Foggy Sunrise in McConihe Flats

Historic Rocky Ford Creek

The top photo shows the Trading Rock with Chief Moses Rock in the background.

Middle photo is Rocky Ford Creek, the blue-ribbon trout stream.

Bottom photo is a group of old trees which marks the spot of Lord Blythe's home. Blythe was a Scotsman who ranged great herds of cattle between Ephrata and Moses Lake back in the late 1800s, and remains a legendary local figure. The Blythe house stood until the 1970s when it burned in a grass fire.

Chief Moses Rock

Rocky Ford Creek lies about 4 miles north of Cayuse. The area was an important camping ground for Chief Moses and the Sinkyuse band of Indians in the late 1800s. I finally got some time to go explore a few weeks ago.

The large upright boulder in the top photo is called the "Chief Moses Rock." The Indians would tie a rope around the rock and then anyone who wanted to could tether their horse (or "cayuse") to the rope.

A couple hundred yards to the south lies the flat rock in the lower photo, known as the "Trading Rock." This is where the Indians placed their bets before the horse races across the alkaline flats adjacent to the creek.

These rocks were identified in the 1940s by a Sinkyuse named Billy Curlew, who camped in the area with the Moses band as a boy:

"We arrived at the base of a hill to the west and a large rock about 10 feet high and 10 feet in diameter. This, Billy informed us, was the site of one of the most important camps of the Moses Band. Its Indian name is Un-ta-pas-neat, meaning 'rock on the hill side.' ... For the convenience of Chief Moses and his guests a rope to which horse could be tethered was stretched about the big rock."...

"As a boy Billy saw the trading rock often piled high with buffalo hides and other articles that were bet on the (horse) races. The rock was also the place at which trading activities were conducted." - From the book Forgotten Trails by Ron Anglin, published by Washington State University Press.

End of Season

Last week we harvested the rest of the Cab Franc, 2.5 tons sold to Camas Cove Cellars in Moses Lake and Beaumont Cellars in Quincy + Woodinville.

In all we were able to place over 4 tons of grapes, and with some very reputable winemakers. Not bad for our first season of production! I'm very proud of the fruit, although as the grower my eyes are always drawn to where we can do better next year.

Update: Pete Beaumont reports the "must" (crushed grapes) came in at 25 brix, .49 TA (titratable acids) and 3.4 pH. He's pleased with those numbers and says the must is "fermenting nicely." As the humble grower I'd say the sugars and pH are absolutely optimum, and the acids a little low. As the grapes ripen the acid levels drop while the sugar levels rise - your goal is to harvest at the moment when they are in optimum equilibrium (say, 25 brix and .60 TA). But you ultimately defer to the preferences of the winemaker who, after all, has to sell the wine!

Dennis @ Camas Cove reported slightly lower brix and was also somewhat surprised that he didn't get more volume of juice out of the tonnage of grapes. That may be a function of my style of growing, which is to severely limit the amount of water applied during the ripening phase. I believe this "deficit irrigation" concentrates the flavor in the berry. It does increase the ratio of skin to juice however.

Selling Grapes

More importantly we harvested 1.25 ton of Chard and delivered to our friends Dennis & Nancy Parr of Camas Cove Cellars here in Moses Lake  They'll blend it with their Roussanne grapes to make their very popular "Thelma & Louise" wine. 

Beautiful fruit.

Garage Wine

        

      Selfie with grapes

                         

April and I picked, crushed and pressed enough Chardonnay for about 20 gal (100 bottles) of wine. Brix at 24, acids around .75, should be a little more full-bodied than last year's inaugural vintage.

The garage is smelling nice and yeasty right now.

Farm Sunrise

Summer is winding down. Always hate to see it go, but hey... football season!

Crop Circles

Travis' hayrows make cool designs at sunrise.

Little House on the Prarie

Being the first home on the ridge has been sweet, but we're ready for some neighbors.

Bird Defense

...so, the birds are out in force, doing their best to pick the vineyard clean. We use an arsenal of defenses, including netting, reflective flash tape, "Terror Eyes" the owl, a remote-control helicopter and of course the .12 gauge. The only thing that really works is the netting, but it is a pain to put up and a bigger one to take down. I was gonna get one of those used-car lot "Tube-Man" that sway 20' in the air, but they're still in experimental stage for bird scare and I decided to wait a year to make sure they really work.

Might have to just bite the bullet and get more netting.

Grapes Soaking up the Heat

The grapes are getting ripe fast. It's been a record hot season; I'd say they're at least 10 days and maybe 2 weeks ahead of last year.

