Planting a Vineyard in Wisconsin -

We scheduled the tour so we could be in Wisconsin in spring to help Christy’s mom plant a vineyard on her farm.

It began with the plotting out of the vineyard.

Meanwhile, the tractor was being repaired.

Christy’s brother is a little passive-aggressive, heavy on the aggressive.

We marked the holes for digging. The doll helped.

“It’s time to dig!”

“We’re so not related.”

Time to go in and feed people! Hooray!

The repairs worked! Look at that auger…aug. Is auging a verb?

Anybody need a little break? We could play some ball. Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

Nobody. Rats.

We have holes!

Look at those beautiful holes! In Elijah’s teeth and in the vineyard!

“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth and several hundred pounds of grapes…in a few years!”

Would somebody cut that boy’s hair already!

Let the planting begin!

Reinforcements arrived in the form of Christy’s brother’s family, and, after work, Christy’s brother. Everybody did their part!

Here Steve and Christy’s mom are planting the first plant.

Heading off to gather compost.

Elisabeth (Bean): Becca, your hat’s too small.

Becca: (Boo): “Uh-uh. It still fits.

Bean: Too small.

Boo: Fits.

Too small. Fits. Too small. Fits.

Emily: Check out my cool pockets! Pockets are the best.

Boo: Rats. Maybe my hat doesn’t fit.

Our beautiful seeeeeeeester thinking how dull life would have been if she hadn’t married into this crazy family! We loooooove you!

Musician’s hands.

And artist’s hands.

Unloading soil from our truck.

And filling in the holes.

Even little Boo did her part.

This was a two-day planting project. Day two started with the men taping up for a little extra protection.

Why would you need extra protection, you ask?

Oh, I dunno. Maybe because this happened!

We couldn’t hold off for another day, because the cines were already soaked and ready to get into the nice warm earth. Ahem. The term “warm” is relative.

So some of us us ran out and put the protective sheaths around the vines that were already in the ground, and then we continued our craziness!

“Has anybody seen my ball? I’m lookin’ for a ball, people!”

Then as quickly as the crazy weather came, it left…

leaving behind heavy, cold, wet mud.

One of the indoor jobs was assembling the protective tubes.

What’s with the off-the-shoulder look, you ask? She’s her own person.

What’s with the Mary and Joseph statues on the kitchen counter, you ask? Christy’s mother is a church artist. That is one of the many things she does.

It was pretty much the only job you could do in your PJs.

People took shifts babysitting and cooking for the field workers.

This is our truck in the compost area, where it was good and stuck.

Pulling our truck out of the compost area, where it was good and stuck.

The window Christy had to crawl through to get the keys to be able to pull our truck out of the compost area, where it was good and stuck.

It’s all goo. I meant good, but considering we were stuck in a manure pile, maybe goo was more appropriate.

After the unsticking, we switched to this faster way to move compost.

The final vine and Christy’s beautiful mother.

We made her gave her the honor of planting the last one all by herself while we all watched and cheered.

“Yes, it really is the last one, Nana. Then we’ll throw the ball.”

That in no way meant that we were finished. We still had to put the rest of the tubes on, fill the holes, add compost, water, and mend the hole in the ozone layer. There was a lot to do, and the sun wasn’t slowing down for us.