Coming soon.. .

Repurposed (some call it art)

Some trellises I made awhile back didn't work out as well as hoped. Back to the drawing board. Here they are now transformed into frames for canvases. Let the painting begin!

Repurposed (Playing with Sticks)

Early October (Playing with the Pups)

French 1b: Composition 1.

This season has been FULL of work and most of it doesn't have much to do with the garden. But it's been super interesting this far so I thought I would post a teeny sliver of the experience since I love you all so much and miss updating this blog.

This is my very first composition for my French 1b class. It hasn't been my favorite subject so far but it's definitely one of the most challenging for me having never spoken more than one language fluently. Absolutely feel free to edit this if you have the capabilities and see any errors in spelling or grammar, I'm far from where I'd like to be in learning this and it helps speed up the process a little. Basically, the objective was to write an invitation to friends about a party I plan to host. It's not a real party, but now that there's an invitation I wish it was!

Bonjour à tous! J'espère que vous allez tous bien. Cela a été une excellente année et vous me manquez! Il est temps de faire la fête!

Je fête Halloween et un bal masqué chez moi cette année et sera l'hôte d'une soirée costumée. Boissons et de la musique débutera à midi autour de 1230 le dimanche après-demain.

Le temps a été merveilleux et il doit être exposé au soleil. Attendez-vous à porter des chaussures confortables avec votre costume. Tout le monde devrait faire porter de soirée avec un masque pour le bal. Un drôle de chapeau, ce serait parfait aussi. N'oubliez pas vos sous-vêtements! Nous devrions être prêts à tout!

Depuis que je suis un grand fan de sucreries, s'il vous plaît faire un dessert que vous pensez que chacun appréciera. Je pense que le chocolat, la fraise et la vanille sont tous de bons choix, mais rien ne va. Biscuits, gâteaux et des bonbons bien sûr! Je vais avoir beaucoup de chocolat chaud à boire, ainsi que de cidre de pomme épicé pour tout le monde. libre d'apporter quelque chose d'autre sites si vous le souhaitez.

Il y aura danse et le chant, après tout le monde arrive. Bien que nous mangeons des gâteaux et boire du thé, je pense qu'il serait amusant de jouer aux cartes autour de la table. Dans la soirée, nous allons jouer au croquet, bien sûr! Après le dîner et les boissons, nous allons montrer un film sur la pelouse et se détendre.

J'espère que vous pourrez tous venir, à bientôt! Bye!

Someone has not been eating their vegetables!

Today, in the garden.

Google maps updated (Finally!)

Hey, check out the new arial photo of our mandala garden from Google maps!

This is amazing!

Not only can we see what the garden looks like from space BUT, my brother and family have decided to return to California! We've spent a great couple weeks helping them move, talking about new additions to the garden and just hanging out together. We are all so happy to be back together again! Hooray!

Website relaunch & Sylvia's Super Awesome Maker Show!

This is my friend Sylvia in her very first episode of her very own show! I love it and am so excited to know this super awesome girl!

Also exciting is the fact that her dad helped us to relaunch our old website and update it with fresh navigation and graphics and stuff. Congratulations to Super Awesome Sylvia on her amazing maker show success and thanks to the techninja for all the support!

You can check out the new and improved website at www.greenfamilywinery.com

A different path

Did a little playing around with the garden path the other day. Simple things make for a delightful place to drink tea and relax. Rocks are always pretty and flowers make happiness happen.

The unknown awaits us!

Mandala Progress!

Here are some progress shots of the long awaited Mandala garden! It's huge! This "crop circle" is one of our biggest gardening projects yet. Spreading the composted manure in a layer over the whole thing took us many days of hard work but it's finally done and ready to plant in for late summer/fall season. Hooray!

A mountain of fun times.

Looks like a flower!

Hardest part will be figuring out what to plant in it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Zen and the Art of Vineyard Maintenance...

Whew!

Is that the general feeling that comes to mind when I think of the many days it took us (crew of about 3) to "tuck and sucker" the vineyard this year?

Sweaty hard work is fun!

How can a person possibly feel alive until they've wrestled a few hundred grape vines into place?

And...

It rained at a bizarre time of the year.

Actual water from the actual sky

And still hot as all get out.

People might long for the serene quiet of a country vineyard and imagine a country life off the beaten path. One would expect this occupation to be meditative and peaceful and I went into it ready to transcend this world through slow days of steady patience.

tuck. tuck. tuck. ..

But it's not peaceful at all. Tucking vines into trellises with your arms aching and sweat dripping into your eyes and sun baking you to a crisp does not inspire even the slightest moments of nirvana. But it was inspiring, motivating me to think of anything else unrelated to the task at hand. I thought a lot about summer goals, winter goals, travel plans, dreams I'd had, what to eat for dinner, whether or not that was a rattlesnake I just heard, how to get my next-door neighbors to loan me a come-along...

But it's over now, and relaxing on the cool rocks of our beautiful rivers and canyons has never been more appreciated. And if that somehow becomes boring, there's always harvest just around the corner.