Boy winter started early, like I think it was somewhere around last June? Anyhow we are seeing some signs of spring here or there. Days getting longer, still daylight at 6:30 Wow! Our vines so far so good. Despite all the snow and cold it really has not been as extreme as it was last winter.
Last winter we had significant die back due to temp in the sub zero teens for an extended period. We did not have that this. The trick will still be to get past that late frost in May however. You can look back on last years posts for that disaster. But that is what we roll with here on the farm.
We are planting more grapes this spring, doing new crops in the greenhouse and some other unique things will be coming up in the field too! Look for us at area farmers’ markets and of course at the main market and winery with tons of new special events and cool tried and true trusted ones as well.
Here are a couple of videos one of the vineyard itself and one of the drive out to the vineyard in my pickup hope you enjoy.
Wines paired with the dinner are boxed and ready to go!
January 21 saw the first of our Vintner’s dinners at Maize Valley for 2010. They are reservation only dinners limited to 40 persons held on the third Thursday of every month. The menu and recipie for each dinner can be found by visiting our website. Reservations can be made by calling or e-mailing us in either case be sure to get a confirmation.
New wines, new food, new friends is how we like to put it for this event series. Our focus is on introducing guests to new wines and pair them with foods we feel are complementary. We hope our guests also meet new friends and enjoy learning more about food and wine along the way.
We try to feature items on the menu we either grow or source as local as possible while still maintaining high standard of quality. During the evening we explain a little about the pairings as well as some of the history surrounding our winery and family farm. Sometimes we just talk about the food other times we might even tell a story about how the Vaughan family has made a living with the land here in Marlboro township since the 1800’s. They have been school teachers, leather tanners, and farmers, you never know what might come to mind.
So please stop on by sometime, sit a spell, but no don’t take your shoes off, this is just a bit higher end than that!
A little clove all tucked in for a long winters nap
Planting garlic
I have to say one thing about my father-in-law Kay, when get tries something he tries it big. Almost a quarter acre of garlic, REALLY! Well at least we will have a “Vampire free zone”or is that Werwolf Free ?! I remember when we row covered almost 8 acres of melons years ago for our first go around with melons, whoops! Worked good till the wind blew it off and we had kites the size of football fields.
Anyhow the point is we are not afraid to try new things at Maize Valley. I got Kay started more on these crops a few years ago when I asked him “do you want to try some farmers’” markets and he said yes. Well we needed to learn to grow a whole new mix of crops to adapt and succeed at direct markets.
New crops, smaller plantings, wider varities all came into play as we moved forward in this are and the garlic is just one example. Stop in our farm market and winery next year, we are going to have PLENTY of garlic!
Under the road and to trail center to the farmers' market we go....
Approach to the Happy Days Trail Center
Tim and Brett selling the goods!
Lots of vendors to choose from
If you look at the last Maize Valley Ohio Wine and More blog post you could see the process that we use to grow some crops in the winter time in Ohio. Now don’t get me wrong I have no illusion we are making any money yet at this venture. This is still in the research and development phase, but you have to start somewhere!
We are learning experimenting trying new things that is what entrepreneurs do, it is in our blood! We have learned a great deal already and it is allowing us to make some future investment decisions based upon data collected. This is all we do, no off farm jobs, no retirement income, no gov’t support we run very tight and hard.
We are just practical producers trying to make a living with the land in a responsible manner that sustains our families and provides for future generations. My wifes family has been here since the late 1800’s and I don’t want to mess that up! So with my father-in-laws support we started trying farmers’ markets again a few years ago and this is the latest chapter in that journey.
If you take the time to look through past blog posts here in this Ohio Wine and More blog you will see it is quite a journey!
Thanks to Beth Knorr and Darwin Kelsey who are the main contacts we have the CVCC for their efforts in starting and helping to develop the farmers’ market.
Here are some pictures and videos showing last Saturdays market organized by the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservacy. It is held in the park at the Happy Days Trail center. There are links to learn more via the pictures above just hover and click.
The Ohio Wine and More Blog is as the title says, more! Part of our winery is also a strong agricultural heritage. But that heritage is an evolving one. Maize Valley was once a “Conventional Commercial Dairy and Cash Grain” family farm enterprise. Maize Valley is now a diversified direct to consumer and wholesaler producer of of a wide variety of fresh market vegtables, as well as a new up and coming line of peppers, salsas, sauses and of course award winning wines.
In 2009 we attended 7 weekly farmers’ markets in the growing and harvest season. This winter we have expanded to attending one winter market to test the waters and see how that works. I do not mean to imply that we are experts at any of this. We are just one family farm trying new things to adapt to a changing marketplace
This years attempt at raising spinich and lettuce in the greenhouse is far from perfect. A “greenhouse” is not the idea enviornment for this type of production but before we invested a lot we wanted to give it a try with resources and infrastructure we already had. To do this sort of production a “High Tunnel” type of cover would be better suited. This might be in the future for us if we see a market emerge to sell product in what was traditionally a off season.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again with more posts from The Ohio Wine and More blog. Come and see why Maize Valley IS the Place to BE!
