and I am hoping it gets enough sun. I will probably try to plant sweet potatoes somewhere else too. I am picking up a few bales of straw soon, I want to try planting a few potatoes and sweet potatoes in them and see how they do.
I have just about everything (vegetable) that I am planting in the greenhouse or in the garden. I have a few things like pumpkins and squash, which some of it I want to plant later. Some of the squash I want to plant every month or three weeks. I am planning on growing pumpkins on the hill side where we chopped down trees to let in light. Just sorta let them go wild and hope the deer don't get them. :)
My dad helped me finish putting shingles on the back of the greenhouse, so that was nice. At some point I need to re organize me greenhouse. Take everything out for a day. Clean up everything. Put everything back in order. And before fall I would like to get about half or more of it tilled up so I can grow stuff all through the winter. I am thinking carrots, and lettuce and brassicas.
I am already planning my fall garden. Brassicas, peas, winter squash, lettuce (hoping on planting that every month or 3 weeks year round), some more root crops.
I have figured out what was going on with the bee hives. And it can be easily fixed, I was working on it when my dad wanted to put the shingles on, so it didn't get done today. I have to take off the sides and redo them, not to hard.
I put in a small 'root cellar' by the greenhouse. I dug down 3ft (hence the dirt for the potato plot), put a few rocks on the bottom and put a small metal trash can inside. In the winter I will put a bag of leaves on top to help keep it from freezing. It will keep some stuff at the garden, I can also use it to keep stuff cool, like if I make a lunch and bring it down to the garden or a drink.
I finished tilling the flower plot up by the house. Got the sunflower seeds from last year and found tons of mold all over them. I put 3-4 hundred at least in 3x3ft space in the middle of the plot, hoping I get a few. Last year I did the whole thing with sunflowers and the squirrels ate 1/8 of the seeds before sprouting, and than quite a few of the heads of the sunflowers. Next time we go to Lowes we will pick up a bag of wild flower seed mix and sprinkle that on, we've done that for the last 3-4 years.
I was looking into putting a root cellar in the corner of my winery, but have thought twice about it. The main thing being that that corner is the SW corner, which gets the most light, second it has two windows, which means I could cool it off quickly with out side air. But the main problem with them is that they don't have much insulation and it lets light in. So I am thinking the north west corner would be better. So, maybe this summer my dad and I can do that. He thinks we need to hook up a fridge to it and turn that on to keep it cool. I think if we get it just right it will work. Last year we had 20 bushels of apples and it took about 2 months to use all of them up. By the end they were going bad. But, they were in a room that was not very insulated, and I think that was the main problem. Second was that I didn't realize that to make cider I need to use the apples right when I get them instead of waiting a few weeks. So, this year I will be using them up sooner. So, I hope that I can convince him to try it without a fridge this time and see if we need it. I am looking at a space 5x7-8 ft. Don't need it real big.
Anyway, have a lot to do before tomorrow. So, I will be signing off. Every time I see rain in the forecast I rejoice! :)
~the Gardener
English Vintner
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Growth
Well, well. Spring is here, no doubt about it. We had a pretty cold winter, colder than most, and more snow than in a long time. But our spring started right up and it is quite warm here.
Last night I finished nailing and glueing all my bee frames. The next thing to do is finish them by putting the wax foundation in them. As far as hives go, I need to rework them a little bit. That or just put together the hive pieces that my cousin and I cut at Thanksgiving. I contacted someone locally who sells bees, but couldn't get a hold. If I can't get them locally I will see about getting them shipped in.
The garden is growing well. I didn't loose as much lettuce as I thought I did. I put the tray behind the greenhouse out of direct sun. No deer have been in the garden since winter. I am hoping that enough green things are in the woods that they won't have to eat out of my garden. I got a book from the library telling how to deer proof your garden. Basically their is no set way to deer proof you garden for every one. But more on that later.
My strawberries are doing well, growing strong. I have broccoli that is 8 inches tall, and two heads of lettuce that are ready to eat anytime. Pollen is everywhere, everytime I drive I have to turn on the windshield washers and wash the windshield. My grape vines are doing splendid, I put the muscadine pot right on the arbor so this year I will let it climb up it, and probably this fall plant it. The niagara grape vine is doing well. I just planted an apple tree from seed and I will be growing it espalier, so that should be a lot of fun.
I recently ordered gooseberries, currants, raspberries, asparagus and rhubarb. Because back in the early 1900's currant and gooseberries carried a disease that killed white pines all were banned from the US. In the 60's most states let up the ban, but some still have it. The weird thing is that most places will ship currants to NC but not the place I am ordering. So, I am shipping it to my cousins in GA and on April 23 my grandparents are coming up and they will bring that. My cousin is also sending more blueberry cuttings, a different kind for a pollinator.
