Yesterday I explained what the prepruner was and how it works. After the prepruner is finished, hand pruning is done to further prepare the vineyard for fruit production. We (the children and I) are now hand pruning the rows which have been prepruned.
Below, you can see what a vine looks like after the prepruner. The cuts are rough and jagged.
As with any job, it seems getting started is the hardest and most time consuming part of it. To get us started, John gives instructions on how many spurs and buds are to be left. The spurs are the wood coming up from the cordon (the horizontal trunk of the vine). The buds are the bulges which contain new growth on the spurs.
Even after John returns to prepruning, there is much discussion and questioning among ourselves.
Finally, a picture of a finished vine – pruned and ready for spring.
Our goal is to prune an acre a day. We are close to that goal and as we go we do get faster! That means, we should be finished in a little over 20 days!
It is that time of year – time to prune the vineyard. For us this year, we will be using a mechanical prepruner.
What, you might ask is a mechanical prepruner and why do we want to use it? It is a hydraulically controlled machine, pulled behind a tractor with computer assisted cutting blades. The spinning blades are actually stacks of blades which can be easily moved about the vine cordon and the bottom blades cut the spurs to the desired length. The rest of the blade stack shreds the old vine structure leaving behind twigs and sticks which will easily decompose over the summer. This saves quite a bit of time and is well worth the rental.
Here is a close up of the blade stack. If you zoom in, you might make out the warning label about not loosing fingers and hands!
As the tractor pulls the prepruner down the row at 1.4 miles per hour, the two sets of opposing blades do their work on two vine rows at a time. Someone (our oldest son in this case) sits on the prepruner watching and adjusting as it goes. For our vineyard, we want to leave about 4 inches of spurs coming out from the cordon.
From the rear, the operator has a good view of the vines. There are seats for two people – one to operate each arm. Two people are needed when a vineyard is not uniform in growth or the ground is uneven.
Since our son competently controls both arms, the second seat is vacant. But not for long, since there is a long line of eager children ready to help watch.
While we have little boys that love to pretend to be cowboys, we have never actually been up close to a real live one – until, that is, this weekend.
It all started when I listed a heifer on Craigslist to sell. She is a 2 1/2 yrs old jersey heifer and is 7 months bred (pregnant) by a jersey bull. I bought her when she was 3 mths old thinking that by the time she was ready to calve, we would be ready for a second milk cow. But, we are not. She has been skittish since she was young, so, she would really make a better nurse cow than a family milk cow. Then again, once she calves she may become more personable. Anyway…
Someone was interested in buying her (for a nurse cow) so we needed to catch her and put a halter on her. That is where the fun began!
It would have been easy had we had a corral for her and not just an open pasture. Life is never easy is it?
This heifer knows a rope and she knows a rope means loss of freedom for her. She would let you close enough to stroke her, unless you had a rope in your hand! John is good at slipping a lasso around a cows neck when he can get close enough but that was impossible with her. We chased and herded and 4 wheeled around her most of the morning. And then, we gave up!
The next step was to call the vet to see if any tranquilizer would be safe for the calf. Using a tranquilizer gun, we were sure we could get her. No go! It would be unsafe for the calf.
After a phone call, the cowboy pulled up with his horse in a trailer, saddled and ready to go! He even had spurs!
He rode the horse around the field for a few turns and then began to rope our heifer. They seemed to circle each other as if sizing up the opponent.
He made it look so easy! Only a couple of misses and she was lassoed! It was almost like watching a John Wayne movie in real like!
The cowboy then led her to where we wanted her tethered and showed the boys how to hold her down so John could put a halter on her. Mission accomplished!
Once tethered, she calms down and you can get close enough to stroke her and feed her. The man from the craigslist ad did end up buying her after seeing how ornery she can be. Hopefully she will make a good milk cow for him.
Guess what our boys did the rest of the afternoon? They practiced lassoing with a rope. They practices on each other, on toys, on their sisters. They actually got quite good!
Being on the GAPs diet, I have found that one of the more easily digestible meats is liver and especially liver pate. Liver pate goes very well with the Homemade Wheat Thins.
