Vineyard | For my children

Grape Summer Fun

Summer sun sweetens the best things in life!

I have three amazing farmers.

From practice to the field, this day was packed with to-do’s!

Working hard to do all that is needed in the field still allows time for play.

Checking the sugar before harvest using a refractometer…a mini science lesson.

We love the outdoors especially when Nana joins us.

Harvest day is both a day of dread and anticipation, the longest day in our year, yet the most rewarding.

My boy is becoming a pro in the events of the day, both eager and grateful.

Could we be more blessed…

Blessed a little greater each and every day.

Ready for delivery. Pigeon Forge Mountain Valley is waiting on us.

And finally fresh yummy juice…minus the moth that landed in the fun!

Look at this amazing day!

Moments that are just life experiences. Experiences that are amazing!

October 23, 2015
Categories: Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Fresh Air Fun

Oh, my sweet heartbeat, all of my loves!

Lake bottom exploration

A break from pruning for enjoying one another.

Who even wants to admit it is time for mowing season!!??

These boys are such boys…

Rainy day wishing on dandelions

Training LuLu in her dress up clothes, camo boots needed!

We’ve been behind on pruning so it’s nice these girls get involved to speed this process along.

An amazing afternoon under the sky.

Lazy after work is a treat

A lesson from Lucy…love your life!

May 6, 2015
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Field and Fun

We are already in the field to work!

We are most ready to soak up some sunshine.

I can’t believe my little man is such a willing helper!

A glance at our first pile of cuttings.

Sweet girl of mine ready for a rest.

Silly fun time with lots of laughter.

My girls enjoying the fresh air.

I look forward to the changing season

Blessings to everyone’s health!

April 16, 2015
Categories: Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Grape Juice Time

Finally in the field to harvest our clusters.

Working girls placing buckets throughout the field

An interesting trivia note…
If asked what his favorite day of the year is, other than his birthday, he replies “harvest day!” He LOVES September because of this very day!
I think he likes feeling in charge, being the boss of the other two!

They usually do whatever he says

We haven’t given the girls the tools for removing the clusters from the vines. These two would remove the clusters from our big white buckets and put them into smaller sand buckets.
They worked twice as hard as us adults!

As always, we were blessed to have Nana and Papaw’s hands join our efforts. All clusters were removed and loaded on the truck ready for the juice factory.

This is always a great day!

Papaw and Jackson took a break to visit Ras. He sent them back with some cool golf and fishing gear as a trade for grapes….

Of course these two can find a chance to take a break!

Harvested buckets ready to be emptied into the larger bins

A good feeling

Ready for delivery…

Because we had a delivery time of early Sunday morning we missed church. We left this basket on the church steps.

Our bins were unloaded, de-stemmed, and crushed for juice.

Doug asked Jack Sawyer to hop in the seat and give it a try.

Grapes go in and the process begins.

Healthy, brightly colored, sweet juice!

Once the crushing was complete, Jackson cleaned out all of our bins as well as the equipment.

Afterwards, we headed to the highest peak in Tennessee to soak up the blessings of the earth and the thankfulness of a tedious year of work in the vines behind us!

My little workers are the best!

September 23, 2014
Categories: Memories, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

More Vineyard Time

Happy we are having a good time working in the vineyard.

He has been a huge contributing factor in our work this season!

“I want to fly like an eagle”

“Ratoon” and Isabela are showing off some of the completed rows.

“Puppy” on top of a completed vine.

Smiley Sisters

The fields are usually littered with our toys.

Digging in the dirt is much more fun than actually working…

Worms, nature’s plows

My crown wearing princess loves finding the worms beneath the earth.

Jackson carrying out a load of cuttings alongside his sisters tagging along. Not a great photo but the memory of knowing they all seem to end up in the same row is super sweet.

The sunny days have been so fun to work under.

We have drug these three along the entire season of pruning. They have gladly joined us without any complaining.

We have to take breaks for napping in the back of the vehicle or resting on the grass.

I watched these two pretending and talking for a long time. Their conversation was sweet and their play was so innocent.
Freeze these memories!

She pesters her brother regularly! He is usually a good sport.

Photo by Jackson

The blooming tree in the background gives us joy in the early spring.

Later in the pruning process, as the vines are cut, the canes produce droplets of water at the ends. This is referred to as bleeding.

The energy of the plant taking in the new moisture and transporting it throughout the vines cause the plant to “bleed” the water. We know at this point the buds will soon follow this stage.

