Rough Draft Farmstead.

RAISED BEDS AND DOG PARKS.

2012-03-03T07:53:00.001-05:00

This week has been a quiet one, minus the many sleepless nights as we try to train little Wendell. Before the crazy storms yesterday, we had amazing spring weather, and Jesse started building a raised bed for my mom to start a garden. We took several trips to the dog park, in an effort to socialize the puppy as early as possible. This consistently translated to Wendell ignoring all other dogs, chasing every human, hiding under the table, and sleeping. Oh well. The tornado put a halt on our plan to finalize our farm situation, but we are heading out this morning to have a meeting and figure some stuff out. So stay tuned! And in the meantime, here are some pictures of Jesse constructing and 5209093 pictures of Wendell being cute.

ANOTHER ROUGH DRAFT.

2012-03-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

This blog is meant to be a place for Jesse and me to share our lives with you....what we are up to on the farm, what we are eating and cooking, thoughts and opinions and pictures. We hope for it to someday be a place for our shareholders and customers to check in and find out about drop-offs and farmers markets and workshops and what it took to grow the veggies they're eating that week. Mostly we want it to always be a positive and happy space, but sadly, if it's a blog about life, it's not always going to be cheerful.

Unfortunately, we have had a somewhat unhappy and unstable past few months. Many of you already know about our struggles with the farm. As we have vaguely shared before, we found ourselves with this wonderful piece of land, but without a place to live on it. We waited for the house on the farm to become available, but that did not work out as expected. And although we attempted to figure out many alternative solutions, nothing seemed to make sense. We continued to work on the farm, as you have seen, getting the garden ready and starting on our greenhouse. We really felt that this was our home, our farm, where we were supposed to be, and we simply hoped and prayed that things would work out. But in the end, not for anyone's fault, the farm was not available to us as we had once believed. Not for now, at least. We had to let it go.

We had to stop going and working there, falling more and more in love with it and pretending like everything was just going to magically work out. It is truly one of the hardest things we have ever done. We were devastated, embarrassed, disappointed, depressed, confused. We found ourselves with basically a month before "go-time" for the garden...with no garden. We were back at the beginning, starting from scratch.

...And here we are today. But there is some good news in all of this! As of this moment, we will still be farming this year. Still be having a CSA. Still in Kentucky. Yet as hopeful as we are in this, we don't know for sure. And if we've learned anything from these past months, it is that life does not always go as planned, and to manage your expectations. But after tomorrow, we should know a lot more details and be able to fill you in on our new venture. We are very sorry. Sorry for our own loss of time and money and work, but also sorry for you! We hate that it is not only our own disappointment, but now yours as well. So many of you followed us along, helped us out, donated your money and time, and we've found ourselves in a crazy turn of events. Together. Someday, all of this will make sense, we know. But like I said, there is good news! We (fingers crossed) will still be able to use all of our seeds, our bees, and our plants this year. It will all still go into our farm, it's just not the farm we'd all thought it was going to be.

So stay tuned for the ongoing saga. Rough Draft Farmstead is a farm in motion, in flux, and the name couldn't have been more perfect if we'd planned it. We are working on it as we go, changing it to adapt and revising it as necessary. Thank you so much for supporting us in all of this. Even in our moments of sadness, we are unbelievably happy to have each other, the love of family and friends, and a warm little puppy to hug. We remain greatly blessed. To be continued...

(image source)

OUR GROWING FAMILY (it's not what you think.)

2012-02-27T15:38:00.000-05:00

We are very pleased to present to you, the newest addition to the Farmstead...

Mr. Wendell Bear-y.

Here's the deal: We were not necessarily in the market for a puppy, although we wanted a dog eventually. But then we met a beautiful family and spent the afternoon talking about bees and turkeys and pigs and natural water filtration systems. And then they had these puppies. These GREAT PYRENEES puppies, which are the perfect breed for farms. And then they offered us a puppy in exchange for homemade wine and beer. We love bartering! And then we tried to have self control and realize that we don’t need a dog right now. And then we saw him. I mean, LOOK AT HIM.

So, you can probably guess what happened next.

Yep. He already has a YouTube channel.

So now, we find ourselves in the midst of our first puppy training experience. We are trying to be strict and firm and teach him to sleep outside and in his crate, but that is pretty impossible when he looks just like a teddy bear and you just want to snuggle up in bed with him! Any tricks and tips from the veterans out there? What are your do's and don'ts?

NEW YORK CITY (PART II)

2012-02-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

*see one day earlier.

That's all of the New York stuff....we are very much back to reality now. Stay tuned (probably later today) for a BIG introduction! We can't wait to share!

DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: A WEEK IN PHOTOS (of wine).

2012-02-26T09:05:00.000-05:00

Although not all of our beverages from the week are pictured, I assure you that lots of good tipple was consumed. You might notice the blackberry wine pictured below as I was thrilled to finally have a chance to open some of my fruit wines for wine friends. This was really the test. Besides myself, no wine professionals had tasted my homemade wines and I needed them to see promise. Also, the wines had to stand up to a wide range of complex food and flavors. In both challenges, the wines succeeded swimmingly. If wine professionals, wine drinkers, and myself can all enjoy them, and if they can amplify a meal adequately, then it gives me confidence to say I might be on to something with these natural fruit wines. Admittedly, this was a big reason I wanted to go to New York: encouragement or a reality check. For better or worse, I got the former.

NEW YORK CITY (PART I)

2012-02-25T09:02:00.000-05:00

We rolled back into Kentucky last night, and let me start by saying it is good to be home! Still, we had a blast in New York. Jesse and I were able to reconnect with so many old friends, eat a lot of great food, drink some amazing wines, and walk. I mean WALK and walk and walk. This is one of the best things about the city, I think. You just start each day walking, in no particular direction, and you are bound to see all sorts of wonderful sights and find so many treasures. It was a much-needed break for us, and we were truly able to relax and enjoy NOT thinking about the farm and all of its complications for a week. It was a good time for clarity and decision making (more on that later!) But for now, pictures!

NEW YORK STATE OF DISORDER.

2012-02-22T09:42:00.000-05:00

So...our trip to New York has been super busy and chaotic, trying to fit in all of the people and places and events into a short amount of time. I apologize for our long absence! We have been doing so much that I haven't even taken (that) many photos! But isn't that the best kind of trip, really? The ones where you are so preoccupied with experiencing things you forget to document your experiences....or something like that. It has been a wonderful visit, focused mainly on people instead of places. I've had fun taking in a city like New York not through it's landmarks and attractions but by the memories of someone who lived here. We have met so many old friends, ate a lot of great food, and enjoyed the ridiculously warm temperatures. When we return home in a few days, there will be many more photos from our trip, but here's one photo I love. I have long been a fan of street art and graffiti, and so it was quite exciting to stumble upon this hanksy piece yesterday. Consider it our apology for neglecting the blog, but we will be back soon with lots to share!

A DAY IN PHOTOS - OUR VALENTINES DAY.