Liver Pate
1 lb beef liver cut into pieces 1 Tbsp rosemary
1 onion chopped 1 Tbsp thyme
1/2 c red wine 1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic minced 4 Tbsp butter at room temp.
1/2 tsp mustard salt and pepper to taste
Soak liver (in the refrigerator) in buttermilk or kefir to reduce the bitter flavor. After 24 hrs, drain, rinse and pat dry.
Saute liver, onions and garlic in 4 Tbsp butter until the liver is browned and onions are translucent.
Add wine, mustard, herbs and lemon juice. Cook uncovered until most of the liquid is gone.
Cool and blend to a smooth paste in the food processor.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
For a smoother and creamier consistency, add sour cream to the liver and blend.
Recipe adapted from Farmlet.Co.NZ
Cheepo is the name or our parakeet.
That is ChEEpo – not to be confused with ChEApo!
He was a Christmas present from our oldest daughter and her husband to the four youngest boys.
Why would someone call their bird Cheepo? Because he cheeped. Very softly in the beginning. But now, he lets loose and rivals the children in volume!
Cheepo is bright green with a yellow head and lives in a white cage. Having never had a bird before, I think he is a cute and very fascinating to watch. He is so content to sit or flutter around his cage. He watches you, turning his head, as you pass by. Sometimes he even cheeps in response to your cheep.
So far he has learned to step on a finger but not without taking a nibble at it first! It has been a lot of fun to see all the boys trying to train him.
Cheepo’s next trick to learn is a wolf-whistle – you know, the type of whistle a guy lets go when he sees an attractive girl. Everyone is doing it! Even our 3 yr old tries! Cheepo is bound to catch on sooner or later. I sure hope it is sooner. I rarely mind the noise around our house, but this whistling … well, let’s just say that it can get a bit ear piercing!
As I write this, we are preparing to travel to Georgia for my father-in-law’s funeral. While his death was not totally unexpected, it is still an emotional time. I will not be posting for the few days of our trip but we would appreciate your prayers for our family, as well as, all the other family members who will be travelling.
I say his death was not unexpected because he was in his 80′s and in poor health.
Still, it does cause reflection on the brevity of life. Whether we live 20, 40 or 90 years, we will all die. We will all face the God who made us.
Are you prepared?
We will all have to give an account for why we have fallen short of His plans for us.
Do you have any idea of what is to be done?
God loves us beyond measure and requires our obedience without the least slip-up.
Have you obeyed Him by doing only what is right and your whole life rejected everything wrong? (You know in your heart. No one has to point anything out to you.)
There is a price for disobedience. Are you ready to pay it? Obedience yields eternal life with God, while transgression results in eternal separation from God – death, hell.
But God, being loving beyond our dreams, provided forgiveness for us by somehow taking our place in that judgment. All we have to do is penitently ask for His forgiveness – you and God alone know your own heart.
While some people know their life is coming to an end, others have no idea that their time is about to be up.
Have you humbled yourself and asked?
I hope you do not get tired of seeing pictures of the beautiful sunsets here in west Texas. Each one is like a unique painting!
This homemade Wheat Thins recipe is so easy and costs a fraction of the price that the store-bought crackers do! And, they taste amazingly like the real thing. If your family is like mine, you better at least quadruple the recipe. I cannot seem to make enough of them.
Everyone loves them!
Well, nobody wants to marry them, but they sure get eaten fast!
Since I have been on the GAPS diet, I make a couple of modifications to the recipe. First, I substitute rye flour for the whole wheat because rye has less gluten than wheat. I also mix all ingredient the night before, leaving the dough mixed through the night. When mixing, I leave out 1Tbsp of the water and add 1 Tbsp kefir and continue with the rest of the ingredients. This allows the phytic acid to be broken down in the rye which makes the crackers more easily digestible. This actually makes them more convenient because when I am ready to roll them out and cook them the next day, they are ready and waiting.
Homemade Wheat Thins
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt plus more to top the crackers
1/4 tsp paprika
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 c water (may need a bit more)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 400F.
Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
Add flour, sugar, salt, and paprika in medium bowl and mix.
Cut butter into mixture and mix thoroughly – it will be crumbly.