A friend at church who makes wine and has a small garden and grows just about one of everything decided to grow hops this year. (I convinced him). So, this Friday, tomorrow he is picking up two hops for me also, we will pay eachother at church. Still not sure where I want to plant them yet, they grow 20-25ft per season!!! But die back to the root every winter. Next year I might get a couple more.
When I move and eventually have my own house (I'm thinking somewhere in NC/SC) I can come back to my old house and take cuttings from all the fruit and grapes and stuff that I am growing now. I am planning to order grapes soon, a few wine grapes and some table grapes. I am thinking of stopping by a local nursery and seeing the selection on fruit, might buy an apple tree. But what I would like is to go to an apple orchard and take a few cuttings, I wonder if they would mind. Just a few prunnings.
The garden up by the house is doing well. In fact the beans up here are doing better. The beans down by the other garden seem to be some what withered or something is eating them. The ones up here are growing 1/2" a day! Lettuce is doing well up here. Though I seem to have a mole in one of my gardens up here. I put a bottle in the ground, that is suppose to make vibrations they don't like, we will see. Zinnias are coming up. Down by the garden parsnips, carrots, onions, shallots, beets, coming up. Zucchini are doing the best of the vining crops. Tomatoes are rather slow. Watermelons, cantaloupe, and such are only 2 leaves right now.
I am planning on putting in beans after some of the peas are done, and than doing more peas. I am planning a huge fall garden. Hoping to do lettuce year round from now if I can. Planning quite a few brassicas through the winter, and in the greenhouse I am doing carrots, and probably rutabagas, and such through the winter. Maybe some radishes.
I need to buy more peat moss from Lowes. Along with some chicken wire.
Sometimes I wonder what good it is doing school. I have an Uncle who is a medical doctor, he said he took trig and all in collage, and now, he has math ability of about 8-9th grade. You forget so much of what you learn. Sometimes I wonder how I am doing at math, will I do well on SAT test? But than I think, its all in His hands. I know so much more about plants, winemaking, beekeeping than I would say the average adult. So, I will just leave it in His hands and trust his will in my life.
I have a lot to do today, so I will end now. Good bye.
English Vintner
Last night I finished nailing and glueing all my bee frames. The next thing to do is finish them by putting the wax foundation in them. As far as hives go, I need to rework them a little bit. That or just put together the hive pieces that my cousin and I cut at Thanksgiving. I contacted someone locally who sells bees, but couldn't get a hold. If I can't get them locally I will see about getting them shipped in.
The garden is growing well. I didn't loose as much lettuce as I thought I did. I put the tray behind the greenhouse out of direct sun. No deer have been in the garden since winter. I am hoping that enough green things are in the woods that they won't have to eat out of my garden. I got a book from the library telling how to deer proof your garden. Basically their is no set way to deer proof you garden for every one. But more on that later.
My strawberries are doing well, growing strong. I have broccoli that is 8 inches tall, and two heads of lettuce that are ready to eat anytime. Pollen is everywhere, everytime I drive I have to turn on the windshield washers and wash the windshield. My grape vines are doing splendid, I put the muscadine pot right on the arbor so this year I will let it climb up it, and probably this fall plant it. The niagara grape vine is doing well. I just planted an apple tree from seed and I will be growing it espalier, so that should be a lot of fun.
I recently ordered gooseberries, currants, raspberries, asparagus and rhubarb. Because back in the early 1900's currant and gooseberries carried a disease that killed white pines all were banned from the US. In the 60's most states let up the ban, but some still have it. The weird thing is that most places will ship currants to NC but not the place I am ordering. So, I am shipping it to my cousins in GA and on April 23 my grandparents are coming up and they will bring that. My cousin is also sending more blueberry cuttings, a different kind for a pollinator.
A friend at church who makes wine and has a small garden and grows just about one of everything decided to grow hops this year. (I convinced him). So, this Friday, tomorrow he is picking up two hops for me also, we will pay eachother at church. Still not sure where I want to plant them yet, they grow 20-25ft per season!!! But die back to the root every winter. Next year I might get a couple more.
When I move and eventually have my own house (I'm thinking somewhere in NC/SC) I can come back to my old house and take cuttings from all the fruit and grapes and stuff that I am growing now. I am planning to order grapes soon, a few wine grapes and some table grapes. I am thinking of stopping by a local nursery and seeing the selection on fruit, might buy an apple tree. But what I would like is to go to an apple orchard and take a few cuttings, I wonder if they would mind. Just a few prunnings.