2012-02-16T10:54:00.000-05:00

Greetings from New York City! Yep, Jesse and I hopped in the car yesterday and headed north. It was COMPLETELY spontaneous! I am writing this from Park Slope in Brooklyn, just having devoured my first authentic New York bagel. This is Jesse's old stomping ground, so I am excited to be here with him, meeting all his friends and learning about this part of his past. But more on that later.

First, some photos of our Valentine's dinner. It was very simple and homemade. Jesse surprised me by making potato gnocchi, which is my favorite! I wanted to bake a Red Velvet cake, as I have never had one and it seemed appropriate for the holiday. I am highly allergic to red food coloring, so I used beets! We also each made gifts for each other, which was pretty sweet. What did you guys do for Valentines?

PLANTING A FARM.

2012-02-13T09:09:00.002-05:00

Lately, Hannah and I have been eager to update everyone who has donated to us as to what we've been able to do with your generous contributions thus far. Although we haven't yet bought the Donkey named Clementine (emphasis on the yet––we have the money set aside! Thanks KJ!), we have been able to purchase all of the seeds we will need for the year; we've bought asparagus crowns and strawberry plants; our soil-block maker arrived two weeks ago with seed trays and we're going to be fencing in the garden we've been working on real soon. You might have seen that a greenhouse is going up, but what you haven't seen is the broadfork and collinear hoe we ordered. This is what you've done for us, and we are forever in debt for, and truly thankful to, our beautiful family of supporters.

So this is for you! As we carry on into the season, know that we are only able to do so because of your help. You, friends, have effectively planted a farm, and

we thank you!

ALSO......our wedding is being featured today on a website called Intimate Weddings. It is wonderful to see so many people being inspired by simplicity and small celebrations! If you aren't tired of us yet, head on over to see the lovely write up.

VALENTINE-ING.

2012-02-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

I have been doing some serious crafting, sewing, and painting lately. Valentines Day is a wonderful excuse to pull out all the stops: hearts, sequins, glitter, the works. Since Jesse and I are trying to have a low-budget dinner at home this year, I have gone a bit overboard with the homemade decorations. A lot of what I have been working on is a surprise for our dinner, but this garland I made was so easy and so adorable I had to share. A great project for the upcoming holiday!

I made my garland using different colors of construction paper, but you could just as easily use felt or fabric. Using the construction paper was the easiest and fastest...it probably took me about 15 minutes!

Cut out a one good heart. I just sketched one, but you could find a pattern and print it out or use some random heart-shaped object if you want it to be just so.

Use the pattern to trace out as many hearts as you like. I made two garlands, each about 5 feet long, with 15 hearts each.

Sew the hearts together into a long strip. Seriously. It is that easy!

Such a simple project. You could make the hearts into different shapes and colors to suit the occasion. But as for Valentines Day, I'd say this is pretty perfect.

SETTING UP SHOP.

2012-02-09T19:52:00.001-05:00

When starting any business, there are going to be a fair number of things to be done before you can open the doors to the public. For a farmer that can mean plowing a garden (or cardboarding one, respectfully), building fences, fixing buildings or all manner of digging, hauling, heaving and pulling. With the warm, Spring weather quickly approaching, and hopes to offer a CSA this year, Hannah and I have been in somewhat of a dash to get ready for the season.

We have multiple projects in the works, but the most pressing as of late has been the greenhouse. A greenhouse is not a necessity, but it definitely helps to get your garden going sooner. You can start seeds in small blocks of soil and let them mature until they are ready to transplant into the garden. I know farmers who don't use greenhouses at all, preferring rather to place the seeds directly in the soil in lieu of the young starts. However, they have to wait until the soil is warm and dry enough to do so which in turn pushes their season back later. Or there are gardeners who buy young plants from markets and place them straight into the soil. For our farm,we're interested in enjoying early crops from the garden, and if we want to start eating fresh food in May, we need to have seeds in the greenhouse in March. But first...we need a greenhouse!

This morning we dressed warmly (including our slick new coveralls), gathered our tools and headed out to the farm for a little lesson in carpentry. By the end of the day we'd finished most of the frame - not bad for a couple of beginners on a cold, Kentucky afternoon!

DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: OPINIONS NEEDED.

2012-02-07T09:55:00.000-05:00

There is a fascinating ongoing discussion taking place in the wine world at the moment about a specific kind of wine, but this conversation is entirely among wine professionals who would all benefit from knowing what the consumers––those actually buying the wine––have to say; what they want. I thought perhaps our readers could lend a little perspective!

Natural wine, if you're not familiar with it, is a term much of the wine world has somewhat arbitrarily pinned to a certain kind of wine. It is not something you'll usually find on a label, it's merely a genre, but it's mainly the phrasing itself that's causing the discussion. "Natural" cannot be quantified, as so many of its opponents have insisted, because nothing about raising cultivating grapes, fermenting the juice and bottling the wine is inherently natural, thus making the term misleading. Please bear with me through the technical details, and ask any questions in the comments section if there is something on which you'd like clarification. Don't be shy, there are no silly questions.

Natural wines are typically made without the addition of chemicals in the bottle or in the vineyard, though there is no regulation of this so it's not necessarily a given.

They are also often made without the addition of yeasts, which is to say that most of these producers let the wine ferment naturally, allowing the ambient yeasts in the air turn the grape juice into alcohol. It's a riskier practice than adding conventional yeasts which more or less guarantee a specific product. There is no guarantee with ambient yeast. Also, like chemicals, this is likewise unregulated. Some producers who have been considered "natural" such as the late, great Didier Dagueneau for example, didn't use ambient yeast, but rather a combination of cultivated yeasts. Still, most people would consider Didier natural.

If there was one commonly employed phrase for natural wines, it would be "nothing added, nothing taken away," or in other words, letting the wine be as natural as possible, a preserved version of wine at its most basic.

Full disclosure: The importance of this topic is that––surprise!––I want you to drink more healthy wines, wines with less additives or chemicals involved––for lack of a better expression––natural wines. Wine should not, if you are going to ingest the stuff, be treated any differently than food; if you don't like chemicals in your food, you shouldn't want them in your wine. But as the consumer, would you prefer a different term altogether? Does the term "natural wine" illicit any negative perceptions? Do you believe that if the term natural wine became regulated it could maintain its integrity, or would it wind up as meaningless as "Organic" has become? Who should regulate it? Or, would you like to leave the term as is, unregulated and somewhat vague?––trusting your local wine professionals to point you in the direction of the healthier wines. These are the kinds of wines I would love for our readers to be drinking, how would you like to find them?

For some further reading on the discussion click here (read the comments for a glimpse at the contention)

*First image is a bottle of Domaine des 2 Ânes, a natural wine brought in by predominantly natural wine importer Jenny & François, purchased at Wine + Market.

SUPER SNACKS.

2012-02-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

Last night, most of us took part in an American tradition composed mostly of television and food (sounds about right). Seriously though, did you know that nearly ONE BILLION chicken wings were consumed yesterday? That is sort of remarkable. And horrifying. But snacking during the Super Bowl is tradition...and not to be left out, my family also made some game-watching foods for the big game.

