It is understandable that the casual reader might wonder, "Why don't they do something about those snakes?"  The ranch manager has heard a plentiful amount of suggestions as to what might assist in reducing the rattlesnake popluation at Rancho AyO, from getting a cat, to the addition of yet another fence inside the barbed wire cattle fence and then inside the nine-foot deer fence.  The sad truth is that in a rural property, once cannot fence one's self into happiness and a cat would be a mere appetizer for one of these bad boys out in the Badlands.  There is always going to be that brush with the local flora and fauna that causes one's adrenaline to pump uncontrollably.

At first, the sighting of a rattlesnake would be a great curiosity, requiring a photo shoot.  As the sheer number and size of said offenders increased substantially, the curiosity factor increased to alarm, yet we still continued to photograph.  Finally, when the snakes became the aggressors, backing us into the house, causing us not to feel safe stepping outside, we realized that the time has come for action. 

Had we taken care of these problems when they were first encountered, the snakes would not now be in control of The Hill.  We are willing to concede last weekend to the snakes, but when one considers the amount of laughing, happy, playful children that run freely around the ranch, the time has come to act, and to quote Mrs. Thatcher, we may have to fight the battle more than once to win, but in the end, we are going to win. 

On a happier note, the Zin are nearly done with blossom, the Cab are blossoming as this blog is being written, the olives are finishing their blossom, and the spring lavender is ready for harvesting -- if we could just get the snakes to move.  So now that we've come full circle, it is time to sign off for this episode. 

Keep fighting the good fight, and we will, as well.  We just hope they don't get us before we get them.

Happy Trails!

The Ranch Manager

As we're packing up to head to the rancho, I'm wondering how we're going to get everything done.  We're picking up 50 more Petite Sirah in Wasco this afternoon, which means we'll be treated to a breathtaking display of all the fruit orchards in bloom.  I consider it another golden opportunity to create my next entry in the CFB Photo Contest!

We still have to magically cause 50 gopher baskets to be created before tomorrow morning, which means it will probably be a long night.  Stuart will then head into town early to get a truck load full of compost, at which time, I'll be working with HughesNet to get satellite internet and installed.  It's beyond time.  The household just cannot function on dial-up, and what's more, sadly, the tots have had to go without Webkinz (say it isn's so!).

We then have to get the vines planted, the grow tubes on, the irrigation working, rebrine all the olives, finish pruning the olive trees, and do some finish work in the barn.  You do the math.  It will be a challenge to get this list done in the hours we're there, but we'll give it our best shot.

Happy weekend!

Kathy & Stuart

Much thanks to our neighbors, Barbara & Bill Greve, who braved the elements and checked on the rancho for us during the last week of storms.  It's been reported from more than that one source that the rainfall totals for the one-week period are approximately 11 inches.  To those of you unfamiliar with our desert-like environment, that is more than we normally get in a year, and that will be added to the 13" we've already received at the rancho, putting us at about 24" for the year.  Bill also reported that we have no trees down, but that electricity was sporadic but appeared to be back on at the ranch.  Unfortunately, though, they lost part of their fence.  All in all, it sounds like the most southern cul-de-sac of Monterey County faired pretty well through a rough week of storms.  I'm looking forward to the return of the rancho chief, who has been fighting the good fight in Pennsylvania all week, and I know he's looking forward to returning to California after a long week.  Have a good weekend!

Finally, after five long years of drought, the rains have come.  In the next blog posting, I'll probably be complaining that there is too much water all at once.  However, so far, we'll revel in our water -- 13" so far this year, with at least 10" predicted this week.

Winter is always one of our busiest times -- closely followed by autumn, spring and summer -- and this year is no exception.  With the completion of the barn hanging over our heads like a guillotine, every weekend we are at the ranch finds us in the barn.  Again, this visit was no exception.  Stuart spent the better part of the weekend applying the first coat of stain to the bunk room floor and sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning, and taping up plastic in the production/kitchen area. 

We also attended the annual IGGPRA pruning seminar, in which pruning skills are reviewed and all the eager participants are then let loose in their own vineyards.  One really wouldn't want to let inexperienced pruners loose in someone else's vineyard.  So with pruning skills freshly honed and just having been released by the finger surgeon from last year's pruning incident (the most he could do is done), this ranch manager hit the vineyard, sporting a finger guard on the left hand.  It took the balance of Friday and a portion of Saturday to retie and complete the Zin and the balance of Saturday to prune and tie the Cabernet, but it was completed, just as the rain began to fall.