The garden up by the house is doing well. In fact the beans up here are doing better. The beans down by the other garden seem to be some what withered or something is eating them. The ones up here are growing 1/2" a day! Lettuce is doing well up here. Though I seem to have a mole in one of my gardens up here. I put a bottle in the ground, that is suppose to make vibrations they don't like, we will see. Zinnias are coming up. Down by the garden parsnips, carrots, onions, shallots, beets, coming up. Zucchini are doing the best of the vining crops. Tomatoes are rather slow. Watermelons, cantaloupe, and such are only 2 leaves right now.
I am planning on putting in beans after some of the peas are done, and than doing more peas. I am planning a huge fall garden. Hoping to do lettuce year round from now if I can. Planning quite a few brassicas through the winter, and in the greenhouse I am doing carrots, and probably rutabagas, and such through the winter. Maybe some radishes.
I need to buy more peat moss from Lowes. Along with some chicken wire.
Sometimes I wonder what good it is doing school. I have an Uncle who is a medical doctor, he said he took trig and all in collage, and now, he has math ability of about 8-9th grade. You forget so much of what you learn. Sometimes I wonder how I am doing at math, will I do well on SAT test? But than I think, its all in His hands. I know so much more about plants, winemaking, beekeeping than I would say the average adult. So, I will just leave it in His hands and trust his will in my life.
I have a lot to do today, so I will end now. Good bye.
English Vintner
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Change
Well, I am cosolidating all of my blogs onto this one. The other blogs I have were/are coffee roasting, gardening, life, and soda making.
I will still keep the other blogs around just to have incase someone wants some information about something I wrote on them.
Spring is here and I am ready for it! What am I planting? Well, here is a list:
Roots
parsnips
carrots (3 different kinds)
white beets
onions
shallots
celery (yes, in the root family)
Brassicas
Cabbage (2 kinds)
Broccoli (2 kinds)
Cauliflower (2 kinds)
Rutabaga (yup, in the brassica family)
Chinese Cabbage
Legumes
Peas (3 different kinds)
Beans (4-5 different kinds)
Fava Beans
Misc.
Watermelons
Muskmelons
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Squash (3-4 different kinds)
Tomatoes (2-3 different kinds)
Lettuce (3 different kinds, head and leaf lettuce)
Spinach
Cucumbers
Herbs/Flowers
Bee Balm
Zinnias
Thyme
Basil (4-5 different kinds!)
Oregano
Lemon Balm
Garlic
Horehound
and more
I am doing deep beds. I hope to post more on deep beds. I will also post a few essays that I have done for fun on gardening and such.
Well, I have a long day ahead of me. Lots to plant, water, weed in the garden! I roasted coffee this morning. Sticky Buns will be made tonight in preparation for tomorrow breakfast. I have not made soda in a long time. But I have sassafras roots and birch twigs that make an excellent extract for it that I will make soon!
God bless,
English Vintner
I will still keep the other blogs around just to have incase someone wants some information about something I wrote on them.
Spring is here and I am ready for it! What am I planting? Well, here is a list:
Roots
parsnips
carrots (3 different kinds)
white beets
onions
shallots
celery (yes, in the root family)
Brassicas
Cabbage (2 kinds)
Broccoli (2 kinds)
Cauliflower (2 kinds)
Rutabaga (yup, in the brassica family)
Chinese Cabbage
Legumes
Peas (3 different kinds)
Beans (4-5 different kinds)
Fava Beans
Misc.
Watermelons
Muskmelons
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Squash (3-4 different kinds)
Tomatoes (2-3 different kinds)
Lettuce (3 different kinds, head and leaf lettuce)
Spinach
Cucumbers
Herbs/Flowers
Bee Balm
Zinnias
Thyme
Basil (4-5 different kinds!)
Oregano
Lemon Balm
Garlic
Horehound
and more
I am doing deep beds. I hope to post more on deep beds. I will also post a few essays that I have done for fun on gardening and such.
Well, I have a long day ahead of me. Lots to plant, water, weed in the garden! I roasted coffee this morning. Sticky Buns will be made tonight in preparation for tomorrow breakfast. I have not made soda in a long time. But I have sassafras roots and birch twigs that make an excellent extract for it that I will make soon!
God bless,
English Vintner
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Cranberry Wine
I said I was going to show you the fig label. Well I forgo to and now I can't. Its on another computer that has adobe photoshop which I used to make it on.
However I do have my cranberry label on here. I just bottled it, very good tasting.
English Vintner
p.s. Unfortunatly the label is in a pdf format and has to be jpeg so until I can get some help on that I cannot show this either, what pity.
However I do have my cranberry label on here. I just bottled it, very good tasting.
English Vintner
p.s. Unfortunatly the label is in a pdf format and has to be jpeg so until I can get some help on that I cannot show this either, what pity.
