August 2008

Winery Construction

Neil Sweeps out the newly built Gazebo. The "lake" is soon to follow...  (Right now, its just the "mud hole" in the background)	Gazebo from another angle	It looks bigger - closer up...
The Winery (from the gazebo)	The posts and beams start to arrive! (View from the parking lot)	The posts and beams start to arrive! (View from the parking lot)
The posts and beams start to arrive! (View from the parking lot)	The posts and beams start to arrive! (View from the lake-side )	First posts go up. (View from the parking lot)
First posts go up. (View from the parking lot)	First posts go up. (View from the lake-side)	Neil had to rig up his dozer to place this cross beam because the stairway was in the way of Decelle 's equipment.
Getting to the spot was a  squeeze.	Neil had to back into it (Glad HE was driving and not me!)	Dozer inches into place to raise the beam.
Razing  the bucket to set the post...	...it becomes apparent that the bucket isn't going to reach high enough,  (See Neil already looking for the "fix")	He stuck 2 nearby logs in front of the tracks, rode dozer onto them and...
...it was just the right height.	He lowered the beam exactly where it needed to go - first try.	Harry Decelle connects one of the knotched ends to the post timber on one side
Then the other side	And its set.	Now the hardest part was getting the straps untied!

The Garden

Newly prepared and seeded rows of Fall vegetables.	Mustard, Brocolli, and Brussell Sprouts seedligns, waiting to be planted out	The chickens roaming around the shade of the old church building.
How fast the little biddies have grown!  They are big enough now to roam with the rest of the flock - but they stick pretty close to "Mom" (who is a teeny but fierce protector!)	Sunflowers bordering the vineyard garden.	Just across the road a ways, Derek Smith borrows Neil's watering pipes and fixtures to try and salvage his tobacco crop.  We have had very little rain again this year here.

Sunflowers and other flowers
in front of the old church.  The
church was the original Methodist
church building from across the
street.  Neil's great Aunt and Uncle
(who were Quakers) provided the
land for the church - and so the
congregation gave them the old
building when they built a new
one. Neil's family moved it to the
farm and used as a pack house
for many years.