Big Thanks and some new wine reviews!!!

Wow!! Memorial day weekend was awesome - so many fabulous wine lovers came to the farm and took home wine we had our best weekend ever both from number of folks visiting and sales! Thanks so much to all!!!

Special thanks go to our friends that helped get ready and keep things humming all weekend!- Amber, Laura and Sarah you guys are the BEST!!!!

---------------------------------

Also we got some rockin' reviews and scores form Gary Vaynerchuk !! thanks Gary!!

2009 Big Table Farm - Willamette Valley - Pinot Noir - 90 Points

Gary's tasting notes

Top soil, dirt... we're talking straight up earth aromas are what hit you right on the nose. I mean, really heavy, heavy soil components. A little musty mushroom, and a touch of a potato popping out of the ground on the nose. On the palate, this wine really shows its pedigree. Fresh and vibrant, weaving subtle cranberry and black raspberry fruit with an intriguing creamy mushroom soup flavor. The structure and finish is long, strong and persistent. Look for this wine to last another 10 years but drink happily now while pairing with Terrine Au Foie Gras.

2008 Big Table Farm - White Hawk Vineyard - Syrah - 90 Points

Gary's tasting notes

Smokey burnt cedar and cigar box aromas are met by ripe raspberry and chocolate covered strawberry on the nose. Elegant red fruit is surrounded by coconut and leather flavors on the palate. While those flavors are interesting, it's the balance of this wine and the overall structure that make it a real treat. Look for this wine to last another 10+ years, and it will pair tremendously with everything from sophisticated pigeon dishes, down to simple BBQ ribs. Many of Cali's Syrah producers should take a good, hard look at this wine because they're making Syrah slightly more interesting again... dare I say, even a hint of Northern Rhone character despite its sweet, new world fruit.

-------------------

In farm news the new baby calf is doing GREAT we named him jessie -

Come on out Memorial Day Weekend!!

Come on out to the farm this weekend for our spring release! - Just like last year we will be introducing our newly released wines - get 'em while they are still here!!



We'll be open 11am - 5pm Sat, Sun and Mon
(please refer to our web site for detailed directions - you'll need 'em)

time away from the farm...

May turned out to be an unexpectedly busy month for me - I went to Ca to be with my friend June who at 88 passed away - June is a very special woman in my life - she was my adopted grandmother ... she was a strong, and straightforward woman who spoke her mind and often forgot the filter... she was a tough business woman and had a big soft heart I loved her and was honored to be at her side on her last days and moments on this planet.
I raise my martini to you June !


June at the top of the hill at Big Table Farm



Big Thanks to Julia for helping me at the plowing and for being so supportive and dealing with horses when we were done so I could get on the road to be with June... also thanks to Sarah and Laura for coming out and visiting the boys while I was in ca - what an amazing group of women in my life!!

In the mean time back at the farm spring was exploding all over the place!

nothing but a big old pile of sh__t

we went out yesterday to check the bees and to our delight looks like they might call that hive home!! - that's a lot of polination for our garden and farm as well as a lot of honey!!! yippie - big giant thank you to laura!!!



then we wandered over to see how our manure pile is cooking along... we turned it over with some layers of some organic straw a month or so ago. When we did this we also put in some 'chimneys' brian made out of drain pipe with lots of holes to create air flow in the pile. This is to speed up the aerobic activity.. and it's working great - nice job brian on the great idea!! I'm very excited to put this on the garden!!



so all inspired we went to work on turning the second pile and adding pipes to that too!!! that's some good shit!





The dogs and horses were a generally useless part of this project but they sure did enjoy the sunshine as did we!

things are buzzing around here

The weather was beautiful this weekend we got the cows moved up to the very top of the hill for one more week of grazing then they will come down to eat around the house and hopefully have there babies!! (except for mr freddie who came early)



We also moved the laying hens to there next spot ... I thought you might want to see a little play by play of moving the bus!

1- lock up the birds the night before after one too many glasses of wine it's always a draw to see who get's that job

2 - hook the bus up to the tractor and move to new spot


3 - level bus with handy adjustable legs
4 - put up fence (always a discussion here about exactly where the fence goes)


5- give them back there ramp to get in and out


6 - the BEST part is opening the door and watching them run out 'en masse' they are so excited to be in a new spot






gotta love that sight!

In the mean time the meat birds are growing fast and LOVING the sunshine too...




hubs is happy about that!



I also took advantage of the super nice weather to try out my 'new' plow which I just got from a great guy who is my draft horse club .. it's a beautiful old John Deere plow that he restored and then duane fitted with some more bits for me. So Sunday was it's first trial run I worked up the spot the pigs were in last year that still hadn't recovered so it was a perfect application - I'm gonna plant something fun here not sure what yet some kind of feed / root crop for pigs I think just to bring it full circle... plowing on big table land with my own team ... man a pretty great day that was!!


before plowing


after plowing - next harrow and seed !!


the boys just before we started


the boys after plowing - they got some grass as a treat!


my new plow!!

And last but NOT at all least our original bee hive divided and swarmed and landed only about 10 or so feet away from that original hive.... I called Laura (abotu 5 times) and she instructed me to place the new box close and see if they go in on there own... let's just say they didn't' get the memo - so she graciously offered to come on out and catch the swarm and put them in the box .. they are in there tonight .. there not coming and going yet so the jury is still out but I'm hoping they decide it's a good home!


1 - the swarm


2 - clare trying to make the box easy to see!


3 - brave Laura getting the first 'group' into the bucket to then be 'dumped' into the hive


4 - she is making this look easier than it is...


5 - a few stragglers



getting some 'encouragement'


a close up of last years hive still thriving!!

Laura and Davey before the swarm catching - thanks guys!!

(farm note to self first blooms right around april 20th plum then pear the 23rd - the latest year yet)