Fall Fermentation
Well, its been a couple weeks. I'm planning a Reformation Feast this year, so that is coming up early. Need to do a little more planning on that on. Yesterday we made 30 cups of apple butter, froze all of it. We might be making more, but hopefully that will last us throughout the year. For the rest of the apples I hope to make into cider or apples sauce. And maybe some cut up frozen for baking.
It will be sad when all the apples are gone. Its been raining a lot here lately. I did some work on the greenhouse yesterday. Planning for my spring garden is fun, you would not believe all the vegatables we are growing.
But on to winemaking now. I bottled one bottle of my fig port because I thought I was going to send it along with some food to friends in Atlanta who got hit with the flooding. But after tasting it at bottling I thought, why send them a bottle of wine that needs a year of aging? Yes, thats about how it taste, like it needs a year of aging. I picked the figs last year, about this time, and froze them. And it wasn't until December or January that I made it into wine. But I've racked it a few times and added lots of sugar water to it. But every time I added sugar it seemed to ferment it. So this port is between 18-20%. I will post the label on here.
My friend who owns the grape press will be on vacation next week. So I am hoping Sunday that I can get the press, and then later that week make apple cider. He said to make cider with it just take an apple/potato peeler, slice the apples with the skin on, then dice them up a few times and that does a good enough job. So I am hoping the rest of the cider will be done that way.
I am also hoping to pick skuppernong grapes soon. I tried last year to make wine from the grapes but with no way to crush or press them conveinently I didn't do a good job. I ended up adding the one gallon to my dessert blend wine. But I would like to make at least 3 gallons this year.
I should be bottling more wine soon. Especially the cranberry wine I just made, I need to have it ready by Thanksgiving, I will bottle it sweet. I am trying to empty my carboys to make room for cider. I need to bottle my beer also, that needs to be ready for Thanksgiving also.
For next year I would like to have my whizbang cider crusher and press. I looked up how to make a cider crusher and came upon this guys website who invented this way to do it. He uses a disposal to crush the apples, and a jack to pressure to press them. Quite cool.
Well, I'd better be signing off, much stuff to do ahead of me.
English Vintner
It will be sad when all the apples are gone. Its been raining a lot here lately. I did some work on the greenhouse yesterday. Planning for my spring garden is fun, you would not believe all the vegatables we are growing.
But on to winemaking now. I bottled one bottle of my fig port because I thought I was going to send it along with some food to friends in Atlanta who got hit with the flooding. But after tasting it at bottling I thought, why send them a bottle of wine that needs a year of aging? Yes, thats about how it taste, like it needs a year of aging. I picked the figs last year, about this time, and froze them. And it wasn't until December or January that I made it into wine. But I've racked it a few times and added lots of sugar water to it. But every time I added sugar it seemed to ferment it. So this port is between 18-20%. I will post the label on here.
My friend who owns the grape press will be on vacation next week. So I am hoping Sunday that I can get the press, and then later that week make apple cider. He said to make cider with it just take an apple/potato peeler, slice the apples with the skin on, then dice them up a few times and that does a good enough job. So I am hoping the rest of the cider will be done that way.
I am also hoping to pick skuppernong grapes soon. I tried last year to make wine from the grapes but with no way to crush or press them conveinently I didn't do a good job. I ended up adding the one gallon to my dessert blend wine. But I would like to make at least 3 gallons this year.
I should be bottling more wine soon. Especially the cranberry wine I just made, I need to have it ready by Thanksgiving, I will bottle it sweet. I am trying to empty my carboys to make room for cider. I need to bottle my beer also, that needs to be ready for Thanksgiving also.
For next year I would like to have my whizbang cider crusher and press. I looked up how to make a cider crusher and came upon this guys website who invented this way to do it. He uses a disposal to crush the apples, and a jack to pressure to press them. Quite cool.
Well, I'd better be signing off, much stuff to do ahead of me.
English Vintner
Thursday, 24 September 2009
The picture below is a grape crusher that I am working on. This is a hopper, much like an apple crusher used for making apple cider in a cider press.
I will be building a shaft that this will go in. And put a dowel through it to turn it. Add the grapes through the shaft and I can crush grapes! I have friends, whom I will be getting skuppernong grapes from, who have a press. So I will use this crusher and their press to get grape juice!!!!
I hope to make some jam, juice, and wine!!!
Thanks for listening, and feel free to comment!!!!!
English Vintner
I will be building a shaft that this will go in. And put a dowel through it to turn it. Add the grapes through the shaft and I can crush grapes! I have friends, whom I will be getting skuppernong grapes from, who have a press. So I will use this crusher and their press to get grape juice!!!!
I hope to make some jam, juice, and wine!!!
Thanks for listening, and feel free to comment!!!!!
English Vintner
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