Rototiller

One of the necessary aspects of planting a vineyard is choosing a location and preparing the soil.  In order to do this, I will be going down to the island to survey possible sites, and then to take some soil samples to find out about the soil.
After choosing the location, and taking the soil samples, I will be able to start preparing the vineyard for planting the root-stalks next spring.  This entails tilling the soil, so that it will be able to breath, and soak up more water.  This allows the roots from the vines to grow quicker and better.

Depending on the soil consistency, I also might need to add something to balance out the soil pH levels.  I can add these components when rototilling the ground to prepare it for planting.
In order to breakup the ground, I purchased a used rototiller off of craigslist.  It's not too big, which is good and bad.  Good because it will be easier to transport it across the river, and bad because it will take longer to till the ground.  It's a front tine craftsman rototiller.

Island Vineyard Research

My family has an island in the Snake river in Idaho/Oregon.  It's a large Island, about 18 acres.  In the past we've used it to hunt on.  My grampa had a cable barge that went across one side of the river, which allowed him to move over a tractor, and the materials to build a hunting shack.  That cable and barge was removed a long, long time ago.  And the only remnant of the tractor was the steering wheel sticking out of the muddy riverbank.
We haven't been down to hunt at the island for quite some time.  I've been thinking of ways to use the island, and one of them is to plant some grapevines.  I've been doing some reading on the subject, and checked out several books from the library.  One of the best was From Vines to Wines, by Jeff Cox.

Reading 9-2-2010

Recently picked up the book Bearers Of The Black Staff, by Terry Brooks.  I've read all the Terry Brooks books, and this one is another plank into the deck of the Shannara universe.  Brooks weaves a good tale, and his books have a great balance of interesting details and developing characters.  This book continues to fill out the grand story of his series, in his characteristic style of writing.

Island Rototiller

I'm looking into planting some grapevines on our island.  I have been reading several books from the library on how to go about doing that.  One book, Vines to Wines seems especially knowledgeable and helpful.  Part of the process is choosing a location and preparing the soil: so I am going to take some soil samples, and till up the dirt in preparation for next year's planting.  In order to do this, I bought a rototiller off of craigslist.

Reading - August 2010

I've been reading through a few different books of late.  One is The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the Cameo Classics edition, by Rudolf Erich Raspe.  This old book houses the surrealistic and absurd tales of Baron Munchausen, which were later made into a movie.
Another interesting book to read has been From Vines to Wines, by Jeff Cox.  This books details the process of planting grapevines all the way to making your own wine.  Definitely an interesting read, and possibly related to an upcoming project.

Move from Drupal to Blogger.com

I've been mulling over moving off of Drupal and onto a free hosted blogging platform.  I've been looking around for a while (and used livejournal for quite some time), and decided to go with blogspot/blogger.  It's part of the google platform, and I've just changed over the website (along with my 250 previous posts).

Costa Rica

Recently returned from two weeks in Costa Rica.  I went down with my work, MAFLT.  I was doing survey work, and looking for ways to support our Latin America team.  Melissa went with me, and we had a great time experiencing the culture of Costa Rica, and also of South American influences.  We visited the volcano Arenal.  We also stayed a few days at Playa del Coco.  And took lots of photos.