An entire day's work, Saturday, yielded one very sturdy 8 X 12 outdoor room with walls of latice and ceiling of ladder rungs....strong enough to withstand grapevines. Imagine, if you will, several years from now....it is a sunny afternoon. There is a gentle warm breeze and the rustling noise that it makes as it tickles the leaves in the nearby woods. The birds are singing in the distance. A few industrious honey bees buzz past your ear, headed to drink of the sweet nectar that also beckons you. You enter the lush outdoor room that our grape arbor has become. You feel a welcome coolness from the shade of surrounding grape vines robustly covered in vegetation. You look overhead and delightedly find cluster upon cluster of sweet ripe grapes. You raise your hand and pick a bunch and place a plump, juicy fruit on your tongue. You bite down and your mouth is awash with both sweet and tart rivers of fresh grape juice that escape across your lips and drip from your chin. Oh what a lovely fantasy......another step closer to reality.
Today I planted 9 grape vines that will hopefully cover our arbor and bring this fantasy to fruition. Among the varieties are 3 Concord, 3 Mars and 3 green seedless table grapes (Niagara, perhaps). Now we wait, ever hopeful that their fragile roots will take hold to harness the nutrients of Mother Earth and send currents of growth thru their awaiting armlike limbs...ever grasping towards the warmth and energy of the spring and summer sun....climbing higher and higher still....
This picture is one that I took last summer on vacation in Napa Valley. It serves as my inspiration for "Project Grape Arbor"
3 comments:
Wow.....this blog is fabulous too. Your words and photos are such an inspiration. Love the fact that you are sharing the woes and triumphs of your new farm. My husband and I are divesting ourselves this year of our possessions and looking for a small farm too. We are totally open to any location. Thank you for pouring your heart and love and your essence into everything that you write on your blogs. I'm learning so much AND your accounts are taking away any trepidations that I have on following the path of simplicity! See ya at MJ's!!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog, so glad to find yours, such a nice blog, love the farm photos! Our grapes got zapped from a late frost last week, hope they will survive?
Please post a photo - I've always longed for a grape arbor myself.
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