We didn't, however, have wings. No thanks. But we did have some really tasty takes on traditional snack foods that were light and refreshing and didn't leave us feeling gross, heavy, and full. Mom found a recipe for potato skins on her new favorite website Poor Girl Eats Well. These were truly SO delicious! I'm not talking about those greasy, bacon and cheese slathered skins. Mom's potato skins were so fresh and light...full of good veggies and flavors: black beans, salsa, cilantro, corn, cumin, onions. And not to be without some sweets, I made some chocolate cupcakes. Instead of piling them full of sugar, I used honey and maple syrup! This kept them tasting sweet and made them super moist. I also hid some chia and flax seeds in there! All in all, we ate really well, and we didn't wake up this morning feeling bloated and disgusting. Plus, we are currently eating an amazing breakfast out of the leftovers!

FENCE ME IN.

2012-02-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

We made a trip to the farm on Friday, because how could we not? The forecast called for sunny and ridiculously warm! I love it, but it's also a little bit scary to think: is this weather the new normal? IS February going to be a part of the growing season soon? Farmers everywhere are saying goodbye to their winter vacations... I guess I'm not exactly complaining, though––55 degrees in February is a pretty pleasant treat, and it gave us great opportunity to knock out a little project!

After a super-healthy breakfast, we started the process of fencing in the garden, digging some post holes and setting up the corners. It is nice to be able to visualize the garden...to stand at the edge and really SEE it! With the corner posts up, we now just have to finish the fence with some gridded wire - to keep out the bunnies and deer and other such undesirables. This was a small project, but it was pretty psychologically big! We spent the rest of the day playing with worms we found (a really good sign for the soil!) and planning out our greenhouse and chicken yard. Now we are relaxing, looking forward to a weekend of sports. UK plays tonight, and of course, on Sunday...the Puppy Bowl!

What are you plans for the Big Game?

BEE-ING PRODUCTIVE.

2012-02-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

I am so happy! My day was full of BEES! (If you didn't already know this about me, I love bees. Like, really love them. Beekeeping is the reason I first became interested in farming.) Today started with me mailing off my deposit to ShadeTree Honey Farm for my nuc! ShadeTree is a wonderful, all-natural apiary in Mount Sterling, and a "nuc" is basically a few frames of bees and a queen. I will be picking up my bees in the spring and transplanting the frames into my own hive. I am so excited about this for many reasons....mainly because these bees will be relatively LOCAL, meaning they are already well acclimated to our farm. The fact that they are being transported in their own frames also means they will be somewhat established. This ensures for a relatively smooth transition to their new hive! Wooo!

And speaking of the hive, I started building mine! I worked today on the hive body, which is what I will transfer the nuc into. Once the bees fill up all the frames within the body, you add a "super" onto the top of the hive body. Jesse and I hope to drive sometime this week to Dadant in Frankfort to get the rest of the supplies I need, but I am pretty proud of my progress! It might be a little premature, but I am so anxious for my little bees to get here!

It was a lot of fun putting together the hive. One day I hope to LITERALLY build my own...cutting the wood myself, cutting down the trees to make the wood, growing the trees...you get the idea. But still, I am glad to have used the "some-assembly-required" rather than "pre-assembled" version. Even if it's only hammering a few nails, there is a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day in being able to say that I (sort of) built it myself. And while I was busy constructing, Jesse was being a Super Husband and cooking lunch. Bugtussle sausage burgers and sweet potato fries!

Now all I need is the super, the bees, and a nice coat of paint! It should preferably be a light color (to reflect light/heat), which is why most beehives are white. That's pretty boring if you ask me...any color suggestions?

WINE + MARKET.

2012-01-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

Jesse and I have been a bit under the weather this week, but we couldn't resist the pull of the sunshine today! Seriously...60 degrees...in January. Kind of terrifying, but also really lovely! Hoping the warmth would heal our sickly selves, we made our way to Lexington to try out a place called Wine + Market.

Simply put, we were not disappointed. This small corner of W. Second and Jefferson is hard to describe...it's not really a restaurant, but they have gourmet sandwiches like the duck confit with gorgonzola and apples. It's not a bakery...but there are baskets of fresh bread, nutella brownies, and macaroons. It's not a cafe, but an shiny red espresso machine hides in the corner. There is a beautiful case overflowing with amazing cheese and meats, rows of dried herbs and fresh vegetables, shelves full of Kentucky Proud products, and a bowl of fruit on each table. Wine + Market is essentially what it claims to be: a market, full of locally-made products. That means they sell sandwiches made from local cheeses, fruit, and meats on bread from Sunrise Bakery a few blocks away, and they also sell bags of Weisenberger Mill flour and cold bottles of Ale-8. It was very charming.

PLUS: the back room is a wine shop! Many of Jesse's favorite natural wines were available, and he was able to have some nerdy wine conversations with the owner, something I can't often indulge him in. Here is the bottle we ended up buying:

I was rooting for the one with donkeys on it! Along with the wine, we had a delicious lunch and a really lovely afternoon. I would absolutely recommend this place - whether you need a cup of coffee and a pastry, a pound of salami, goat cheese, a loaf of fresh bread, a red velvet cupcake, a warm duck panini sandwich, or a good bottle of beer or wine. They also sell gift baskets full of local products (a GREAT idea!) and they have wine tastings and events.

Jesse and I left Wine + Market with bellies full of tasty soup and sandwiches. That, along with the sunshine, has us feeling much better! It was the perfect sick-day adventure, and we hope to do it again soon (minus the sick part!)

BARRELS OF CRAIGSLIST FUN.

2012-01-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

When I read the words "Wine Barrel For Sale" I tried desperately to ignore it. And by
'tried desperately" I mean I immediately asked Hannah if I could buy it. I've looked into barrels before. Used oak barrels are not cheap––generally around $100-$150, and that's not including shipping––so $40 was a pretty enticing price tag. Once she gave me the OK, I gave the guy a call and the next thing I knew I was coming home with a beautiful, fifty- something gallon wine barrel once used.

The man who owned the barrel used to work for Woodford Reserve "before the 2009 layoffs." Apparently Woodford had purchased hundreds of used barrels from "Sonoma Cutter" which I'm pretty sure means Sonoma Cutrer, the makers of a commercially popular chardonnay. Producers like that typically use these barrels for one year to suck all of the oaky flavor out of them and then they sell them or find other uses. Woodford purchased a number of these uncharred barrels to make a special batch of Sonoma Cutrer whiskey. They poured two bottles of wine into each barrel of whiskey and let it age for a year. The barrel I bought today was a leftover, thankfully never used in the batch and thus never tainted by the whiskey. He had bought it when Woodford decided they didn't need it anymore and never used it himself so he decided to get rid of it. That's when he got a call from your's truly.

