Terra Testa Vines

Trenching from the well to the back of the property where the water storage tanks will be.

We were able to fill in some of the head-trained vines at the back of the property with an unexpected windfall of transplanted vines. We're estimating 2 barrels of production this inaugural year.

This is a GREAT tool! The heat in our first compost pile was excellent (135 degrees, sending steam into the cold Calistoga mornings), but after we added a thick layer of wild grass clippings it turned into a wet, compressed, heavy mess. The pitchfork wouldn't penetrate it. It's easy to crank this tool down to the very bottom of the pile and then lift the bottom material to the top. This works needed air into the pile. We will need a lot of compost for the vineyard.

Busy! The solar and geothermal systems in in the design phase. Today we begin remediation of the well. It's a 30-foot hand-dug well, probably from the 1920's. Surprisingly, it's not dry. But the pump doesn't work, and we would like to filter the water. We demolished the pump house a few months ago. We're going to put it an underground pump and a storage tank, and move all of the equipment over to the side of the barn. Eventually the heat exchange pump for the geothermal HVAC will be there as well. We are also considering if the existing barn can support solar panels. If they do, we can install some solar capacity even before the main house is built. Juan has been trimming the Chardonnay vines, and I have another Master Gardener workshop this weekend.