Grapevines, Grapes, Vineyard!

The Yadkin Yard has grapevines and grapes!  We didn't know that so we brought some vines with us, but they're all over the yard.

This area, the Yadkin Valley, is heavy with vineyards now.  The tobacco farms are turning into vineyards, with quite a lot of success actually.  The soil is perfect.  Several are close nearby:  RagApple Lassie in Boonville, Laurel Gray in Hamptonvile, and Yadkinville has Allison Oaks, Brandon Hills, and Hanover Park.

What we have in our yard are Muscadine and Scuppernong grape vines.  The Scuppernong grape is the official state fruit of North Carolina.  There is one particularly large-trunked vine growing wild over in the side yard and another in one of the landscaped areas.  Lynn set up a new mulched bed with the white wrought iron settee and chairs that we already had.  In the center is a pretty Muscadine vine that we'll let grow there.  I think the setup is very pretty.

I like the idea of sitting out in the yard and following the progress of the grapevine.  This week I got some white spray paint made by Sherwin Williams that's especially meant for outdoor wrought iron furniture.  Lynn sprayed all four pieces with the paint.  Really beautiful results.  We'll try to post another picture soon that has the newly-painted furniture as well as the remarkably-fast-growing grapevine, the budding vineyard in our Yadkin Yard!

Bloggers?

 I must apologize for the lack of blog posts. True bloggers are writers, making regular posts. We have been busy doing, at least to the best of our ability. Whew, we sure aren't spring chickens anymore. Tho, we do have chickens around us...

 My last update was about our butt bulge, well we brought in loggers to eliminate the danger of trees falling on the house, and/or us and to harvest the timber.

They brought in the heavy equipment....

Saw..

skidder...

knuckleboom...

and went to work. These were some good guys from Wilkes County, and I enjoyed "watching" them work.

One morning when I went out I didn't know if a raccoon had visited during the night, or a group of hobos.... whoever it was had went though the food on the loggers work truck.

 They did a great job, and it wasn't easy work. It is exceptionally hilly behind the house, as challenging as logging in the mountains I was told. There was a lot of timber, even with cutting off a lot of the butt cuts because of the rot. Watching them take down the tricky trees  was especially suspenseful, entertaining and educational.

 The trees were old (big) and plentiful. This was the second highest dollar per acre job they had cut.

 So the loggers came and went. The equipment hauled away and the job site cleaned up and smoothed out (somewhat).

 An area was set aside for a small garden and the rest sown in grass seed.

Our NOW sunrise goes great with coffee.....

Bucket Boss and Sowing Grass

I got a present in the mail yesterday -- my new Bucket Boss came.  Very nice. Here's a picture of it from Amazon.  I also got the EasySeat Plastic Bucket Seat to go on the top.  So now I'm set!  Ready to tackle any project.

Farmer Lynn was out in the Yadkin Yard all day getting the side yard ready to accept grass seed, then sowing the grass seed, covering with straw, and watering.  One of the new sprinklers broke down after 15 minutes!  Very irritating.  But Mother Nature came to the rescue and we got thunderstorms and a nice rain for a bit.  He filled up the bird feeders the day before, hoping that the birds won't eat the grass seed instead.  The birds around here love Farmer Lynn.  He keeps them fed and clean.  My sister came to visit and wanted to know what all the squeaking noises were -- it was all of the birds in the yard!