Water was also another important component of this weekend, as the plumbing vexed us at every step of the weekend, necessitating three visits by the plumber in three days.   The new commode in the barn could not be used simultaneous with the sparkling new faucet.  So sparkling was this new faucet, the ranch manager requested a new faucet for the kitchen in the house.  The new faucet was to be installed.  No plumbing is accomplished without glitches -- at least ours.  Turns out, there was a blockage of the line from the barn to the house requiring rooting the line a considerable distance.  This could not be accomplished.  Consequently, a "T" had to be installed halfway there, so that if such scenario occurs again, the "T" can be opened and it can be snaked in either direction.  The plumber took our old faucet out, which had stopped working because we tried to "tweak" it over New Year's, and then realized he needed a different size connection line, which required a trip to town and it was late in the day.  Consequently, we agreed to live without water in the kitchen until the next day and allow one of the amazing restaurants in town to create a wonderful feast for us upon which to dine.

The next day saw the plumber back, bright and early, to install the amazing faucet in the kitchen.  This was accomplished fairly quickly, and we waved goodbye, wishing Al, the plumber, a happy 2010.  The next day, the brining operation had to be moved back into the kitchen in the house so the floor project in the main room of the barn could begin.  While the ranch manager was moving olives and brining, the rancho chief moved the refrigerator, only to find the water connection behind the refrigerator leaking.  Oddly enough, simultaneously, the brining operation in the kitchen was going forward, and the kitchen floor began to flood -- and it wasn't even raining yet.  The rancho chief was summoned via walkie-talkie, hurried over, and determined the water, again, had to be shut off.

As the first of several serious storms began to move in this morning, with winds of 100 mph clocked at Vandenberg and torrential rain, we were leaving in order to get ahead of the storms and met Al, once again, at the gate, heading up to repair my dream faucet and the barn connection. 

All in all, there was a lot of water this weekend, mainly inside the house and barn from the plumbing, but we're happy to report about 2" of rain just by this morning.  We believe it will be a serious grass year for the cows.  We hope they're hungry.

So with that report, we are pouring ourselves a glass of wine -- someone else's -- putting our feet up and will toast the progress we did make this weekend, which is considerable.  The Chief still intends for some of the contingent to be sleeping in the barn on birthday weekend -- which was news to the manager, because the beds aren't ordered.  Yes, it will go on the ever-revolving list. 

Stay dry and warm and enjoy winter!

Stuart & Kathy

The ranch was purchased in a year of record rainfall -- 58".  Since that time, California has experienced one of its worst droughts on record.  One year during that time, the area only received a total 2" of rainfall.  So when we had our first storm in October and received 5", it was literally a gift.  It washed away years of dust, wildfire smoke, ash, dirt, pollution and gave us all cause to breathe more easily, for many reasons.

Then, it rained no more from October to December, during which time, between stints of second grade, young Master Zachary, along with whomever he could convince to assist him, spent the better part of his ranch visits shoveling manure, at which point, it was transferred to the vines and olives, in case it rained again.  This child shoveled manure as if he was driven.  So taken with the chore was he,  a concern arose that he might give up his dream of owning a pallet yard.

And then, last week, at the beginning of the week, a series of storms left at least two inches of rain, for which we were thrilled.  Dire predictions were made for all the burn areas as to a big Pacific storm blowing in on Saturday; alerts went out to all farm and ranch areas that erosion control needed to be done by Saturday.  Well, thanks to the help of Brian, Zach & Jason in October, hay bales had been set throughout the ditches, but the only remaining task was to get a cover crop planted in the vineyard.

Timing is everything.  We literally waited for the rain to end in Los Angeles on Friday, checked the radar, darted up to the ranch (3.5 hours), stopped at Farm Supply for the seed, had a refreshment or two, and headed to the rancho.  The weather that night predicted a window of no rain on Saturday morning around dawn.  We were both up and out at dawn, and not only did the cover crop get put in, the ranch gates got decorated, as well as the fencing, and we made it back to the house as the next storm rolled in.

This storm delivered.  It rained so hard that we could not walk from the house to the barn -- the area was like quicksand and had turned into the pool the kids always wanted.  It came in like a hurricane -- although I know we don't get those out here -- with extremely high winds and gifted us another 4" of rain in one day alone.  Six inches in one week.  Pinch us!

It provided us time to enjoy a rainy, gloomy day, which everyone else in the country takes for granted.  All this sunny weather almost requires us to be outside, never having the time to sit by a fire and wind down, just because you can't go outside.  Those times are rare in California and we savored the moment.  Hopefully, it will not be our last for this year.

As we head into the week before Christmas, we wish our friends and family many warm evenings in front of welcoming fires, a hearty glass of wine to warm their soul, and the good sense to revel in the moment.

Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas to all!

