I have about 50 photos saved on the desk top because I was “going” to write a blog post. See how far that got me? I can’t believe it is already April and all of March went past with no post. I am seriously derelict.
Of course, COVID-19 is in all the news, and I put myself into isolation 3 weeks ago. Somehow, I haven’t had the need or desire to blog. I think I am mourning my work. I am certainly concerned about what is going to happen in the community I live it when this virus finally takes hold. Aside from panic buying, a lot of people are really not taking this seriously, and I fear the spike when it finally comes.
We’ve actually sort of reached the place where when we hear or read comments or statements like “They can’t MAKE me stay home, it’s unconstitutional, me and my buddies are gonna get together anyway” and other opinions like that, my reaction is “Please, get together with all your buddies! The more the merrier.” Looks to me like they are bucking for a Darwin award.
Meanwhile, spring sprang most springily here, and we are inundated with gorgeous flowers.
In other news, we have sadly made the decision to remove the vineyard from the property. This was not a light decision, not with the years of effort we put into establishing it. But we had to do it. First of all, of all the vines in the vineyard, over 40% were killed outright by the stress of being eaten to death by the Japanese beetle infestation.
Last year we only got 6 gallons of wine from the whole vineyard. We had to do all the work, deploy the netting to keep the birds off, do the antifungal treatments of Bordeaux mixture. And in addition we had tossed our principles out the window and were regularly spraying the vines with Sevin in an attempt to put a dent in the beetle population. And so we have given up.
So here is the area where the vineyard used to be. And the funeral pyre of the vines.
the havens 