A few weeks later…the buds are growing…and the grass too!

A little more waiting, resting, and relaxing…

Looking for signs of love, another treasure found in the vines, a heart in the bottom of an abandoned bird nest in the vineyard.

Removing the cuttings from the field

Smiling and sweet

My playful hardworking girls

More vineyard time, more family memories!

April 5, 2014
Categories: Excursions, Moments of Joy, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Official Start of Pruning 2014

We have flew the coop of winter’s cabin fever and are finally in the field enjoying the warmer days.

Jackson was given his first pair of pruners. After a “safety lesson” and demonstration, he is officially a pruner…helping remove the old portion from the vines.

Happy to be in the field with her kitty house

A beautiful day for enjoying the view while working.

Building their nest for napping.

Two completed rows…

We were lucky to have Nana join us

We always appreciate the sharing of her time.

The next day we were back out to enjoy the fresh air.

During the summer we don’t particularly like for the birds to nest in the vines hanging full of ripened fruit. However, in the winter we feel we have a treasure when we find their abandoned nest.

Chasing our shadows…

By Abigail…and mommy

Sleeping, praying?

There’s my smile!

They are up from napping and ready for some more work.

Not really sure why we have this look…hope it doesn’t mean she’s over the work in the vines. We have many weeks to go dear love!

The joy of sleeping while others are working!

The pride of the pile behind him. So many cuttings mean cleaned completed vines.

Doing great little ones!

March 2, 2014
Categories: Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Harvest 2013

2013 was the first harvest that Jackson was given a tool for removing the grapes! He was very excited.

This was the first year that Abigail was able to use the tool (refractometer) for checking the sugar within the grapes.
The grape juice is squeezed on the screen. You hold it to the light and look in the opposite end to read the sugar content.

Isabela was happy to just be in the field.

We harvested for two weekends. Once for personal consumption and once for the market. The grapes hung on the vines until the second week in September this year, a couple of weeks later than normal. A rough year getting the sugar where we wanted it because of the rainy cloudy days without the sun’s nourishment.

My girl helping me

Sweet as sugar. She usually is just happy to be

Jackson truly is one of the hardest workers I know!

Jackson with one of our favorite blessings…Janice…our vineyard neighbor.

We decided to make our own grape juice for the children.

We loaded up the truck with our grapes to take home

Jackson emptied about 400 pounds into the crusher.

The grapes were crushed and then added to our press. We took the juice and canned it. Our first big canning project!

Isabela tried to take a bite of the leftover skins!

The community sign that announces we are open for business!

Harvesting with Nana

And Aunt Amy Jo

This day is our hardest all year but because of family, one of the most blessed ones!

Isabela picked the grapes one by one

Happy to put her grapes and juice in a holiday bucket

Love our help

Nana and Jayden

Brooke joined our day of work

Elijah enjoyed using the tool to cut the grapes

We love our cousins!

We love harvesting our grapes.

Papaw really does enjoy carrying all of those buckets, especially with Jackson helping.

Bins ready to roll out….

Additional bins ready to roll out . . .

Papaw ready to roll out too . . .

Morning of delivery . . .

Jackson watching out for yellow jackets . . .

Too much fun!

We were happy to have Nana join us for this experience.

1/2 ton macrobins dumping into the crusher/destemmer . . .

We were able to watch the entire process. About 10,000 pounds of grapes were unloaded, emptied, de-stemmed, crushed into juice, and put into the containers for the waiting. It’s an awesome thing to watch start to finish…especially if you’ve babied the vines and grapes ALL year!

Thankful Papaw was able to help us for our early morning delivery.

Thank you three sweet birds for helping us work in the vines all year long. You were always helpful in everything we did and humble to be in the field with your family. Each of you are a tremendous blessing!

Just like your Daddy, always try to be extraordinary with something special…

September 22, 2013
Categories: Memories, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Early August

Daddy’s sweet innocent girls
It is hard to tell but Isabela has a black eye. She ran into a table at The Mast General Store.

Happy to play at the lake.

I turned my back and she was climbing on the step stool, our little monkey.
As you can see behind her, the heavy vines and heavy winds broke a couple of our post in the vineyard. We were trying to get the plants off of the grass and up on their wires.

Thank you for smiling at your sister.

