California Part 4: Tablas Creek Vineyard

This is my family's Vineyard in Paso Robles.  It is an incredible place, and every time I go there I am more and more awed by the scope and style of the project, the amazing integrity behind the farming and winemaking, and just the sheer beauty of the place.  The photos above and directly below are of the new additional property that was just purchased, which is yet to be planted with vines.  It's a great place to try to launch rocks into space (if you're 3).

These photos were taken a few weeks ago, and I'm sure the vineyard is looking quite different now.  When we were there the vines were just starting to come out of their winter dormancy. In the vineyard they were in the beginning stages of mowing the spring cover crop, so you'll notice that some of the rows have been mowed, and some not.

We are moving towards biodynamic farming, part of which is creating a diverse ecosystem within the vineyard.  These little cuties below are helping out with that, as well as helping to disperse natural fertilizer around the vineyard as they help keep down the greenery between the vines.

This donkey's name is Fiona, and she's a guard donkey.  She and her other donkey friend keep coyotes and other predators away from the sheep and alpacas.  They are in a little enclosure that gets moved around regularly once they have munched down all of their fodder, and before they start munching on vines.

I have really only glossed over the tip of the iceberg of interesting things about Tablas Creek, so please click here if you want to go deeper.  I was just out wandering through the vines and couldn't resist taking photos of the amazing scenery.  And if vineyards and winemaking interest you in general, check out my brother's award winning blog (#shamelessfamilybragging). It is a great place to frequent for regular thought provoking and informative wine related articles spanning such topics as details of viticulture, wine business and policy, tasting notes, and many other subjects that effect daily life on a vineyard.

California: Part 3: AndBe

I am very excited that my jewelry is now being sold at AndBe, a gorgeous new shop in Paso Robles, CA.  I got a chance to go there it in person and do a little shopping while we were out there a few weeks ago.  Beatrice and Andrea are the co-owners, and they sell carefully selected things for the home in beautiful muted colors, as well as accessories and some clothing.  

AndBe is full of luxurious textures and patterns, and it was a joy to wander around and pick everything up for a closer look.  And although there were many things I would have loved to take home, I ended up selecting six of the bowls you'll see below.  I have already put them into use, and I just love them.

Gorgeous stuff, right? I'd be in big trouble if AndBe was about 3005 miles closer!

California Part 2: At Home

These pictures pretty much sum up what we do at home with my family in California.  Play by the pool, eat good and sometimes strange food (the second photo is shad roe), play with the kids and drink wine (sometimes at the same time), go to the farmers market for gorgeous flowers and yet more food, and then sit around the table and talk, while eating, yup, you guessed it, more food.  It was wonderfully luxurious, and now we are all on a diet.

California Part 1: The Trip Over Santa Rosa Creek Road

We are back in Vermont, and this time, what struck me most about going from March in Vermont to March in California was the amazing lush color.  It made me think that perhaps the end of winter blues is less of a sunshine deficit, and perhaps more of a color deficit.  When I look out my windows right now all I see is a range of browns and greys.  And just look at all of the colors above.  Even the giant slugs are gorgeous and vibrant (and I mean giant). My eyes and spirits feel revived from the experience, and I think they have stored up enough color memory to get me through until the daffodils bloom.

These photos are from a drive over Santa Rosa Creek Road, which is a meandering mountain pass that links Highway 46 in Paso Robles with Cambria on the coast.  Highway 46 is also gorgeous, with sweeping vistas out to the coast.  But I really enjoyed this drive through little mountain hollows in the rain and fog.  And when we got to the coast the fog was just clearing, and we had the experience of being right on the edge of the fog bank, with the sun peeking through.  It is pretty incredible countryside out there.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  We are on vacation in California, enjoying some sunshine and time with family.  I'm not blogging every day out here (I know, I know, I haven't been blogging every day anywhere) but I am posting an Instagram photo every day for our 10 day trip.  So if you want to see what I'm up to follow me on Instagram here!  I'm always late to every tech-party, but I've been really enjoying Instagram recently.  It's such a great way to capture life's daily beauty and special moments in images.

Under Renovation

Remember in the previous post, when I was complaining about how un-photogenic everything is at this time of year in Vermont?

Well, our house is still under renovation, and as exciting as that is, and as amazing as I hope it will look in the future, it's not very photogenic either.  Quite the opposite, right now, actually.  But here are some pictures anyway that will give you a little bit of a sense of what is going on around here without hurting your eyes.  Mostly everything is either coated in plastic or covered in drop cloths to protect the finished part of the house from the work that is getting done on the unfinished part.  The plastic coated hallway in the bottom photo is totally Dexter-worthy, don't you think?  And see the pink tile in the second photo?  Those were the tiles under the tiles of our shower.  Lovely color, right?  And we have also discovered a hidden window, which was covered up in some previous renovation, curtains still up on it and everything.  Unfortunately is is a window facing the wall of a previous addition, so it's not going to be able to be a real window again, but it will be a great storage nook.

We are leaving for 10 days in California in just a few minutes, and I'm hoping this will become the before, of a before and after post.  I am so looking forward to getting home and seeing what our rough space has become! And while we are at it, if all of the snow could melt, and the mud could dry up, that would be great. Thx!

Harumph

I mean are you dead serious about this weather?  This March storm happens every year here and it is enough to make every Vermonter want to move to California.  Luckily it melts fast and we get over it, or Vermont would be an depopulated tundra.   Yeah yeah, it's pretty, I know.  You know what else is pretty? Flowers.  Leaves. Grass.  A warm yellow orb in the sky.  Harumph.

Sorry about the long blogger silence.  I struggle with this every year in this season.  I always try to use my own photos on this blog, and there is nothing photogenic about mud, bare branches, and crusty old snow.  I guess it's a good thing we are getting this storm or you probably wouldn't have heard from me for another three weeks.  And I've peppered you all enough with pictures of collages and jewelry.  

I'll try to put together a post about our renovation tomorrow, since it is definitely the biggest news around here, and taking up a good chunk of our time.  And thankfully we are headed to California in a week to hopefully escape the worst of mud season and replace it with some sun and sea.  I promise to be a much cheerier blogger after that! No one likes a grumpy blogger.