Everything featured above in a photographic medium is from the original vine planted in March 2008 (Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008). Of course it is not well-kempt. This is, after all, the story of a guy trying to figure out how to establish a vineyard from just one vine. Lessons, lessons, lessons. I can only hope that I'll learn as much as I can. Which, by the way, is a nice segue for another bit of news. I am enrolled in a Viticulture Certificate program in a local community college to get some lessons about growing the vines, caring after them, learning everything else I can't even pretend to predict, and to further go into debt. BUT!!!!!! It is all to seize better control of my life and to situate mineself in a setting where I can be fully engaged in job/work kinds of stuff (the material that eats up nearly 52 hours of our weeks, every week - the math is: 52 weeks times 52 hours produces a total of 2,704 hours a year that we spend consumed with work - I added 12 hours to figure in travel times 52-12=40 hrs a week, for citizens of cities as crowded as Chicago you might wish to add upwards of 15-18 hours for commuting if the train doesn't help you all too well).
Anyway, if I am going to work 2,704 hours a year at a place that pays me, I realized that I want to be engaged in activities that I believe in. Life is moving along unexpectedly swift in manner. It's all process, just like these vines.
There are a couple of photos of note. The one photo has the author of the blog standing against the vine, it clearly reveals how tall this vine has gotten. When this vine was pruned on Friday Feb 26, 2010 with my mom and my cousin Mike, the assumption was that the vine would be in better shape. It is better than last year and seems better managed but next Feb 2011 the vine is definitely going under the saw, as it were, to get it to be more cruciform-like.
Also, look at the beautiful wood of the vine, there are a few photos that reveal how mature the vine is getting. Remember, this vine is only 3 years-old. And another item to put in is that when I took the photos yesterday I was trying to spy a few Japanese Beetles, but to no avail. Where are those pesky varmints? Some other bug is clearly getting a meal or two on the leaves, and that can be seen quite clearly in the photography. The star of the show is really my family as they care after this lovely beast with the tending, the watering, the clipping, the bird-netting, etc. My little niece is consumed with quality control as I hear she sneaks a grape every time she stops by to visit grandma and grandpa: the grapes weren't too delectable this weekend, she reports.