A couple of cool afternoons for a picnic

Sitting on our favorite rock in the mountains

Jackson always acting silly…

Our three little birds happy, who could ask for more?

Healthy, happy, and loved!

August 14, 2013
Categories: Excursions, Memories, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Nature Growing

We found a baby bird under the vines early one morning. It was obvious it was frightened because of it’s loud panicky chirp. We learned from one of our library readings that it was fine to touch and rescue the bird, and the mother would continue to care for it.

We carefully returned the bird to its nest. A perfect place to live, under the canopy of the vines, surrounded by a cluster of grapes.

Abigail’s single blooming sunflower towering over her zinnias.

We found a butterfly

We all had to touch it

I like this photo. All three of my little hands which are growing right in front of my eyes.

We were able to harvest blueberries many times from our five thriving bushes!

Yummy!
They really enjoyed picking these tiny berries. This harvester pictured here dropped her full bucket twice. Many of her blueberries were left behind for the birds.

Abigail’s sunflower a couple of weeks later. The butterfly’s and goldfinch are loving this spot!

Jackson regularly carries a mop or broom outside while playing.
For the memory, he pretends it is a weed eater and is pretty much obsessed with keeping the yard and flower beds trimmed.

We harvested beans, peppers, beets, and everyone’s favorite…carrots.

Papaw’s favorite photo.

The consequence of not using pesticides…sometimes critters enjoy our veggies as well.

More beets for pickling.

Summertime in the vines!

If I hadn’t seen it, I might not believe it! Isabela was sitting in this chair moments before I captured the photo. They were screaming…not out of fear but excitement! After the snake spent some time eyeing us, it slithered out of the chair and up into the tree above us and disappeared!

Isabela wants to be just like Abigail and Jackson. Her feet can finally touch the ground. All three have grown enough to swing alone. Three swinging babies playing together.
Memories I will cherish always!

July 20, 2013
Categories: Memories, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

May’s Day’s of Fun 2013

This photo was taken on Mother’s Day morning, two days after returning from our overnight stay celebrating Jackson’s Birthday. Isabela is holding “Puppy” her favorite friend. Isabela’s mommy accidentally left Puppy behind in the covers of our room. We realized this when we put her down to bed and she kept begging for him. Housekeeping recovered our treasure and we of course went back up the mountain to retrieve it! She was so excited to be reunited! So sweet!

Love capturing these action shots.
I really enjoy watching this girl kick a ball! Either soccer or football, she gives it her all!

For my birthday we played at the World’s Fair Park and visited Market Square.
They love watching the water. I love watching them watch and learn about the life around them.

Fuzzy picture but I’m happy to capture moments of play especially when big brother is being so great to give both of his sisters a ride.

One of my favorites. I hope you girls are always this sweet, always this close and loving!

We even talked Aunt Fran into helping us plant the corn. Check out the wild boys in the background. Also, that’s our onions and potatoes we helped plant several weeks ago!

Abigail riding her pretend horse Lightning.

Again we have been skipping between the heat or rain for working in the vines.

Spring rains and sun are growing our vines beautifully. We are busy suckering, removing the growth at the base of the plants. All three have proven to be very efficient at this task!

Jackson started competing with Abigail trying to log more work time. More work time equals more money 🙂

I always smile each time these beautiful blue innocent eyes gaze at me! I love to see and hear her enthusiasm. She was over the moon with excitement when she discovered the “baby grapes” growing!

Jackson lost his second tooth! The tooth fairy left him two dollars!

We went to Jayden’s dance recital. Her daddy joined her on stage for one of her three dances.

Happy my brother was able to have this special moment with Jayden. That’s both of Jayden’s Papaw’s in the background.

We went to cheer on Elijah at a few of his games. That’s him, number 15, leading off of first base. The adult to the far right, face hidden by the pole, is Elijah’s daddy Mikey being the third base coach.

This little guy is always willing to play a little silly

Finally Jackson mastered the difference between words spelled “ite” and “ight”

We harvested onions, asparagus, and of course yummy strawberries.

This Little Tikes truck has given a fair share of rides. Abigail and Isabela were so funny, both of them squeezing in the front to drive!

Abigail came to me and asked if she could pretend to be a mommy. She was playing dress up in one of my original baton outfits.

Writing ABC’s is always more fun outdoors with chalk.

“I color “

They really enjoy climbing the wall. I remember their first steps along this wall and us spotting them from behind. Building their courage and confidence, they now can fly solo.