I have no immediate intentions for this barrel, though I've dreamt of plenty of possibilities. I've imagined it as a rain barrel in the garden with a hose running out of the bottom. Or it would make a good table, a piece of glass fixed to the top and maybe an umbrella. Even a life as a container in which to stir biodynamic preparations would be a worthy use, but nothing trumps my want for it to fulfill its destiny as a wine barrel and fill it with bubbling fruit juice. It might not be soon, and it might not be ever, but if the opportunity ever arises and fifty gallons of wine present themselves, I'll finally have a place to put them for a couple of years. No matter what, it'll make a pretty excellent addition to the farm.

(UN)FOLLOWING THE RECIPE.

2012-01-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

Let us discuss the website Pinterest....I know I am slow to the game here, but it is the best thing. And also maybe the worst. Somehow, it manages to be an amazing source of inspiration, while simultaneously being an amazing source of complete time-wasting. Still, I often find great DIY ideas, organizing tips, or recipes - like this one. For whatever reason, pumpkin cookies sounded really delicious and necessary to me at the exact moment I came across this pin, so I baked them. Well, sort of.

Often when I come across a recipe I want to try, I change it. Not because I know better (trust me, I don't) but because I don't want to use corn starch, or corn syrup, or sugar, or canned pumpkin, or some other ick ingredient. And most of the time, it truly doesn't matter! As long as I follow the basic measurements, even if my end product is slightly different in texture or appearance, it always tastes great! In the case of this pumpkin cookie recipe, I didn't want to use canned pumpkin and I didn't have the real thing, so I substituted butternut squash. Butternut squash is actually wonderful to bake with. It has a spicy sort of flavor and is similar to pumpkin. It even makes a great pie! I also cut the recipe in half, used honey instead of sugar (although I did add a little bit of brown sugar), and substituted real butter for Crisco. As for the icing, I didn't have cream cheese around, but my days baking for Whole Foods taught me nothing if not how to make a fantastic chocolate frosting. And sense I cut out a lot of sugar in the cookies, I splurged a bit with the icing! In the end, it all comes down to making a recipe work for you. If you are trying to eat healthier or give up a certain food, you don't necessarily have to sacrifice that recipe you love. It certainly worked out for me this time!

So, here is the recipe for...

Hannah's Not-Pumpkin Cookies with Not-Cream Cheese Icing:

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup honey

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup cooked butternut squash

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

The first part of this recipe is the one that takes the most time: baking the squash. It is, however, incredibly simple. You put the squash, AS IS, in the oven and bake at 350 until you can easily poke a fork in it (45 minutes to an hour). I put mine in a little bread pan, just in case there was any leakage. After it cools, you can remove the skin and scoop out the seeds and guts. What is left should give you about a cup of mushy, orange squash.

Then, you mix all your ingredients! Cream the butter and honey/sugar together first, next adding the egg, and continuing to add the ingredients as they appear on the list. The mixture is not incredibly thick, so use a spoon to place golf ball-sized clumps onto a cookie sheet. Cook for about ten minutes at 350. This recipe makes (even after cutting it in half) A LOT - about 2 1/2 dozen HUGE, really light and fluffy cookies. I removed the cookies as soon as I saw the edges becoming even slightly brown, but I like really chewy cookies.

While the cookies are in the oven, you can make the frosting!

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

1 cup confectioners sugar

3 tbsp cocoa

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Whip the ingredients together for several minutes. If you're fancy, you could actually use a mixer, but hand-whipping works just as well! Stick the frosting in the fridge for a while as the cookies cool, and it will be a perfect spreadable texture when you are ready to ice!

Enjoy your squash cookies!

PS: Go have a look at The Loveliest Day - a wonderful blog that is featuring our wedding right now!

SPECIAL DELIVERY.

2012-01-25T14:37:00.002-05:00

Today started out a bit gloomy. Cold and rainy, with Jesse and I feeling confused about the farm, cooped up indoors, generally uninspired. So that made a lovely surprise like this one all the more happily received.

You'll have to stay tuned for more details, but by all means, if you do not understand the significance of this, get thee to a library!

DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: SPICY TOMATO WINE.

2012-01-24T08:53:00.000-05:00

Tomatoes are technically a fruit, but more-often used like a vegetable: tomato cake, tomato pie... these words do not frequent our dessert menus. So despite their status as a fruit, tomatoes are typically used like a vegetable, and typically taste like a vegetable. That is, however, with a few exceptions: most notably the labor-intensive yet sweet and refreshing Sun Gold cherry tomato. And, if it tastes like a fruit I say use it like a fruit. Since I am no baker, when we had a glut of these tasty gems this summer I didn't turn them into dessert––they went straight into the fermentation vat like so many fruits before them.

The first time I marinated a lamb roast in kimchi brine (to great, flavorful success I might add), I started working on the idea of savory wines for cooking. I pondered the idea of cucumber wines for fish, herbal wines for sauces, and the most versatile of all, tomato wine for everything. Anything. With an opportunity to make tomato wine for the first time this summer, I was taking a chance by making a cooking wine, knowingly forfeiting any chance I had for a truly interesting drinking wine.

Since I had prepared the wine with cooking in mind, in with the tomatoes went habanero peppers and garlic––exactly why I feared it would not be a great drinking wine. In a sense, I was trying to make a spicy salsa wine––all I was missing was cilantro. Immediately after active fermentation but before I put it into the carboy, what I had tasted was like a fresh, sparkling bloody mary. It was surprisingly tasty, and why wouldn't it be?––tomatoes are a fruit and fruits make wines. No bother, I didn't let it become a distraction––my goal was to make cooking wine, so I shoved a few more habaneros in the carboy. If you could drink it after that, I would consider it a bonus.

Yesterday, four months after bottling, was my first chance to test the results. With a few pork chops we'd acquired from Bugtussle Farm (and from the pigs we'd raised this summer), I set them to marinade for six hours before searing them (though I would have preferred twelve hours). After searing, I deglazed the pan with the wine for a sauce and mashed some sweet potatoes, topping it all off with sautéed swiss chard.

I was beyond pleased with the outcome, the pork was juicy and spicy from the inside out, but now feel compelled to go further. The wine was drinkable but not exactly pleasurable (akin to the pawpaw wine). Beyond turning the rest of the bottle into spicy tomato wine vinegar, I see a lot of other savory wines in my future. And not just for cooking. With a little honey for chapitlzation this could have been a perfectly drinkable wine. The thing about wine is that it simply needs a certain sugar level (or brix) to become palatable, and with a mixture of honey and fruit, vegetable or tomato it can be made out of anything. Cucumber mint, hot pepper basil, sweet pepper curry––winemaking is the new cooking.

A DAY IN PHOTOS - PREPARING THE GARDEN.

2012-01-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

Getting ready for a messy day.

A borrowed heavy-duty truck for our half-ton load!

So. Much. Cardboard.

One of our many helpers.

Peeling plastic off the cardboard in the barn.

The garden expands!

Here comes the manure.

The view from the garden spot.

Our brand new, clean wheelbarrow gets broken in.

Straw mulch.

Baby Vivien!

Spent several hours just trying to un-wedge the cardboard. Yep.

Audrey on the loose!

Keeping warm.

