Trailor arrives!

Our single wide trailor finally arrived today. It was amazing watching the delivery guys shimmy it back and forth and 180degrees in a space that was mere inches longer than the trailor. We had bought this sight unseen and it turned out more or less what I was expecting. We have a bit of work to do to get it up to snuff but inside is in good condition with a decent layout.

The view out the front door is straight into the vineyard and accross the valley. In the summertime we will be surrounded by lush vines and almost invisible to the neighbours.

We are still sorting out the septic design for the house and winery building but have a few site visits lined up for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day for us sourcing all the materials for fixing up the mobile and building a patio area in the wind shelter of the pumphouse. We will also be getting started on construction of the front wall for the winery building with 14' doors, a man door and a window. The rest of the building is likely arriving early next week.

Alan

More cold Monday

Cold windy Monday... Cold

The temperature was way down today and there was a fierce wind blowing down the valley. We were bundled up for the first half of the day until the sun made an appearance.

March 6th shirtless in the Vineyard

It was incredible being out in the sun in early March and this warm. I was actually too hot to wear a shirt. It is still getting cold as soon as the sun goes down though so hopefully won't cause any issues with early budbreak on the vines.

Land Cleared for the Single Wide and First day on the TRACTOR

Over the weekend I was busy clearing an area of the Muscat plot in preparation for delivery of the single wide we have purchased. The mobile will give us a place to live while we get our feet on the ground and figure out what we want to do for a permanent home. I had to disconnect the wires and pull them back to the next post first. Pulling each wire running the entire length of the property tight before anchoring it place was exhausting, painful and time consuming to do by myself. Once the wires were all moved I dug up and pulled the old vines from the patch.

After measuring multiple times it became apparent that we would not be able to fit the mobile past the pumphouse. This time I had help but we had to temporarily pull back and tie off the wires from a panel of Gewurztraminer vines so we can drive the trailor through. With luck there will not be too much damage to the vines as this is a section that we are not replanting.

We have several septic system companies quoting on doing the design, excavation and system setup for us. We have to get a registered professional to do the design in order to get a proper permit for the mobile. One of the contractors has an in house engineer so we can do more of the work ourselves by using them.

The single wide was supposed to arrive today but for a laundry list of reasons provided by the seller/delivery guy, it is due to arrive tomorrow.

I am really enjoying the quiet and country life here. The area we are in is very equestrian and proper country when compared to many of the vineyard areas. The other day while driving to the property I saw a neighbours dog running along the side of the road with a full deer leg in his mouth... I also met one of our neighbours on the weekend. He and his family have been there for a while and gave me a good idea of the community. They used to have a dog kennel on the property amongst other things. He is a really nice guy and offered any help or advice we need along the way. He also likes what we are doing on the property and they are looking forward to having people living next door. He also offered that if down the road we would like to move over the fence and have us plant a couple of acres for him and run the vineyard.

We fired up the tractor and had a great time driving it around for the first time today. Despite being an old girl she fired right up and everything works great. I felt like a proper farmer driving up the rows and we got some great pictures while having fun with it.

-Alan

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the first few days.