| What's New at www.heissonfarms.com? As you can see, we're finally getting online. So everything is new -- and there's lots more to come.
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What's New with Heisson Farms? Labor Day, 2005: With fall approaching, we're busy preparing for next spring. We've propagated over 300 "Grosso" lavender plants to add to the collection, and are watching carefully to see how this year's planting of wine grapes is doing. Good news! All the vines survived the summer, even without water. A few even tried to bear grapes (can't let that happen this first year.) And the weed fabric is working well to cut down maintenance. This winter we'll be on the hunt for some reds promised to ripen in Clark County, WA. All this while taking care of our one-year-old baby, working two jobs and trying to preserve an old farmhouse and barns. Should be an interesting winter! Nov. 2, 2005: Michele tasted some of the hard apple cider made with our friends Pinky and Barbara in 2003. Barbara had put some cinnamon sticks in it, and man it was GOOD. Like apple pie. Far better than any commercial brands we have tried. This makes the dream of making hard ciders at Heisson Farms seem much more attainable! Pinky, of course, proclaimed it "pure outhouse luck." Time will tell. Nov. 5, 2005: Today Michele transplanted 112 of the lavender starts from the cell packs into 4 inch pots. Of the 360 plants she propagated Labor Day weekend, about 330 rooted. Not a bad success rate! (Most of those that didn't make it were lost early on to some kind of fungal infection. Luckily Michele spotted the grey fuzz early, removed the affected and surrounding starts, and prevented a widespread infection. Yay!) Now we need to plan where to plant them and take steps to prepare that area. Today Michele realized it would be good to make a five year plan for the lavender and wine, along with some benchmarks! After all, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Or something like that. Nov. - Dec. 2005: Michele made up a five year plan and will post it soon. Pretty ambitious stuff. Yikes! Yet, one amazing realization -- if we get started now, all these things will hit full production when Mia starts kindergarten. Coincidence or fate?!? Dec. 31: Exciting New Years Eve! Today Michele met with the owner of Bethany Vineyards (www.bethanyvineyards.com) in nearby Ridgefield, WA. Walt not only graciously offered as many free cuttings as Michele wanted (enough to plant our whole field, if we dared) but also advice, help with the technical details, use of his winemaking facilities (if we get that far) and more. What a wonderful New Years! He was also very honest about the labor involved, and the financials. So we will ponder those realities. His wines and fruit wines are top notch. Please, pay a visit! |