Explosion of cardboard!

Jesse and his nemesis - the bailing wire.

(The wire won.)

CARDBOARD PARTY!

2012-01-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

Got plans for tomorrow? Because we have 1,000 pounds of cardboard and twice as much manure! Sounds like fun, right? We sure think so.

That's a lot of cardboard, ya'll.

Thanks to our wonderful family's access to giant chunks of cardboard and massive heavy-duty trucks, we are headed back tomorrow for Round Two of our no-till garden preparation on the farm. We are so excited to get back to working! But seriously, if you want to help...we literally have a half ton of cardboard. Seriously.

ROUGH TIMES.

2012-01-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today, I find myself incredibly inspired by these words from Kate on her blog Longest Acres:

it is no secret that nick and i want land of our own. we want a modest amount of land. maybe 50 acres. we would take more if you were offering. we want to have four milking cows on this land. a sow or two and a big but gentle boar to accompany them. we want a flock of sheep. maybe 20. to keep for lamb. we want goats....for clearing the woods. and of course have chickens. a small population of ducks for pascal to boss around. we want a healthy...but not creepy...population of barn cats. and we wants lots and lots of dogs. dogs for guarding. dogs for herding. and dogs for snuggling indoors on couches. we want a small home. that can fit us. and bottle-animals. and someday human babies. we want a barn that won't blow over in a storm. that won't bust at the roof from too much snow. we want our families to be at the farm. to visit the farm with great frequency. to live at the farm. to party at the farm. to work at the farm. we want friends to come live with us and farm vegetables on this land (which we seemingly cannot do). we want our farm to be its own micro universe. producing all the food and all of the joy so that we don't need to leave our farm with great frequency. that probably sounds like a lot of wanting. that is a lot of wanting. especially because right now we have the skeleton of that Want. we have borrowed land. we're raising 200 chickens that aren't ours. we have 2 pigs. we have 1 cow. we have 1 duck. we have 16 chickens (a dwindling number, thanks to madame fox). we have 1 snuggling indoor dog and 0 useful farm dogs. we have no kitties. we have a subterranean apt with no light and no real sense of welcoming.

i know we have to be patient. our land, our farm, will not be handed to us by any silver vehicle. she will find us someday but we will have to work for her. we will have to struggle through various farm jobs. we will have to hire the services of Scrimp and Save and make sacrifices in our personal and social worlds in the name of the Future Farm. we will have to grow our little farm family slowly and surely and methodically.

but it is always fun to day dream.

...........................

Obviously, Jesse and I are not yet living on our farm. We have our dream piece of land, we just haven't a place to actually live! It is a frustrating situation, and one complicated by many factors, but it is what it is. We understand the wanting. We understand wanting a way of life...something so real and present, but also intangible. We understand how hard it is to transition from simple farm living to suburbia. We ache to be on our farm, and in my days of sadness, words like these are helpful to me. They remind me of virtues like patience, like work, like struggle. They give us hope that some day, even if it is slowly and surely, we will have what we dream of. And house or no house, we WILL be farming this year! We WILL be growing and eating lovely vegetables! Be it in a barn, in a toolshed, or in a tent, we will find a shelter for ourselves somehow.

So...I apologize for the lack of a consistent "farm" on this farmstead blog...but we are trying. We are hoping and praying every day, and we greatly appreciate those of you along for the journey. We continue to be amazed by all the blessings in our life, and know that the setbacks are surely happening for a reason.


Legitimate housing option ↑

(image source)

OUR FIRST SEEDS.

2012-01-17T18:44:00.000-05:00

Jesee and I planned on going to work at the farm today, but instead...we woke up to a day full of rain and tornadoes and all-around gloom. SO, it was quite a lovely surprise when a small package arrived in the mail today - our SEEDS! It was exciting to spread them out all over the table, thinking about the amount of food sitting in front of us, organizing them into spring, summer, fall. Almost makes this weather worth it.

Also, we changed up the blog a bit today. Trying to keep things clean and simple, but let us know what you think......love it or hate it?

NEVER STARVING ARTISTS.

2012-01-16T16:07:00.000-05:00

I once read that dreaming is your mind reorganizing all of the images you absorb in a day. For me, writing is a chance to reorganize all the ideas. It's my therapy and it's my art––admittedly often better therapy than art––but I need it. As a painter, Hannah too has her therapy, a way for her to slip into the right brain and peek around for a while.

In terms of pursuing a career as farmers we decided early on that we didn't want to leave behind our art. Lucky for us there is a lot of room to be creative on the farm, to decorate, construct, catalogue and design; plenty of reasons to paint; plenty of ideas to record. Employing our crafts has been important for sanity as we wait for the farm details to work themselves out, but we don't want for art to disappear once the season gets going.

No matter how busy we are, we try and create time for our art. It's important to us to integrate it into our everyday lives. Every artist dreams of getting paid to do what they love––we feel if we can be successful farmers who actively pursue their art, we can consider ourselves successful artists as well.

MAKING SOAP (SORT OF).

2012-01-15T11:33:00.002-05:00

While perusing a lovely blog that I am slightly obsessed with, I came upon quite a clever idea. It turns out that the only real difference between a bar of soap and a bottle of liquid hand soap is water. So...since it definitely gets expensive buying hand soap over and over again, even if you buy the refills - why not buy a bar of the same soap you love, add water, and make your own! This recipe makes a gallon of liquid soap for the price of the bar. This was a pretty simple and fun project, and now Jesse and I have the equivalent of nearly $80 worth of liquid soap, all for about $9! Here is the how-to:

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: One 8 oz bar of your favorite soap, 2 tbsp of liquid glycerin, a cheese grater, and 1 gallon of water. That's all! Be mindful that the typical bar of soap is more like 4 oz, so you might need to buy two. Jesse and I love Dr. Bronner's soap. It is an amazing company and a great product. Bonus: since the soap is "All-in-One," we can use the soap we made for washing hands, dishes, whatever!

I found the glycerin at our co-op, but it is apparently easy to find in most places with a pharmacy, in the band-aid section. Even though it sounds scary, a 100% vegetable glycerin is completely natural and safe.

STEP 1: Grate the bar(s) of soap into a large pot. This is as simple as it sounds, but be warned....it does take some time! This recipe I was following calls for a cheese grater...but I eventually got lazy and started using a potato peeler. And then I became extra lazy and started just chopping up the soap with a knife. I would encourage you to be patient and not follow my example, but my soap turned out just fine. So basically...cut your soap into small pieces in whatever way best suits you!

STEP TWO: Add the water and glycerin to the soap.

STEP THREE: Place the pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the soap is completely dissolved in the water.

STEP FOUR: Remove from heat. It should essentially look like a big pot of soapy water.

STEP FIVE: Leave it alone and let it cool for 10-12 hours. It should start to "cloud up" after about 3-4 hours. Mine looked a bit insane, sort of like a white, solid mass was forming in the center. I stirred it (also not advised by the original recipe) and continued to stir it every few hours to keep it from solidifying too much. Letting it solidigy is pretty fun though, as you can sort of rest your hand on it like jello! Each time I stirred it, however, it returned to a more normal consistency.

