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Images of Spring 2009

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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

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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

  1.  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.
  2. 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.
  3. Soak the cuttings in water for an hour or so
  4. 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.
  5. Sprinkle a little water in. This creates a terrarium effect. It’s important not to over-water… just keep the soil moist.
  6. 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.
  7. 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

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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.

Canoe and hike trip, turned bald eagle sighting

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Met up with the guys for a Sunday morning canoe and hike. The typical type. We get together as often as possible just to catch up and air out the brain once a week. They mentioned to me in the past about some local eagles, but you know how you never really think much into it until you actually see one? Sunday, I was not expecting to see one. Between it and the other really awesome features of this planet that you don’t get to see on the beaten path each day, it was a pretty potent visual experience.

Of course, pics do it no liberty, but I was running on dying batteries and I can’t complain. It was kind of windy when we put in. The idea was to canoe up a tributary and then hike around the ridge on foot. As we approached the bank we would start the hike, the guys in the kayaks up front spotted the eagles in the trees. One took off immediately.

We were pretty far up the river at this point. We were very quiet and let the water float us down stream. Being reasonably still and quiet, let the bird get used to our presence. I was certain it would take flight, but, it sat there and even allowed us to pass.

I caught some acceptable pics. Also on the hike, we saw some large trees that in relation to the rest of the forest, escaped the logging industry. To see these giants nestled between all the smaller trees around them was beautifully insane. All in all, just another journal entry for a Sunday outing, but this is the kind of stuff that makes you happy to be alive.

Funny thing happened in Rabbit Hash, KY

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Another cold Sunday found us paddling over the rough, Ohio river waters to Rabbit Hash, KY. We meet at the public landing in Rising Sun to paddle across to see the best kept secret in Kentucky, Rabbit Hash. The General Store attracts many awesome musicians. I mean, awesome. It’s almost like a rites of passage thing for any serious musician in the midwest area to play the General Store. If they don’t play it free, it’s very cheap. They are not playing here for the money, I’ll put it that way.

We canoe over there, well, because we like to canoe anyway… and Rabbit Hash it right across the river from Rising Sun. A little walk up the bank on the other side, and you’re right in the middle of Americana. Imagine this, you walk in, and you’re greeted by the locals with a genuine welcoming smile, there’s cornbread and taters on the wood stove, and a buffet of other country-folk food brought by the locals placed there to help yourself. No cover, no charge, just buy your beer, play nice and be merry. Be yourself.

A few friends of mine head over about once a month and I’m in attendance whenever I can. There’s ALWAYS great bands that play in the General Store… sometimes in “the barn”. Last time I was there, we watched the “Gregory Morris Group.” Today, we saw “The Tillers.” Just plain out good times, good friends, true music, the good people of Rabbit Hash and the best dutch oven corn bread this side of the Appellations.

But you know what made today’s visit exceptionally awesome? As I was shaking hands with the locals and listing to the Tillers rippin’ on the dobro and stand-up bass, I was bending over to ladle out a some chicken and and dumplings off the stove and I bump hands with… Jean Robert de Cavel, yeah, that one, the biggest chef in Cincinnati, and he has his little girl with him. And he wasn’t the only one with a kid there. This place is essence of my most nostalgic place on earth.

Many of you know my love of cooking… and food/wine experiences, so I’m really interested in what Jean Robert is eating, or not eating. Last time I saw him was at Seven Days for SIDS at the Cincinnati State Culinary Institute… next to the likes of David Cook (Daveeds, in Mt Adams) and other culinary dignitaries. Seeing Jean Robert ladle out the same dumplings as me, is like meeting Donald Trump partying in a trailer park. This goes to show that a true culinary experience… has to be found, and it’s alive and well in Rabbit Hash.

The General Store can probably only hold 35-40 people legally. It was shoulder room only and everyone is just happy. Happy on a Sunday. Happy in general. Man, it’s really what the doctor ordered.

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The queen bee doesn’t decide what happens in a colony. The workers do. They adjust her feeding to make her do what the majority says. The queen can’t feed herself.