As you can see from the picture, the vines are very vigorous in their growth. Not only is the canopy (the green along the vertical cordon wire) growing well but the vine is sending out plenty of growth along the trunk.
While this extra growth is a good sign of the health and output of the vine, we want the vine to focus its energy on canopy growth, fruit production and fruit ripening. To do this, we debud each vine. Each person takes a row and walks down the length of it. Stopping as necessary, we pop off the extra growth buds and shoots along each trunk.
You might wonder what becomes of all the discarded greenery – we bring piles of it home for Buttercup and Emme to eat. They love grape vines!
It is so funny to see it hanging out of their mouths and slowly taken in by their BIG tongues while continuing to chew!
Normally, Buttercup is the one with manners and she mooooos a thank you!
What a life!
Learning about the fats which are good for you has revolutionized my cooking! Did you know that one hundred years ago, vegetable oil was not around? People cooked with lard, tallow and butter. The difference between the three is the source. Lard is rendered pig fat, tallow is rendered beef or sheep fat and butter is made from cream.
Lard and tallow from grass fed animals are full of fat soluble vitamins and actually good for you. Both have a high smoke point so they are very stable and great for frying. The reason many people today render their own tallow or lard is to avoid the added hydrogenated fat. That is right – the commercial lard available contains hydrogenated lard. A couple of good articles which give more information on the health benefits and history of oils used are “The Oiling of America” and “Good Fats, Bad Fats” both on the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) website.
I can not stress enough how easy it is to render your own tallow. Just remember, it does get very hot so precautions should be taken to keep it away from little hands!
Rendering Tallow
Having purchased a 10lb bag of grass fed beef fat* (before we butchered our own grass fed steer), I began by placing the thawed fat chunks into a 22 qt. roaster. A crock pot works well for smaller quantities. It cooks faster if you cut the large chunks into smaller pieces before beginning.
Turn the crock pot on low and let it cook – It takes from 18 – 24 hours for 10 lbs. I have read that one pound requires a couple of hours. You will know it is done when mostly liquid remains and chunks of hard stuff float to the surface. Turn the crock pot off.
Strain the fat through a fine metal strainer into a mason jar – be very careful as it is extremely hot! I dipped it out with a 2 cup glass measuring cup and poured it through the strainer. The liquid will appear golden brown. As it cools, it turns a creamy white.
From 10 lbs of fat, we bottled 5 quarts of tallow.
* Go here to find sources of grass fed fat and other nutrient dense foods in your local area.
If you have been reading Dimes2Vines for awhile, you know that we began construction on our home overlooking the vineyard in August 2010. We decided to use the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms mainly because of their insulation value. We completed what will eventually be our basement and moved in the weekend after Thanksgiving, 2011.
We have been very pleased with our ICF home except for one thing – something no one warned us about – chickens like it. Not only do our chickens like it, they LOVE it. Love to eat it that is!
You read it right – our chickens love to peck and eat the styrofoam off the house! They have left holes along the lower edge exposing the supports which are built into the ICF blocks. The concrete which fills the ICF blocks is visible in several areas!
We had temporarily painted the house yellow. Our plan is to put a stone facade on the walk-out basement wall. This will be after the upstairs is finished and dirt is pushed around to cover three sides of the basement making it a true basement.
It might seem logical to shoot some chickens. But, we value their eggs! They lay their eggs in the morning and normally, we let them out of their pen in the afternoon to free range. We could not believe it when we first saw it happening. And, you would not believe the sense of satisfaction gained by running and shooing those chickens away from our house! I am sure we looked like people gone crazy.
We are now taking precautions to keep them away from the house using barriers.
As for the holes, John has filled them with Great Stuff – spray foam which expands. It looks unsightly but does offer protection from water seeping in the holes and flowing into the house. And, yes, that has happened 
Hopefully, one day in the not too distant future, it will all be covered by dirt or stone. For now, it is one of those funny (yet humbling) things you would not believe unless you saw it!
What a beautiful day to plant 2 acres of Petit Verdot and 1/3 acre Moscato Giallo. The wind was low and the temperature never reached the 90°F forecasted.
The 3,225 vines arrived via FedEx in a large box.
Marking where the vines are to be planted was done the day before. You can see in the picture below the wheels used on the end of the plow.
The tractor scratches across the area to be planted leaving marks perpendicular to the new vine rows.
These marks are 4 ft apart and will be used to correctly space the new vines in the rows. They also line up with the existing vineyard.
As always, getting everything set up took awhile - namely the GPS on the tractor.
We rented a tractor and planting rig from another grape farmer. As you can see it has a place for 4 people (2 actual seats and 2 places on the metal) to sit while planting. Bundles of vines are placed in the front on either side. Two people sit by the vines and hand them to the two people actually placing the vines in the ground.
This planting rig (really an open platform) has a shank which digs a furrow just ahead of where the people planting sit. A vine is place in the furrow on the perpendicular marks, the two sets of wheels pack dirt back into the furrow covering the roots and then two plows fill the furrow and mound up dirt around the trunk of the vine.