STEP SIX: Done! If it looks something like this...

....the soap is good to go. You can easily beat in some more water if it is too thick. I bought a reusable soap dispenser and decorated it (but you could also simply use an old one) and filled it up! The rest of the soap went into empty milk jugs and tupperware.

Hooray! So easy, and SUCH a huge money saver! If you find yourself hesitant about spending too much for an organical or wonderful or for-whatever-reason soap that you love, this is a great way to stretch your dollar without sacrificing the quality of ingredients. My next ambition is to actually make my own BAR of soap...I will let you know how that one goes!

VEGETABLE PLATE.

2012-01-14T09:34:00.005-05:00

Hannah and I have a somewhat unspoken rule of only eating meat we either, 1) raised ourselves, or 2) trust/know the farmer who did. This does not bode well for us in 99% of the restaurants that exist in the middle of the country where the menu is three pages of meaty fare and one vegetable option: The vegetable plate––a convenient selection of the sides they already offer, most of which are cooked with meat, or come from a can.

There are a lot of terrible things involved with a vast majority of the meat available––that's no secret––especially the type of meat that ends up in the restaurants we're talking about. And these restaurants make no bones about the glut of chicken, fish pork and beef offered, nor do the patrons really care, even if they are well-aware of the issues involved with conventional meat-operations. I haven't always been particularly discriminating about my own meat consumption, so naturally I never noticed the lack of vegetarian options. They didn't concern me. The farm changed all that. Having raised an animal, killed it and ate it, my relationship with food has changed dramatically. I simply don't much want to eat animals not treated like animals, not treated humanely. Even though the vegetables aren't great either, as the adage goes, we'd rather eat inhumanely treated vegetables than inhumanely treated animals. So often, when we have to eat out, the vegetable plate is our only alternative.

I am not unaware that menus are a product of demand, either. In fact, that is what's most notable about the vegetable plate, that it exists so ubiquitously because vegetables are flat-out not as popular as meat. Or more precisely, they are not popular at all. This may seem obvious, but there are simply not not enough people concerned with meatless meals to necessitate an actual vegetarian dish in these restaurants, so the restaurants themselves chose not to bother spending time and money creating one. You either eat a salad ("hold the bacon please") ask them to leave the steak off your pasta, or you get a plate with four or five sides piled on with no real order or care.

The vegetable plate is a microcosm of the apathy our "Where's the Beef" nation still holds towards the vegetarian: join us, or learn to survive in our world. And that's fine, I'm not complaining, I just wish that instead of "Vegetable Plate" the menu would be more honest and read, "The dietary concerns of vegetarians are not recognized by this establishment," and I could just guiltlessly order a plate of french fries like I want to do anyway.

A DAY IN PHOTOS - HOME AWAY FROM HOME.

2012-01-11T09:06:00.001-05:00

BUGTUSSLE BOUND.

2012-01-08T20:50:00.002-05:00

We are making our way down to Nashville tomorrow, visiting with some good friends and picking up the remainder of Jesse's things. On our way, we are making a much-needed detour to our dear Bugtussle! We cannot wait to get back to what still very much feels like our home. That being said, we will be absent from phones and internets and general electricity for a bit. But fear not! We will be back, probably with bellies full of wonderful food and lots of love from our favorite farmers.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, here and here is a little bit of info on Bugtussle and why we love it so. And below are some pictures to make you wish you were coming with us!

Be back soon!

PROGRESS.

2012-01-07T20:06:00.005-05:00

Today was an unbelievably beautiful and warm January day. With plans of preparing our garden spot, we packed up early and headed to the farm, crew in tow, to make some actual progress. Although it is not a great time for planting seeds, it's a perfectly good time to get your land ready for those seeds. Inspired by people like Masanobu Fukuoka and Bill Mollison, we are trying to employ more "no-till" methods of farming. Most of these ideas involve laying down some sort of mulch and letting the soil till itself underneath. Today that meant basically laying down cardboard...then walking away. The cardboard, when it becomes wet, begins to rot. This decomposes all the debris and plant matter underneath it, while also attracting beneficial microorganisms and especially worms. Over time, it creates a layer of rich, loose topsoil. By letting it over-winter, you have a bed ready just in time for spring––no tractors, machines or tilling and thus no real "impact" on the soil. By helping preserve soil structure and moisture, this is an extremely kind and sustainable style of farming!

The first step was fencing off the garden area. Although we don't yet have to worry about critters eating our little plants, we do have a couple of horses who might trot right through our hard work. So we (by we, I mean Jesse) put up some strategic barbed wire, making sure to add bright flags so the horses don't get caught by surprise.

Then, we got to work on the garden. My mom and dad were there to assist, and the help was much appreciated as we cut weeds, moved rocks, and tried to relocate loads of manure in a wheelbarrow with no wheel!

Clearing the weeds.

Digging around, checking the soil.

Taking a break to talk with AUNT ELIN! We love you!

The fruits of our dumpster-diving labor.

An unexpected, mystery guest joins the crew. He seems overly enthusiastic.

Hard working mom, hauling cardboard.

So helpful.

We HAVE been looking for an antique tub....

Moving poo.

Yay! Horse manure!

Oh man, I want to keep this dog.

After laying down the cardboard, we poured water on it, to speed up the decomposition. Then we placed rocks on it to secure it. Then we spread the manure, as an additional compost for the soil.

The final product! We gathered all the weeds we had cleared and added them as a final mulch on top.

................................................................................................................

It feels truly amazing to have done some real work today. Although this was just a start (we need about five times this amount of cardboarded area), it is something! Some actual work to show for all of our stressing and planning! Our interim stay in the city has been a dramatic shift from last years daily physical labor and outdoor life. It was so good to be back on a farm. I am happy today, once again having some aches in my bones, some dirt under my nails, some progress made.

MERRY US.

2012-01-05T17:48:00.000-05:00

Our wonderful photographer Tim has finished our wedding project! While we were in Louisville yesterday, we met up with him to pick up the final product and we couldn't be happier, or more impressed. We LOVE it. Tim did a fantastic job, and you can see more of our pictures as well as more of his amazing work on his website or blog. The whole day was a great success. We are excited and proud to share the results with you. Welcome to the wedding!

A DAY IN PHOTOS - SALVAGE YARD.

2012-01-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

Jesse and I took my brother to the Louisville airport yesterday, and stuck around to spend some time at Architectural Salvage. I wish we had a whole week to spend at this amazing place (as well as several thousand dollars!) We stopped by some other lovely Louisville spots, like Quills coffee and The Eiderdown restaurant. This town is endearing itself to me more and more each visit.

WEDDING SNEAK PEEK.

2012-01-03T12:55:00.001-05:00

Our wonderful, amazing, super-talented friend and photographer TIM HARRIS has been kind enough to share a preview of our wedding day with us. And so we are sharing it with YOU!