Stuart & Kathy

The finish line is in sight, and we're racing to finish -- to finish jarring the 2008 olives; to finish the barn (so close, yet so far); to have the grapes hit the exact right numbers and begin our first harvest; to have the olives change color (why so slow this year?), to ripen and to harvest the olives, and finally, to celebrate the year's bounty.

It seems like it was just springtime, the hills were blanketed in emerald green velvet, interspersed with dazzling poppies, and the 2009 class of Pete's cows arrived -- the truest sign of the commencement of the rancho year.  While winter is a very busy time, the arrival of the cows heralds in all the promise of springtime.  They were a carefree, happy and gregarious group this year, led by the ever-popular #66, backed up by #64.  We especially enjoyed this year's group for their minimal number of stampedes.  Last year's group had a propensity to cover not only us, but our martinis, in dust.  As is often said, however, all good things must come to an end, and the 2009 cows were moved back down to SLO last Friday, so they could be closer to home and a vet when the time comes to calve, so sadly, we watched the trailer drive into the sunset last Friday night.

I had great hopes for an amazing lavender harvest, with this year being the first big bloom of the large quantity planted last year, however, a tragic lavender pruning accident and a severely cut finger sadly dashed all hopes of any physical work for most of July (or even driving over bumpy roads) and refocused my priorities and focus toward having a fingertip again.  So, while I watched my fingertip begin to heal, I watched our first big lavender harvest wither.  Given the choice, I will always choose having all ten fingers.

Luckily, the timing was such that the grapes just needed to grow, and with a few disappointing bumps in the road (like no electricity to run the irrigation during the two hottest weeks of the summer, and learning that our bird nets need to start going on July 4th weekend, not August 1st, as advised), the hearty Cabernet has pulled through, is looking good, and could be ready to harvest in the next two weeks.  The new block of Dusi Zin, planted by us from February-March, has outshined the Zin that has been in the ground for three years.  We can only hope for the grapes to be as pleasing as the vines' growth.

We decided to rely on the experts to peform  the chemical analysis and math on the grapes we intend to harvest and had tests run last weekend and were pleased to hear the brix are 23.8, the pH is 2.9, and the TA is .096.  With a few more weeks, the grapes should be within our targeted parameters.  In the meantime, our yeasts have been selected and ordered, our wine equipment purchased and carried in, our existing wine instruments and chemicals are being moved up tomorrow, and Saturday will feature a rather large shopping spree at Vintner's Vault.   

The olives, usually the least worrisome of the rancho crops, have begun to cause an uneasiness.  Despite many weeks of over 100 degree temperatures, the olives have not begun verasion.  Perhaps the several weeks of cool temps between the blocks of heat have just slowed down the process, but the olives cannot survive a frost, so they need to ripen by Thanksgiving, as the first week of December generally brings our first frost. 

The barn is very close to completion.  We await the cabinets and countertops, after which time, the appliances can be delivered and hooked up, the sink and faucet (already in the barn) can be installed, the bar front and backsplash can be put up, the ceiling installed, and for all intents and purposes, it will be ready for the 2009 harvest.  Staining the concrete floors had to wait until there was some healing of my finger, but will now need to wait until after harvest and will be completed while the wine and olives are resting for the winter.

Autumn and harvest is a very exciting time at any vineyard or rancho, and especially this year at Rancho Azul y Oro, because it is our first grape harvest.  Wish us luck, and we wish you and yours an abundance of health and happiness during this season of bounty.

Cheers!

Stuart & Kathy

It seems as if we are always rushing to wrap things up in L.A., so we can arrive at the ranch, under the guise of getting away from the rushing around, having time to catch our breath and listen to the silence with a glass of wine, but we'd like our own wine, and even if all goes exactly according to plan, our 2009 Cabernet will not be bottled until 2011.  Hurry up and wait.  One would think that with all this time to sit and watch the grapes grow, we'd be thoroughly relaxed, however, the 2009 grape and olive harvest are just around the corner, and the 2008 olives are not jarred yet.  We are hurrying to complete the barn construction prior to the olive and grape harvest, as well as perform all the necessary tasks on the grapes, such as netting the vines, retying any that need it, and always checking the irrigation.  There is always some portion that has been chewed by some animal.  This visit, every Zin vine needed to be retied and cleaned up.  Consequently, after a full weekend of work this weekend, we were ready to fall over, but were buoyed by all the great memories we have of the prior weekend spent with Brian, Michelle, Zach, Jason & Noah at the ranch and enjoying Midstate Fair and the Waterpark.  It reminded us of the importance of focusing on all the good reasons we got the ranch in the first place.  The best parts of the journey are getting there, as well as enjoying it.  Enjoy the fleeting days of summer!