Vineyard – Our 1800's House

Homestead: noun – A place where a family makes its home, including the land, house, and outbuildings. [Collins English Dictionary]

Gavin & I have a vision for the property – to accentuate its beauty while utilizing & cultivating the plot of land that we’ve been blessed with.

With my daydreams of self-sustainability & his vast knowledge of horticulture, I believe we will one day makes those dreams come true. Though, just as with the inside of the house, I’m learning that everything takes time & an incredible amount of backbreaking work.

We began cultivating the land in May, 2017 before we officially moved in. Although I was set on jumping into creating a garden, Gavin wanted to first get the woody plants in the ground that would take years to produce so we bought fruit trees, blueberries, hop plants & grapes. Shown below is the process of putting in our little vineyard.

Gavin digging the first hole for 1 of the 4 poles.

We used old telephone poles for posts that Gavin found on the property & heaved-hoed all the way up the hill from the pond. We both loved how they still had their Davey Tree metal tags on them from years ago. He cut them to the correct height then tarred the bottoms.

Me, seeing if I’ve still got my old gymnastics skills. Gavin, looking peeved from afar for lack of digging assistance.

Checking to see if the pole is, “level with the world,” as my old man says.

In lieu of purchasing mulch, I created my own by collecting bark off of a fallen cherry tree nearby.

We have two rows of grape plants so far – 6 total. While they struggled through the hot summer, we hope they make it through the winter & begin to establish themselves. We will install the wire then for them to climb on that will run across from the poles.

In years to come, I hope to be able to make wine with the grapes that we planted & appreciate the beauty that they take on with time.