We met Tim while we were working at Bugtussle, so his connection to the farm and to us made him the perfect fit for our photographer. Besides being an amazing artist, we had a great time spending the day with him, talking about food and bikes and Wendell Berry. He was so wonderful to work with, removing any awkwardness that comes from having a man with a camera following you around all day. You should seriously check out his portfolio...tons of beauty and inspiration and passion. He even has a project about Bugtussle - click here! You can see why Jesse and I fell in love with that place.

Tim is hard at work finishing our wedding video and the rest of the pictures, and we should be able to share them with you sometime this week. Can't wait!

2012 - THE YEAR WE BECOME FARMERS.

2012-01-02T10:32:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we had to leave our lovely little honeymoon farm. It was so hard to say goodbye to that wonderful place! But although we don't exactly have to get "back to the grind" like most people, Jesse and I DO have a lot of work to do in 2012. In some ways, we were putting off all of the serious planning, decision making, and other grown-up-type things until after the wedding and the holidays...so here we are!

First order of business: SEEDS! It is officially seed catalog season! We came back yesterday to a pile of catalogs and went straight to work. After a few hours of perusing, we managed to order our garden for this year! It was a little bit surreal. Actually, a LOT of bit surreal! Sitting down and choosing the specific varieties of vegetables we will be growing made me realize that we are really doing this! We are going to grow these things, not just dream about it. They are in the mail, coming our way! I love looking at the long, organized list of seeds, thinking about the when and where and how for each different veggie, imagining Jesse and I sitting down eating these foods, in our own house. It is becoming real. Even though we haven't actually accomplished anything yet, I feel some small sense of satisfaction in this first, small step. I'm feeling pretty good about this year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope you have as much excitement and hope for the year as we do.

A DAY IN PHOTOS - HONEYMOONERS.

2011-12-28T13:29:00.000-05:00

THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: DECANTING CHAMPAGNE.

2011-12-27T09:29:00.001-05:00

As a wine nerd, I love this time of the year, when inspired article after inspired article hit all of my favorite publications about the greatest drink in the world: champagne. Obviously, this is because it's the holiday season and we associate champagne with celebration. But my excitement for the time isn't solely because I like the drink, but because wine writers and wine loves alike pour so much love and work into talking about champagne that everyone is incapable of writing a slouchy piece on the subject. I imagine if the wine writers of the world had their druthers, every other article throughout the year would be on champagne or similar sparkling wines. They are the single most versatile food pairings, the single most complex aromatic experiences, the single greatest conversation starters and the single most memorable punctuations to an evening.

Oscar Wilde once said "Only the unimaginative can fail to find a reason to drink champagne." Not wanting to be called unimaginative by Oscar Wilde, Hannah and I decided to elope last Wednesday. With us I brought a bottle of 2006 Jerôme Prévost "La Closerie" champagne which we promptly opened after dinner, breaking two rules I have with good champagne: 1) don't drink it without food, and 2) decant it. Drinking wine with food isn't always a necessity and sometimes, with NV (or non-vintage) champagne especially, it can actually be quite enjoyable. However, not having a great champagne with food is to deny the poor beverage of it's full potential. Forgivable offense, so long as you follow rule number two: decant.

My friend and oft-mentor Alex and I once agreed that champagne was without a doubt the best drink in the world, and although it requires the bubbles to be so, they get in the way of its genius. If you do not own a decanter, don't sweat it, simply open your bottle of champagne a few hours before consuming. The oxygen will invigorate the wine and compel it to open up and become more balanced, more expressive. Put it on ice to keep it slightly chilled, but you don't want to drink it too cold––or nearly any other wine for that matter, if you want it at its best. Cold temperatures subdue the expression of wine, I like my champagne somewhere between fifty and sixty degrees––a good handful of degrees below room temp, but well above refrigeration.

Good wine, notably, should stay good for days, be it champagne or otherwise. In fact, for me, it should only get better. When we opened the bottle on Wednesday it wasn't drinking well, it was too young, too acidic, too tight and needed time and air. But when we opened it again last night––five nights later!––the wine was wonderful. It was fully expressing itself and although it still maintained some of its effervescence, it was greatly calmed. The palate was, ahem, married. The aromatics were caramelized and earthy. And although I don't necessarily recommend waiting an entire five days between opening and drinking, the experience decidedly did not punish me for it.

No time of the year do more people drink or write about champagne quite like New Year's. Don't worry about decanting Veuve or Moet––the only thing that makes those wines better is fresh orange juice––but if you decided to venture off into the world of vintage or grower champagnes you will not regret letting it open up before ringing in the new year. But most importantly, if you're drinking champagne, don't regret anything. That should be rule number three.

A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY.

2011-12-26T17:33:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday was calm and bright, full of peace and happiness and simple gifts. It was a terrifically full day on Sunday...Jesse and I completed FOUR different Christmas celebrations by the end of the day! We are already getting a taste of what married life brings - the compromises and the new traditions and the crazy rushing around. But we loved every minute of it. This Christmas was one of the happiest I can remember, because I am part of a new, little family with Jesse. I can't describe the happiness, really, and I feel like it is only now beginning to set in. With the madness of the wedding and the holidays over, I am now able to sit back and realize that I am MARRIED, that I am about to start on this adventure with my HUSBAND, that we are blessed beyond anything we deserve. Even as I write this, I sit with a big yellow dog asleep at my feet, a fire in front of me, Bob Dylan on vinyl and a glass of wedding champagne in my hand - the first day of our honeymoon. Like I said, I am a happy girl.

Here are a few moments from yesterday - Merry Christmas! We have so much love for you all.

BLUE CHRISTMAS.

2011-12-24T10:31:00.000-05:00

Jesse and I have both been blessed with a multitude of talented friends....chefs, musicians, painters, writers, photographers, farmers. Last night we were able to see a few of them in action. We attended The Breeding's Second Annual Big Blue Christmas Show!

Jesse's best friend Willie and Willie's sister Erin make up The Breedings - a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll, but definitely unique and hard to describe (you should probably just check it out for yourselves!) I have fallen in LOVE with these folks, and their show was really wonderful. I was able to meet a lot of Jesse's friends, my family made it out despite the late night, and I finally feel like I am in the Christmas spirit! With all the craziness going on with our farm and the wedding planning, I cannot believe that it is CHRISTMAS EVE! All the holiday songs and festivities of last night truly helped. Erin and Willie are superbly talented, and I feel honored to call them new friends.

The band's first album was just released, but they also have a new Christmas song! If you like Santa Claus and UK basketball, this tune is for you. You can download it here, and all the proceeds will go to the Lexington Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It is a pay-as-you-wish site, so WHATEVER you can contribute will help in the fight against cancer! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

LOUISVILLE IS FOR (FOOD) LOVERS.

2011-12-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

Louisville is located just on the border of Kentucky and Indiana––unfortunately often referred to as Kentuckiana––in arguably one of the most fertile areas in all the country. Kentucky was long considered sacred land by native americans for how rich and verdant the landscape was, and when the distillers eventually settled the area in the 1700's they found the soil perfect for grain growing and the limestone water highly conducive to whiskey making. Now, several centuries later, no city quite embraces its locality and heritage quite like Louisville.

