Jason

It’s officially summer when you make ice cream

June 21, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

On Sunday, we’ll celebrate Hannah’s birthday a little early before we go on vacation. Strawberry ice cream was our test run Friday night. We’ll do it again on Sunday with all the other kids and chocolate and butter pecan is on the agenda.

We used this same ice cream maker when I was a kid. Yeah you have to hand crank it, but that’s the point. The kids tend to tire out a little early, but when I take over to finish it off, I think back when my dad did this same thing with us. Our electric maker just collects dust. They make things so shitty now days. Plastic and thin metal for the canister. This ice cream maker has a solid, heavy metal canister with a lid. The point is so the ice and slat can cool it so cold, that the ice cream actually sets up. It gets harder to crank and you know, it’s almost time. We added in the fresh-cut strawberries and cranked it some more.

Finally, on a sultry, sweaty hot night, the whole family about busted in to song as each of us felt the essence of summer.

Thinkin’ this thing is going to come out a lot this year!

June 2009 Grape Update

June 20, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

Some varieties are doing ok… but the Catawba has been hit with black rot. I’m about to throw in the towel with these. I’ve been diligent in cleaning out the vineyard last fall… spraying early… before, at and after bud break… Did captan once…waited two weeks and been on a regimen of spraying 1-2 times a week with Stylet oil. I have done cluster thinning, canopy thinning to let air blow through… all to no avail… The black rot is HIGH-PRESSURE around here this year. I am suffering like a mo-fo.

I’ll be contacting Bruce Bordelon at the Purdue extension next. I just went in and plucked clusters… and rotten berries to get out everything I can. I have it clean now. Thinking of spraying again. Right now, it’s latched on to my Catawba the hardest (not as bad last year) The others are OK but I’m still picking leaves and things off as I see them.

See the pics. Here are the questions I’m posing to my experts.

Is it true I should be pulling out leaves, clusters… and whole stems that I see are infected? Just don’t want to overdo it for the storage of needed carbs over winter.
True that we want to pull leaves to give wind and sun a direct route through?
If the pressure is high and black-rot is eminent, what do the experts try?
Regarding pruning: Would like training suggestions on what to do with some of my double trunks… and lower cordons. I’m seeing that lower cordons are just a direct transfer of rot from the ground to higher up. I have cut them off of some

Growing grapes is a task. I respect vineyard managers. I would like to think as my vines mature that they would build up an immunity to the rot in future years. Will report again next month.

Images of Spring 2009

May 26, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

For us, spring is a busy time of the year, not just with all the work and school stuff going on, but the needs of the garden, grapes and other horticultural rituals we love to do. There is grape pruning, garden tilling, seed planting and bringing out the banana plants. I have a habit of propagating anything I prune off my grapevines and jade plants even if it is to hand out to friends. I’m not yet sure of the significance to me of why I do it, but maybe it’s just a friendship thing… from our house to yours. If that grapevine takes off and becomes something significant, someone might say, “we got that from the Morgan ranch back in the spring of ’09.”

Hannah did her school play “Jack and the Beanstalk” and we’ve already been down to Louisville the weekend of the Kentucky Derby to make derby pie with Andy and Debbie… who by the way, made it up the very next weekend to do the canoe and camp trip.

From the wildlife, flora and fauna in our back yard… to the images of all things renewed, Spring just rocks.

Spring 2009 Grapevine Cuttings

May 20, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

Just a quick note on the spring cuttings. I took cuttings from my own grape vines and had a 100% success rate. By that, I mean… all of them took root and sprung leafs. Heck, most spit out clusters of grapes that I quickly snapped off.

The process

I pruned my grape vines as I usually do. From those, I took at least 30 cuttings from each. I took thicknesses from anywhere between a No. 2 pencil and 3/8″ and old wood of course.
Trim the cuttings to 3-4 buds per cutting, with one bud cut exactly in half at the bottom. It seems the roots callous and spring out like mad from here.
Soak the cuttings in water for an hour or so
Pull each cutting from the water and dip into a basic rooting hormone and then right into a good starter soil about 2″ deep on the bottom of those Rubber Maid plastic garbage cans with a lid. Mine had the translucent white sides that allowed plenty of sun in. I don’t snap the lid on tight, I just sit it on top.
Sprinkle a little water in. This creates a terrarium effect. It’s important not to over-water… just keep the soil moist.
Check them every day because while you are watching the leaves sprout, you also want to watch for mold that can happen in such a closed container.
After the shoots are 1-2″ long, bump or shake the entire container to knock the soil loose and then gently pull them out and plant each in its own pot.

See the pics of the good healthy roots.

Top the new pots up with soil and water them… then stick in a partial sun/shade area and let them get stronger. Questions? Just let me know and have fun!

Morgan’s Ft. Ancient Canoe and Cabin Trip

May 14, 2009 by Jason Leave a Comment

We shook it up a little this year for Susan’s birthday. She usually likes to canoe and camp on her birthday and we usually go to the Brookville location. This year, we tried the Ft. Ancient location since it has been so long since we visited there. We also wanted to pay our visit to the June Morgan River Sanctuary.

It was good to see all my cousins and my uncle Bob who I usually only see during the holidays or other significant gatherings. We stayed in the cabins at Riverside Campground and the place looked beautiful. Upon arrival Lori was weeding the flower beds and Dirk was making picnic tables. It’s clear the Morgans go out of their way to provide a fun-filled experience with the grounds pleasing to the eye and hospitality equal to down south.

We were driven up the river to put in at the Livery. Cousin Randy opened the door of the van and greeted us while Gary gave us a tour of the livery and the upstairs museum. I’m so glad my family are the chief proprietors around these parts. They have collected knowledge of the area and responsibly documented it as well as organized fossils, points, stones and other artifacts for display and education. The Morgans truly are the keepers of this land and river.

The canoe trip was as scenic as ever. We stopped at June’s Sanctuary and talked about her pioneering the efforts to clean up this once polluted river. The weather was beautiful and we soaked in the scenery and even caught some turtles basking in the sun on a log (see pictures).

After the trip, I ran into my uncle Bob at Riverside campground and got to catch up and update him on my dad. Then, Dirk showed us a tree that was leaning over a little too far so he jumped on the tractor and pulled it straight. Sunday morning, I watched (with some guilt) Dirk pounding rocks and dirt around the planter to stabilize the tree that we straightened the day before.

Later in the evening on Saturday, Dirk and Lori gave us a tour of their home and we finally got our glimpse of the famed turtle rock as well as the other awesome artifacts in Dirk’s personal collection. Later, they set up a corn-hole tournament at the campground that thoroughly entertained us and our guests. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to slow down and forget about work and responsibility and I want to thank my family for welcoming us and our visiting friends from Louisville and helping us forget about things for a while. For those of us over-worked and under-paid, it really goes a long way and means a lot. After our friends Andy and Debbie were stuck on I-71 for an hour and a half on their commute up on Saturday morning, it really meant a lot to them as well.