Good-bye, Calico

 

We said goodbye to Calico last week.  He was only here a short while but it was fun to have him while he visited.  Here he is looking like a mud monster (he loved to roll in the dirt!) but he cleaned up well and was a fun horse to ride.

 

In the spring and fall Calico works at dog trials carrying the judges for as many as thirty miles a day as they follow the dogs.  Then in the summertime he is used at a camp  giving trail rides to children.  He's a hardworking horse!

 



 

Coming to our farm was like a vacation for him.  We rode him just around the farm and out on short (one hour) trail rides on neighboring lands as often as the weather cooperated.

When we knew he was going to be going home, DD and I saddled up for one last ride.

Calico's owners didn't have to care for him over the winter, we got a nice horse to ride and Calico got a nice vacation - the arrangement worked well for all!

Trimming Grapes

Grapes, we learned, are best trimmed in winter while they're dormant.  (If they're cut while it's warm the sap just runs and runs out of the vines.)  

 

 

Since we had moved to the farm in late spring, we didn't have a chance to trim the grapevines that first year - though they were badly overgrown and interwoven with huge weeds.  That winter I cut them back - hard.  Basically I left a single vine sticking up out of the ground.  When I told my dad what I'd done he worried I may have killed them. 

 

 

But they came back strong as ever.  In fact, we even got a few handfuls of grapes this fall!

 

The lingering cold weather gave us another chance to trim them back before spring sets in for real.

 

 

Though they were not as bad as when we'd moved in, they still needed a good haircut.

 

 

Fynn helped drag vines toward the trailer.

 

 

Then he hopped in for a ride to the brush pile.

 

 

DD made a grapevine wreath.

 

 

And hung it on the outhouse door.

 

 

All done for this year.  I know, I know, it looks as if there's nothing left.  But, we've discovered, grapes do best with a good, hard trim every year.  Too many vines and too many leaves actually keep them from producing fruit.  Hopefully this year we'll have enough of a crop to make preserves . . .

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful spring!