Remodeling the Interior of the Barn - Week 1

We finally started the interior remodel project of our barn - with lots of help from Michael D. Hansen Building & Remodeling.  The goal is a small tasting room for the future winery, complete with bathroom, kitchenette and with access to the downstairs production area and upstairs storage room.  The area we are remodeling is a third of the upper barn, which is divided into three bays.  This section faces the pond and vineyard, where windows had already been installed last year, when the outside of the barn was redone with new boards and battons.

At the end of the first week, all the ceiling beams were set and the interior walls were studded in.  It takes a bit of imagination to see where this is going.... But we are so excited!

Autumn View

Pressing Apples

We were fortunate to get 2 bins of apples, including Gala and Yellow Delicious this past week.  This was a bit more than we had anticipated, about 75 bushels and luckily we had lots of helper this weekend!

We used our antique apple press  (literally over 100 years old, but upgraded with an electric motor) to shred the apples, which were captured in food grade, sanitized buckets. Though the old apple press can be used for pressing, the capacity is so small that it would have taken us days to get this done.

For pressing, we use our wine basket press instead.  And just as we would with grapes, we added rice hulls to the shredded apples, to increase the efficiency of juice extraction without the danger of pressing stems or seeds.It took all afternoon and late into evening before we had them all processed.

It made a lot of cider!

Chardonel Grapes are Ripening

First Blackberry Blossom

Easter Egg Hunt in the Vineyard

This may well be the Easter egg hunt to start an annual tradition:

The Mulch Spreader

Anja and Duff bought a brand new mulch spreader, from Millcreek Manufacturing, and it was delivered to the farm this morning.  We will be using it on all three vineyards, which are fortunately located within a half mile radius.  It took us two days to mulch six acres of grapevines.  And the mulch pile, which we had been amassing for two years, dwindled to nothing!

Here is a link to a video showing how it works.

Beautifully mulched grapevines!!