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Vineyard Business Distractions

The main purpose for my current trip to Oregon is to tie up some loose ends on the land we purchased for our home, vineyard and winery project.

Yesterday we went to the property with measuring tapes, note pads and other gear so when we meet with the fire marshall, civil engineers, land clearing contractors, gas, electric companies and builders we would have better information about areas of the land and the work we need completed.

You know what I got done….NOTHING!  Absolutely nothing.

I stepped out of the car and was instantly taken by the carpets of green-ness surrounding me.  It was so picturesque I couldn’t even imagine myself working on anything that needed brain power.

Needless to say I became completely distracted with everything around me….

My new well head, which I had never seen…


I was so glad to see it was really there, rusted and all!  Now it just needs the rest of the plumbing.

I started obsessing about the road that needs to be improved where I want to plant Pinot Noir…


The trash someone had so meticulously dumped placed on the property.  Anyone need an old rusty water heater…?


Caterpillars feasting on the vegetation…

The birds…

The poison oak that was everywhere…(I think that’s poison oak)…

The hooligans who I was trying to keep out of the poison oak…

The property adjacent to ours who have just prepared their land for vineyard planting…

The endless sea of daisies everywhere you looked…

The view from my eventual kitchen window…

Just the view in general…

And these…

They were everywhere.  I ate at least three to four pints myself.  By the end of the day, the red stain from the raspberry juice and blood from the raspberry thorns were all you could see on my hand.  It was so worth it.  The hooligans thought they struck gold.  We ate until we couldn’t have any more.

So between birds, caterpillars, kids, unwanted trash, rusted well heads, views, flowers and raspberries…I did not do one thing I was supposed to. 

Somehow I think the city planner is going to be a little perturbed with me today.

I should have picked him a bucket of raspberries.  However, I probably would have eaten them too.

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Comments

  1. Sounds like you really got a lot done, you enjoyed your new home. How wonderful for you and your family. The land looks beautiful and having just finished a year long renovation and moving in this is exciting! I so miss land.

    Reply

  8. Yes, that’s poison oak. I had a run-in with it last year in Oregon! It won… I had bumps for days!
    Your property looks awesome!
    What is the timeline do you think… in terms of developing the property and moving in? How long before the vines will be producing the amount and quality of grapes you need for wine?

    Yes, I’m full of questions this morning!

    Reply

  9. What a fabulous property and view. I can imagine how it would be hard to concentrate on the task at hand.

    We are headed to Oregon this weekend for wine tasting and cooler weather. I can’t wait until your winery will be on our list of destinations.

    Reply

  12. Hopefully, you become used to the view soon. I imagine it would be fairly hard to run a winery if you’re always that distracted. hee
    Beautiful. Except the caterpillars, for some odd reason those yucked me out.
    Have fun and get to work lady!

    Reply

  19. Oh how absolutely beautiful!! You sound like you are living my dream out there! Those raspberries look delicious and the light in the pictures is gorgeous. Good luck with the project – maybe you will get something done next time. If I was you though, I don’t think I would get anything done either!

    Reply

  23. How absolutely exciting that must be!
    Wild earth has so many things going on that it such a pleasure to explore, city planners be dammed!
    I can’t wait to see it change, that is I am assuming you will keep posting about the property! It is gorgeous!

    Reply

  24. Louise Dickenson Rich in ‘We Took to the Woods’ has an essay about picking wild rasberries in Maine, to include the statement that everybody in the family, including the dog, will eat rasberries until they burst.

    Reply

  31. I can’t believe we were taking similar pictures, like the caterpillar and just yesterday, I also took berry pictures, in my hand, so similar to yours.

    Your vineyard looks like it’s going to be awesome. And I hope your place has guestrooms.

    Reply

  33. Those are some scary-ass caterpillars! My sister made the blueberry crumble last night – it was so good, we’re making another one to take to the beach with us tonight. That and there’s none left:) Yummy!!

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  36. Amazing photos, I have property (vineyard property at that) envy! It’s good to see you’re not letting the enormity of the project keep you from seeing the really important stuff, the small and beautiful stuff. Besides, each project gets done, one little step at a time. Here’s to you, future wine maker!

    Reply

  38. Wow! How exciting! Yes, do be careful of the poison oak around here. If you have pets, make sure they don’t get into it either. Usually, dogs’ fur will protect them, but then you pet them and YOU get the oils all over your skin from their fur. By the smoky look of the view of your neighbours’ house, this area is near where I live. (Medford) The fires in Northern California are really awful. Anyway, good luck with your vinyard. There is a lot of competition around here, but this is a great place to grow wine grapes.

    Reply

  39. What a beautiful place! It’s obvious very fertile, too, from your pictures of the vegetation. Lovely pictures. The bird shot is spectacular IMHO.

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  43. And you’ve been green with envy over my YARD? Zowie woman, talk about spectacular!
    Yep, poison oak is a bear to get out. DO NOT BURN IT! (If you have any choice in the matter).
    Wow to the daisies and red raspberries. Hopefully you can keep a lot of those naturalized settings. Nature so beats our little attempts at beautification.I’d be going beserk thinking of all the things that will grow in that climate besides grapes, or in addition to grapes. You can grow LAVENDER there! Herbies, fushias, begonias, ferns, Lobellia, and on and on,….I sometimes really miss the west coast.
    Your boys will love living in the country. Is your husband going to start over with a new OB practice?

    Reply

  45. How big are those caterpillars! (Well, they look HUGE to me!)
    Good thing you explained that it was blood AND berry juice cos I had a shock of my life when I saw those red-stained fingers.

    Reply

  52. Beautiful! Yes, that’s poison oak. I LOVE pinot noir!!!!! What a view! Yummy on the berries. Sounds like a fantastic day devoted to the IMPORTANT things. The rest will all fall into place when the time comes. Enjoy! : )

    Reply

  54. So exciting! I remember walks like these before we built our house. Picnics, campfires, where to put the house, where to put the road… It was one of the best parts of the process.

    Reply

  61. WOW.. it is so beautiful…. !!!

    I can’t wait til Fidel & I get a chance to buy some land and build our dreams…

    I truly can understand why you couldn’t get the “official” stuff done. The place is gorgeous as is.

    Golly… today I started the business plan of a side business that is more for fun than seriousness & a catapult to when I finally settle in the States with Fidel…… its making my head hurt…. I can maybe sort of imagine yours at this point *lol*

    Much luck and a few hugs in this endeavour, Cathy.. I hope you keep posting the process 🙂 To see a dream become a reality !!!!

    (but those raspberries look so yummy :))

    Reply

  63. Gorgeous property!!! – what a wonderful thing for you also – a vineyard!

    About those daisies…make sure they are not ox-eye daisies – a noxious “weed”. Ironically all of the noxious weeds around here have beautiful blooms…hawkweed, ox-eye daisy, knapweed…

    Hope yours are not!

    Reply

  67. Those raspberries would be enough to convince me to stay there. Nothing like fresh fruit right from the raspberry patch. And if you’re into making wine, especially before your vines are ready, those raspberries just may be your start

    Reply

  68. Actually….it looks like what you have there are unripe blackberries. The plants are very similar – one way to tell is with raspberries, when you pick them, you end up with a hole in the center (the stem pulls out) but with blackberries it breaks off and so no hole. Make sense? From you 2nd pic it looks like blackberries.

    Reply

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