January
Looking for the warmer weather. Not much to be found, but we found a few warm days that allowed for a new septic system to be dug and installed. The house addition is move-in ready.
February
Covid-19 is now something on our radar as we have become aware of a growing concern that this illness is moving quickly around the globe.
March
Well that was a quick trip from an illness is infecting people around the globe to we need to hunker down and prepare for a long term quarantine to stop the spread, but there isn’t much else to do in the cold months of the year, so we began to hunker down and limit our trips into the public realm.
April
Ok, so we are going a little stir crazy, and the weather is beginning to look a little better. We spent some time in the vineyard and started moving some steel around to get the winery project off the ground.
May
Here we go. Let’s see if we can build a building with as little outside help as we can. Oh and we need to be aware of the health risk that having a bunch of people show up to help raise a barn might be a huge problem because we could infect one another.
June
The frame is up and the building is taking shape. With the help of my immediate family; Father-in-law, Uncle-in-law, Brother-in-law, his Brother, and two or four Cousins, we have raised the building, insulated a third of the roof and installed the associated roofing. Now to get the other two thirds done.
July
The rest of the roof gets done, Alyssa’s parents stepped up to join me on the roof to get a, literal, ton of steel, fabric and insulation installed to complete the roof. Now on to siding! And a pause from the building work to start working on the power trenching and transformer moving project, almost 1800 feet of trenches are cut or dug to make the power move from diagonally under the vineyard to around the vineyard. The close of the month also came with a huge forest fire that started from a lightning strike in the hills just south of the vineyard. The Magpie Rock Fire was impressive and we got to see the first hand usage of aerial firefighting, bulldozer work, hand crews and the amazing force of a burn out. It was quite the way to enter August.
August
Forest fire continues, building is slowed due to a lack of windows, but siding is figured out to get around the huge garage doors.
September
The siding is finally finished, just in time for Smith Electric to start the electrical work to make the lights in the winery work. MOST IMPORTANTLY, our second harvest happened. This year was much less rushed as compared to last year. We were able to have some help from family to collect the grape crop and make some juice.
October
24th we woke up to 11 inches of snow!
November
The addition is coming along and nearing completion, and the concrete has been laid for the foundation of the winery! Now to await some warmer weather to start the construction process.
December
