My husband and I moved to the Sierra foothills from the bay area and bought a house just before Christmas of 2007. Since then, we've had a baby girl, henceforth referred to as Gi, two years old, and recently stumbled into a steal of a land deal. This gem of a 10 acre parcel came complete with a falling down historic barn, two dilapidated chicken coups, a small orchard of dead or dying apple trees and 5 acres of already planted and then abandoned to grow wild Chardonnay vines.
Our mission: to revitalize the vineyard into a working, organic farm, replant the orchard (to which end we've already made progress having added 2 cherry trees, 2 apple varietals and 2 pluots) and finally restore the old barn to habitable condition and move in with our family--which by the way, is going to be one person larger as of Oct. 3, 2010!
Our knowledge of said mission tasks: ZERO. My husband, Ben, is an electrical engineer and I am a stay-at-home mom with a few higher degrees in subjects that are guaranteed to expand my higher consciousness and do little to further our bottom line. But, I'm crafty. I like to research and plan and my husband is French so wine is in his blood at least. With a little luck, and a lot of blackberry bush clearing ahead of us, we will see a few well-chosen rows of vines produce buds this spring and our orchard will bloom right along side them. Here's to beginner's luck!