Happy Vines

It's been a hot summer and the vines have been soaking up the sunshine. The berries are just starting to turn (veraison), beginning their ripening phase. Ten days ahead of last year. The vineyard is super healthy and happy.

What we dream of now is a long, slow, moderate ripening phase ("hang time") allowing for full development of flavors, with the sugars and acids both reaching optimal levels just before the first good frost. But regardless, it's gonna be a great vintage!

Smoky Sunsets

No wildfires in our area, but plenty of smoke in the air from the fires up around Chelan.

The Fire Pit

Summer Help

Tommy, a college friend of our daughter's, came out from Pennsylvania to work in the vines this summer. The vineyard has never looked better.

It's been a warm spring, the berries are in inflorescence (flowering) right now, we're trimming leaves & positioning shoots to allow maximum morning sun in the fruit zone. It's early but shaping up as potentially a terrific season.

Indoor/Outdoor Living

Patio Weather

Hard to get anything done.

Under the Pergola

Blue skies, 80 degrees, soft east breeze...
Exquisite.

Camas Cove Cellars

Meet Dennis & Nancy Parr, owners of Camas Cove Cellars here in Moses Lake. Dennis and Nancy are, I believe, the original pioneers of Moses Lake viticulture, having established their small estate vineyard in 2004. They are also lovely and interesting people; we've had some great conversations sitting amidst the oak barrels late on a Saturday afternoon. Drop in or, if you're on the lake, boat in. They have one of the few dockside tasting rooms in the country. 911 Camas Place in Moses Lake, just south of I-90. www.camascovecellars.com

Wildflower Season at Cayuse Moses Lake

Phlox, larkspur and balsamroot, I do believe.

Open Space

Everyone always asks what we have planned for the open space. (In addition to the pastureland below the ridge, there are about 40 acres of dedicated open space up on the plateau.)

The Cayuse community is designed around this bloc of open space. When the community is built up, the open space will always preserve the sense of spaciousness, the "prairie community" feel that makes Cayuse seem like another world even though it's just minutes from town.

It may be an acquired taste, but the natural, undisturbed steppe is beautiful in its own way. The mixture of sagebrush, bunchgrass, rocks and (this time of year) wildflowers is a beautiful palette arranged more subtly than any landscape architect could mimic. I think it's a huge asset to have this natural buffer preserved in the midst of our community, and I'm sure folks will come to love it as much as I do.

Epic Night at St. Brigid's

What an amazing moment at St. Brigid's Taproom last night. A local Moses Lake band with the rather random name of "Free Beer Nuts" wandered in and lit the place up for a couple hours, rocking their own unique brand of what I might best describe as Irish punk. Guitar, mandolin, electric fiddle and three female vocalists, mostly backup singing (when have you heard tight 5-part harmony in a bar?) and then each stepping forward and showing off their respective lead vocal talents in turn.

The energy in the place was spontaneous, one of those moments when you watch the table conversations slowly die out and people begin to turn their heads and chairs to see who or what is making that great sound and ends with the whole place grooving and dancing and  grinning and clapping and raising arms in triumph and disbelief.

I'm so proud of Tom & Whitney and just happy and excited to see their place come into its own. Last night, there was no better place to be in the entire state of Washington than St. Brigid's Taproom on Broadway in little old Moses Lake.

Prairie Home

... on the ridge at Cayuse Moses Lake.

Bud Break

A nice stretch of weather and the vineyard is popping.

More Local Art

We recently purchased a painting by local artist and cultural maven Melea Johnson (pictured). The piece is called "Harvest" and it looks great over our mantle.

The Good Life at Cayuse Moses Lake

Our friend Sherry came out for the weekend. We spent a pleasant afternoon sitting on the back patio sampling wine made of grapes from our own vineyard. Sherry got this amazing photo playing around with her phone cam.

All rights reserved.

Master Landscaper

Mom came out for a week to whip the landscaping into shape. Can that woman really be 86?!

Chimney Light

And this... a 500 watt halogen flood. Lights up the chimney like a monument.

Mike Kluge, Jr. (M. Kluge & Sons Electrical) hooked it up for me. Top notch.

Barn Light

I've been eager to get this lamp over the shop door. It's a 16" gooseneck with galvanized cage and dusk-to-dawn photocell, made by Barn Light Electric Co. www.barnlightelectric.com.

My pals Gilbert and Lionel helped me hook it up. It's perfect!

Little Brother

Bouncing baby boy, just delivered today.

At the NCAAs in Spokane With Me Boys