Simultaneously and just ahead of the shank, underground drip irrigation tape is laid in the ground to the side of the vines. This tape is only ~4″ deep. Unlike the tape we put in earlier between the rows of vines, this shallow tape will only be used for a couple of years to water the young vines as they grow.
The vines at this point look like little twigs stuck in the dirt. You can see the blue wax still remains covering most of the graft. In a few weeks, Lord willing, they will begin to bud and bits of green will be visible across the rows.
After moving from LA (lower Alabama) to West Texas, our time has been spent with starting the vineyard for the commercial production of grapes for the Texas wine industry. We now have 20 acres of grapes in the 3rd and 4th leaf. We will be planting 2 1/3 acres more this week. Most of the acreage is under contract and this year’s crop is looking good!
We have also completed phase 1 of our house building. Now, we have begun to plant fruit trees, vegetables (including an asparagus bed) and are planning a wind break of trees around the house. I feel as if we are modern pioneers making our homestead! I realize this sounds silly, but I feel that we are finally making this home.
As I write this, the winds outside are howling at 32 mph and the view out the window is brown with dirt. I wonder if Laura Ingalls has similar feelings of thankfulness to be inside rather than out on the prairie? I think she and I would have gotten along very well – kindred spirits, so to speak.
But, I digress – back to homesteading …
About a month ago, we planted fruit trees and boy did they look spindly! That did not matter though, after all, we had 6 peaches, 6 cherries and 2 pears and 1 apricot!
Planted in a line, behind the house, you could hardly see them
Now, however, they are budding and there is no doubt, they are there and alive!
You might notice the freshly mown grass in the picture above. It is courtesy of our oldest son at home. He was mowing and I could not help but laugh as I realized he had an audience – Buttercup and Emme were watching!
I know being a modern pioneer woman is much easier than living back in the real pioneer days.
I sure am glad there are no Indians to ride over the “hill”.
I sure am glad I have electricity.
I sure am glad I have indoor plumbing.
Your turn, what material “thing” are you glad to have?
Leave me a comment, I would love to hear!
This year, we are trying something new, maybe I should say “something else” new – grapevine propagation. The vines we purchase are grafted vines. This means that one type of vine is used for the roots (rootstock) and another for the fruit variety to be produced (scion). Normally, a hardy vine whose roots grow fast and strong does not yield the best fruit, if any. Conversely, the grape varieties producing the most desirous fruit, are normally more susceptible to disease and overall not as hardy. There are many different types of rootstock available which the grape grower can choose based on various characteristics. For example, we like those which are nematode resistant, drought tolerant and compatible with our chosen fruit wood.
When we purchase grafted vines from Novavine (our nursery of choice), we pay not only for the vine itself, but also, royalties for the rootstock. Our agreement states that we may not propagate new vines for use other than those we need to replace in our own vineyard.
Over the years, one particular rootstock that we used has turned out to be not as good a fit as we hoped – about a third of those original vines have died since we planted them four years ago. Novavine has helped us and over the years has provided replacements (free or price reduced). This year, we want to replace the dead ourselves (about 600 plants) with a different, stronger rootstock also used in our vineyard. We will let the rootstock grow two years – so it can catch up to the neighbor plants in the row. When its root structure is developed, we’ll graft the fruit wood to it.
You can see in the picture below a rootstock plant (unpruned) that is already growing prolifically. (We’ll try to graft this plant with new fruit wood in the next weeks.)
While we were pruning this year, we kept 12″ – 18″ cuttings of rootstock plants (like that above, yet still dormant). These cuttings were buried into a “nursery row” to keep dormant.
Now as spring is upon us and the vines are budding out, the cuttings were dug up and given a drink in a bucket of water.
You can see the small buds coming out of the side of the twig – they are white with yellow tips.
At the replacement site, we dug out the dead vine and roots and formed a bowl of dirt with a shovel. We rented a water drill (from a neighboring grape grower) and used it to deepen the center while filling it with water.
This farm-made water drill, is just a piece of steel pipe with teeth welded on the end like a drill bit. Water is pumped out the center while you wiggle/twist the handle to cut into the dirt and make the hole.
The rootstock twig is placed in and dirt filled around. We added enough dirt to leave a 6″ or so depression - for watering later in the summer. A 5 ft piece of bamboo is stuck in next to the newly planted twig. As it grows, the twig will be tied to the bamboo for support until it reaches the cordon wire.
Needless to say, everyone is involved and there is a job for everyone!
Everyone, that is, who is anyone, And Bob is not! He just relaxes in the shade, which for the moment, happens to be under the wheelbarrow full of wire clips!
It’s a dog’s life!
How many fermenting things can one kitchen hold? Since we have been on the GAPS diet and I have learned the probiotic benefits of lacto-fermentation, my kitchen is full of ferments! Does this show an addiction? I am saving money making them myself! But, after all, how many jars can one kitchen hold?
Under my dishes is my sauerkraut.
To the left of the kitchen sink are the fermenting carrots.
To the right of the stove are jars of fermenting water kefir. This so fa,r is my least favorite ferment. I have tried several recipes and have yet to find one that does not taste or smell like a garden hose! If you have a good recipe, please let me know. (The jar to the far left is actually tallow.)