As the saying goes “Back in the Day” yes this blog is called Ohio Wine and More and I usually have you looking at all kinds of stuff besides wine and that is true. We are a diverse agricultural family farm enterprise.
Part of our past was that of an agricultural supply center for other local farmers as well as ourselves. As the landscape changed in our community so did we as a result.
So what once was a 3,000 acre corn, soybeans, wheat, dairy, etc., diverse family agricultural “old school” production oriented enterprise changed into a direct marketing guest/consumer oriented farm market and winery.
At one point I managed our grain storage facility that had about 470,000 bushel capacity. A average semi truck dump trailer holds about 1,000 bushels as a reference point. Over the years we gradually starting growing more vegtables beyond the sweet corn seed my father-in-law threw in the 12 row corn planter on the last round of the season to a more direct oriented vegtable producer.
Here is a view of some of the “old” headed to the scrap yard.
I think people are best summed up with pictures rather than words. I hear they had an estimated attendance of about 70,000 of them so you are bound to get some great shots!
The Chunkin for the Cure Cannon
I even snuck a quick ride in over the the Atlantic Shore
I even snuck a quick ride in over the the Atlantic Shore
Cammo coat and a wedding dress!
Check out the Porta-Jon in the back of the pickup truck!
When you run out of Horse shoes
I just have a “wanna beee” beard! I’m the one on the right!
Move over “Corn Hole”, when in Rome…
Awesome
Improvised field games
Take corn cobs, black electricians tape, beer bottles, add corn field and friends!
Finally a good use for a Harley!
I had a Daiquiri for Breakfast and $$’s went to St. Judes!!
Above are just a few of the shots that made people watching at this event as much fun as watching the pumpkins fly!
The following video is way too long, sorry. Just drag and drop to the last 30 seconds or so to see the shot.
I have sooooo much to tell about this event I rode out to see that I can’t squeeze it into just one blog entry! I would try, but my man Corey over at The Karcher Group (TKG) who helps with all my web stuff says “take it easy, post less content per entry but do it more often if you have a lot to say”.
That being said I am going to roll this story out in stages. Here is the approach and long view of the grounds, (over 200 acres plus parking) then we will get to more details later. You can also go to the Science Channel Web site to learn more too.
As many of you know we have been throwin pumpkins at our place for a number of years now. The main reason I went to the “Mother of all Chunks” is to see how a event like this works, feels, and rolls.
My wife Chelle and I are going through a battle with breast cancer and I thought to start a similar event at Maize Valley on a smaller scale just might be a great way to raise funds, awareness and have fun doing so.
A special thanks goes out to John Huber president of the Pumpkin Chunkin association for helping me learn more about this great event.
Todd looking at progress of winter greenhouse crops
There is ALWAYS something Happening at Maize Valley! I understand the economy presents some unique challenges now, but I refuse to think that you can do nothing about it. It just forces you to try new things, think harder, work smarter, get better, get out of your comfort zone, move ahead.
That is what made our country great not “gov’t stimulus” or “Nebraska style” change, it is entrepreneurs getting out taking risks with the hope of reward. That lasts long after the handout is gone! Sorry about the “soapbox” there!
Winter time is always a tough time for business especially wineries but new this year at Maize Valley will be our Thursday evening “Vintners Dinners”. A chance for people to come out and learn a little bit more about wine, understand better how it complements different foods, and enjoy the company of others as you travel on this path together.
One unique thing about our Vintners dinners is that even in the winter months some of the entree’ will be grown by us! Right now just for starters it is going to be the salad and wine produced by us will be paired with it. Different dinners will have different themes and pairings.
The dinners will be the third Thursday of the month with limited reserved seating. Move your curser over the pics above and “click”, it will magically take you to a Maize Valley web page with details such as price, dates, menu etc.
Yea I do talk and shoot a lot of videos but here and there I try and do some real work too. I guess we bloggers who actually get out in the real world and actually do something that contributes to our nations GDP are few and far between but here is one of the jobs that we need to get after in the “off season”.
Water is an essential element necessary for plant life. However too much is not good. All things need balance. When soils become saturated plants don’t do well. I had an animal science professor Dr. Kline, that once told us “Water is TOXIC, right up to here!” as he held his finger just above his nose.
Much is the same for plants so we put pipes or drainage tubes in the fields to remove excess water and improve plant health. It is one of the most expensive aspects of farming and requires maintance. In this case we have several plugged or broken field tiles in this particular part of the field and are just getting started trying to identify the locations and dig them up and repair the spots.
The tile can break, get crushed, or get things like tree roots growing inside that leads to low flow and more plugs so we begin the task of “hunt and peck” as we move about the field. Today I had Galen helping me on hand shovel and Burt running the trac hoe. Here are a few videos as we dig into the soil in search of the damaged tile.
This particular tile drains part of our rear vineyard, corn maze, part of an alfalfa field, and haunted corn maze. We were able to find and fix one of the problems but have more work to do in other sections of the field later this winter.
