Ohio Wine and More

Looks like we have the wiring done in the Gateway Pavilion and if the weather forcast is right this weekend should see us have our weekly entertainment find its way outside!

And who is "Perez Hilton" anyhow? As they say in China "you can't eat it" so why is it worth anything? I guess it is amazing in our land of plenty that someone who has so little contribution to the economic and social well being of our country can get so much attention??!! I suppose that is the true measure of our success as agricultural producers and others who produce mind boggleing technology, goods and services for our society that we have the time and resources to pay any attention at all to such a unique perspective on life. 15 minutes of fame......

Getting back to what we do best and that is create the ultimate reality show, life on a agricultural production facility, a farm. New this year we are sharpening our focus on "Maize Valley Destination Health“. Part of Ohio Wine and MORE is the fact that we are much more than a winery. We are a agricultural destination and part of that is production of healthy fresh grown produce. Time is one resource none of us can make more of and by taking care of our health we can make the most out of what we have. Stay in touch as we help to create a destination that is real and balanced in respect to helping live a more “time capturing” experiencing of life. I am not talking about being a bark eating, tree hugging, bug squishing extremist or anything. I mean health and exercise that fits well into your life and can become part of your lifestyle on a consistant basis that makes sense and is fun.

We are working with the great folks over at Aultman Hospital in Canton Ohio to merge our strengths to create a unique destination for health. Say tuned for updates.

Hopefully we can get back out into the vineyard tomorrow as the clouds part and finish up pruning on the later grapes. Lots of meetings coming up, planning for our Celtic/Beltane Fest. our 5K race, the Civil War Re-enactment. etc. etc. etc.

Later

BB

Right behind our house is part of the original property that my wife’s family settled on. It dates back to the Monroe Administration. In fact the house we live in Michelle’s grandfather was born in. In the picture here her father Kay is doing some spring plowing with our John Deere 4050.

We used to have all sorts of bigger tractors and equipment but as we have made the transition to a speciality vegtable producer and winery we have down sized quite a bit. I don’t mind a bit I got tired of working on all that equipment and seeing the parts bill too!

Bill

[caption id="attachment_50" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The \"Moore Family\" Christmas Tree Farm"][/caption]

Learning how to operate Word Press and blog publish, and try and take a vacation! I multi-task better with things like motorcycles and wrenches! Catching up with the work, then will try and get up to date on stuff “goin’ on, down on the farm”.

The pic on top is that of the Moore Family Tree Farm, they are planting new seedlings next door to the East of our place.

Next is Kay getting the hay off to a good start by trying to keep some of those dandilions from taking over.

Greetings from the FunTSAR at Maize Valley!

Coming up to speed on providing meaningful content for our Ohio Wine and More Blog from Maize Valley. I had hoped to get out a bit early and get started in the vineyard working more on some of the weed control I started the other day, but it a bit too cold yet.

Todd my brother-in-law and our wine maker, has been busy working his way across the varieties pruning last year growth and getting ready for bud break this year. We start with the grapes that we know we won’t have a issue with winter kill and work across the blocks of grapes. This past winter was really hard on our Reisling. We are not sure yet how they are going to emerge as we had an extended period of very cold weather in Jan. The plants seem ok, but the buds look shot. We have a about an acre of newly planted Traminet to uncover yet too. They look good but the first 2-3 years are tough for them, once you getting them going they are usually good to go. Our native american and French American Hybrids all look good and except for some primary bud die back we should be okay as the secondary buds should fill the gaps.

We are also getting some really cool trucks ready to go in our shop for our farmers’ markets this year and I will have pics up soon. One is a 52 Ford and the other is a 51. They look way cool and our fun platforms to sell off of. In the fields they have been getting the vegtable ground ready when the rain gives us a break. They are putting the final touches on some equipment and doing odd jobs that slipped through the cracks this winter.

Looks like a busy night to be had in the winery tonight with a great band, and one group of 30-40 already on board, plus some other smaller groups and walk ins should be a busy night. That’s cool, not much fun growing and making the stuff if nobody enjoys it!

Well gotta go take my daughter to the high school, she has a track meet today then I hope to get back out to the fields, work on my trucks, etc. One cool thing is I really enjoy my “job” and in as much never think of it as “work”.

F.T.

Yesterday the weather was great, got a jump on this year’s spring work!