Beside the coffee maker are the jars of fermenting milk kefir.
And, don’t forget the top of the refrigerator – that is where the 6 gallons of kombucha are fermenting.
I have read that a space of a few feet between ferments is good and I do have that. So far, there has not been a problem and all is working well.
Do you have anything fermenting in your kitchen? Leave a comment and let me know what – I’d love to hear that I am not the only woman with too many jars in her kitchen!
In the last 2 weeks there has been an amazing change in the vineyard. From the dormant brown we have moved to the vibrant green of new growth.
New shoots from 8-12 inches are already grabbing onto the wires for support.
Needless to say, we all get excited about the blooms which are soon to be grape clusters. Even our 3 year old knows how to spot them!
Last year’s harvest was not as good as it could have been – extremely cold winter followed by extremely hot summer and punctuated by no rain. But this year is brand new and looks promising with the vines full of new blossoms – we are farmers!
Trying to control our excitement is always a challenge; we must be realistic. There are plenty of thing that could happen between now and an abundant fall harvest. Right now we face the potentials for late frosts (last year our last was May 3) , thunderstorms full of hail and high winds (which can inhibit pollination or even blow the tender shoots right off the vine).
But this is the life that attracted my husband and me from the start … to have daily reminders of our complete dependence upon the Lord!
One of the things I really enjoyed during our years in Switzerland was asparagus. Now, you may be thinking that of all the things to enjoy, why asparagus? In Switzerland, Spargel Zeit (literally “asparagus time” in German) was a festive season. It signaled the beginning of Spring, the time when flowers were beginning to grow and bloom after a long cold winter, which brought a renewed sense of hope and life.
I had never eaten asparagus until we moved to Switzerland and after moving back to Alabama, I wanted my own asparagus bed. For one reason or another, it just never happened. Now, however, since we are a “farming” family, it seems like perfect timing. So…
While renting the backhoe for the vineyard expansion, we also dug out for an asparagus bed. Our bed consists of three forty foot rows.
The rows are 2 1/2 ft deep and are 36 inches apart.
Having manure to spread in the vineyard, we used some for the asparagus. I let the men handle this part and just tried to stay upwind!
8 – 10 inches of manure was put in the bottom of each row.
Once the manure was in place, the next row was dug. Before filling in each row, a stake was placed at either end at ground level (so we know exactly where the center of each row is).
When finished, the beds were smoothed.
When we plant the new rows of grape vines, we will put in drip irrigation for the asparagus bed.
On the advise of a trusted resource, I have ordered asparagus crowns from Pendleton’s Country Market. I ordered both UC157 and Purple Passion. They were willing to delay shipment until next Monday (4-16) so their arrival should be timed perfectly with planting the new vines and installing the drip tape. I’ll let you know how it goes 
I am looking forward to having fresh asparagus but it may be difficult to wait a whole year! The asparagus is not suppose to be harvested the first year. The second year, harvest is for 2 weeks and the third year, harvest is for 6 weeks.
Do you grow asparagus? Please leave a comment and let me know about your experience!
When we started the tomato, bell pepper and jalepeno pepper seedlings in egg cartons several weeks ago, I knew transplanting them would be necessary. The young seedlings would not stand a chance if planted directly in the garden with the West Texas wind. Transplanting them into small pots was not an option – I have no space for so many little pots! So, we decided to make a hoop house. If you are not familiar with a hoop house, it is a miniature green house. They may be purchased complete or as a kit. But, like most things, making it yourself is much more economical. Ours cost under $20!
We had selected a small 10 x 12 area of the garden and placed a black tarp over it to begin warming the soil. The soil in that area was hoed and compost added. Using a spoon, we carefully scooped the seedlings out of the egg cartons. Separating the seedling (very carefully), we planted them about 4 -6 inches apart.
As we transplanted, the seedlings were also well watered.
Pieces of 1 inch PVP pipe (scrap from a previous project), cut into 12 inch lengths, were sunk into the soil at the desired width of the hoop house. These provide stability and help anchor the hoop house down in the wind.
The frame of the hoop house is 4 pieces of 1/2 inch flexible electrical conduit pipe (cheaper than water pipe and UV stable) placed 3 feet apart. These pieces were bent the desired width and placed inside the 1 inch pipe. Another piece of scrap PVC pipe was zip tied to the top of the hoops the length of the house. Bottomless buckets were placed around the seedlings to provide a bit of shade.
Next, 3.5 ml plastic was put over the hoop frame. We started with each end and taped the plastic to the frame. Once the ends were secure, the top plastic was taped to either end of the frame. One long side was left unsecured for ventilation.
We learned however, that packing tape dries out to quickly and does not hold for long. So, John made clips from 1″ PVC by cutting a 1/6th section out which allowed it to snap over the plastic sheeting and frame.
The bottom edges were then buried under dirt to secure them.
I am watering through the side every 2 to 3 days.
So far, our little seedlings are growing very well!
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Grab My Dime! 
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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. |