Combine water and vanilla in a measuring cup. Add to butter and flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. If it is too dry, add more water.
Working with 1/4 of the dough at a time (cover the remaining to prevent it from drying out), roll to 1/16 in thickness on a floured work area and turn frequently to prevent sticking.
Use a pizza cutter and cut into squares. Transfer to cookie sheet
Bake until crisp and brown – 8 – 12 min. Check frequently because they burn quickly.
Remove from oven and cool. Store in airtight container.
Recipe adapted from FoodBuzz.
Having butchered our first steer a week ago, we needed a grinder to grind the “leftover” meat and fat to make ground beef. Knowing that we intended to continue raising our own cattle, we wanted a grinder that would be able to perform for the long term.
We were in the Austin area for a Texas Wine and Grape Growers conference and had the opportunity to stop by the Cabela’s store in Buda, Texas. Knowing that butchering was in the plans, we looked at the grinders. We were impressed with the quality of the commercial grinders they offered. So, last week I called and ordered the commercial grade 1 horse power grinder. Including shipping, the grinder and attachments cost about $600. This may seem to be a lot for a little used “kitchen appliance” but it is actually less than the fees Lubbock area butchers charges for processing a single cow.
It was in our kitchen in 3 days and boy is it heavy!
The commercial grade models have stainless steel meat trays, necks, screws, plates and blades. One reason we decided on the 1 HP grinder was because it has a reverse gear. From my reading, this can be important when dealing with large quantities of meat. With the ability to process 10 – 12 pounds of meat per minute, the meat could not be pushed through too fast for the machine. It could process much faster than we could!
We had frozen several bags of meat to be ground, so, we thawed it (ideally the meat should be 32-34F) and got to work. The meat had to be cut into chunks small enough to be pushed through the grinder plate. As you can see in the picture below, Bob was sitting by the feet closest to the action lest a piece of meat fall!
First, the meat was ground through the medium grinding plate (7mm). The meat was definitely ground up but still coarse.
After all the meat was processed through the medium plate, it was mixed together and ground once more through the fine grinding plate (4.5mm) to yield a better fat distribution. Now, it looked like ground beef!
You might think that clean up would be time consuming, but it was actually rather quick. The grinder comes apart very easily and all parts are accessible for cleaning. While some parts are dishwasher safe, we washed it all by hand.
After all was said and ground, we had about 58 lbs of ground beef. Hamburgers were the menu of the evening! I must say, after being on the GAPS diet and now beginning to eat meat after 30 years of being a vegetarian, they were absolutely delicious!
PS. My husband and sons in their spare time are going to try to make a pasta die to fit the grinder. Cabela’s customer service did not see a problem with our trying to extrude pasta dough.
I am in no way affiliated with Cabela’s nor receive any compensation from them. I merely want to share my personal experience with a quality product.
Do you remember the television show “The Beverly Hillbillies” with Jed, Granny, Jethro and Elly May?
Remember, an oil company found oil in Jed Clampett’s swamp land, paid him a fortune and the family moves to Beverly Hills. Their mansion is next door to Mr. Drysdale (their friendly banker) who is most concerned about keeping their money in his bank which necessitates their staying in Beverly Hills.
I almost hate to make the correlation. But, as we were sitting in the parking lot of an irrigation company the thought occurred to me.
We were purchasing the materials to expand the drip irrigation to accommodate the new 2 1/3 acres of grapes we will be planting this spring. Sitting in our 15 passenger van, overlooking the interstate, cars were zipping by. Here we sit. PVC pipe of varying sizes tied to the top of the van.
I had to laugh as the picture came to mind, of us – all 9 of us – travelling in the van, with pipe and who knows what else would be tied to the top of the van by the time we were finished. Various other articles that had been purchased filled the inside.
I fondly remember the Clampett clan travelling around in their old truck, packed with all their earthly possessions. And, Granny on top, in her rocking chair, with her shotgun.
Thankfully, our van is not soooo old!
Thankfully, I was sitting inside and not on top in a rocking chair. Besides, it was a windy day and the wind ruins my hair!
Thankfully, my grandchildren call me DeeRee, not Granny!
*Photo Credit: Bing Images
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About Me 
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 been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