Where the wine lists occasionally lack, the whiskey and beer lists more than make up for it. Also no one seems to be slacking on the food. Local food is becoming a near given amongst the menus, and in places like Harvest Restaurant, the walls are even graced by large portraits of the farmers. With the increasing number of talented bread makers, beer makers, cooks, bartenders and farmers in this city, Louisville has become a contender among the Portlands, Seattles, and Austins of the country. Needless to say, Hannah and I spent 24 hours there this week worthy enough to warrant a post.

We checked in at the Brown Hotel, one of the many historic hotels in Louisville's blossoming downtown, and met up with our photographer, Tim. For lunch we took a break from the pictures to stop in at Hillbilly Tea on 1st street. Conservatively and creatively designed in local art and primitives––it was not only comfortable but inviting. Hannah got a tea platter, a variety of bites inspired by high tea in England with a southern twist and I went with a wild mushroom sandwich. Tim ordered the pulled pork and we all slipped silently into reverence as we ate then came-to a few minutes later in deep praise of the food––all very fresh and thoughtfully prepared.

Later on Tuesday evening, we stopped into the Beer Store on Market Street for a celebratory beverage. Everyone everywhere should be jealous that this store wasn't their idea. On top of having one of the greatest beer selections I've ever had the privilege of witnessing, you can drink a beer as you peruse, or sit out back and enjoy it at a table the other beer nerds. You will spend money there but you wont regret it. With fear of sounding too much like a travel magazine, if you fancy a more bar-like ambiance one can head over to their bar, Holy Grale, on Bardstown. They were recently voted among the best sliders in the U.S. by foodandwine.com. The Eiderdown restaurant and its sister bar, Nachbar, are similarly some of the other great beer experiences in the city. Chef Brian Morgan is doing amazing things with local food at The Eiderdown to match its geeky yet wonderful assortment of draft beers.

When I lived in Louisville over 8 years ago, I don't know if I even was aware that Market Street existed, but its now a destination. Galleries, nearby hotels, restaurants––Market Street is suddenly another neighborhood to rival the equally attractive Highlands, Germantown, Frankfort Avenue, and Old Louisville parts of the city. For dinner, we wanted to try somewhere special neither of us had been before so we made reservations at Market Street's recent addition, Harvest Restaurant. This is a place whose entire existence revolves around the farmer as a self-proclaimed but aptly titled "Farmer to Fork" restaurant. I had the smoked goat cheese lasagnette, and Hannah ordered the pretzel bread gnocchi and neither of us wanted to share. There was soul in the food, that ineffable quality that elevates a meal beyond a simple compilation of flavors. Great service, ambiance, food and cocktails––everything about the meal was special. We cannot recommend it enough.

The next morning, after coffee at Sunergos, we headed over to brunch at Blue Dog Bakery on Frankfort avenue for one last memorable dining experience before we departed. I've eaten here a number of times and it neither lets me down, nor fails to inspire another visit. The whole city is that way. This is a respectable list of recommendations for any city, but it barely scratches the surface of Louisville's prolific and booming artisinal food and beverage scene. I haven't even mentioned Proof on Main, the restaurant equivalent of a well-fitting suit. Or Vietnam Kitchen. Or Heine Brother's Coffee. Or any of the other things that make Louisville special, or in their words, keep Louisville weird. Lastly, these types of places also make Louisville a great honeymoon destination, you know, if you might ever need one.

HERE COMES THE...BASKETBALL.

2011-12-22T17:10:00.000-05:00

It has been a pretty big week here––if I am allowed the occasional understatement––and Hannah and I have a lot of news to share! First, on Tuesday of this week the Kentucky Wildcats defeated handily the Samford Bulldogs 88-50. The reason this typically irrelevant pre-conference game is of note is not Doron Lamb's superb, 26 point performance, but that Hannah and I witnessed it first hand. Thanks to the never-ending generosity of her parents, we were blessed with a set of tickets directly behind the student section––my first game of the year and the closest I'll likely ever get to talking to Coach Cal in Rupp Arena.

It was our last night out before our trip to Louisville Wednesday, and I guess you might even say it was the last night before the first day of the rest of our lives. But since far too much happened this week to cover in one entry and since it's our blog and we can draw things out for as long as we want, this is just going to be the first in a series of entries about our big day. So please bear with us and stay tuned this week for a lot of great updates leading up to a lot of great news!

THINGS ARE HAPPENING.

2011-12-19T12:15:00.000-05:00

It's starting to feel real!

CRAFTING THROUGH THE FLU.

2011-12-17T22:30:00.002-05:00

So I have the flu. Or had it, rather. Earlier this afternoon I ventured out of the house for the first time in days, and I feel like I am on the mend. Basically, my head does not feel like a swollen volcano of pain anymore. Progress! Of course, this is wonderful timing, because Jesse and I are getting MARRIED...in FOUR DAYS! I just can't believe it, really. All that being said, I know this is supposed to be a blog about farming, but I have had little else to do with my time while laying around sniffling and groaning this week. So today, we are going to talk about crafting.

While making plans for our (incredibly simple) wedding, I realized something: flowers are insanely expensive! Is this common knowledge? I was not aware. While trying to figure out how to justify paying for a bouquet and boutonniere that would eventually shrivel up and die, I decided to just make my own. It was honestly incredibly easy, and now Jesse and I have something to keep forever! This is a great project for a wedding bouquet, but it would also make wonderful centerpieces or just decoration for your home. The best part is that you can customize the colors to exactly what you need, because it is just made out of PAPER!

.....................................................................................................................................................................

So here's the step by step:

MATERIALS:

- Lots of paper (I used tans and whites, but you can use any color, textures, or weight)

- Glue (I used super glue)

- Scissors

- Tape

-Styrofoam ball

- Wooden sticks (I used floral arranging ones, but twigs, wire, popsicle sticks...all good)

- Yarn

- Ribbon

ROSETTES:

Draw a spiral.

Cut out the spiral.

Start rolling the spiral into itself, starting in the middle.

If you need to, you can secure the outside with a piece of tape or glue, so it doesn't unroll.

CARNATIONS:

Cut out a set of circles, slowly increasing in size.

Wrinkle up the paper circles. Poke the wooden stick (or twig, or wire, or whatever) through the biggest circle.

Keep poking circles down on the stick on top of the first, getting smaller as you go.

After adding the smallest circle on the top, I added a little superglue, letting it drip down the stick and securing each circle in the right place.

PUFF BALLS:

Wrap yarn around your fingers.

Once you have a thick amount, cut it free from the skein.

Carefully slide the bunch off of your fingers.

Tie it using a separate, small piece of yarn.

Cut through the loops on both sides.

Trim the yarn until it resembles a ball!

NOW....

Keep making them until you have A LOT...trust me, it takes a lot. Then attach them to your wooden sticks or wire.

Arrange the flowers by sticking them in the styrofoam ball. I supplemented mine with some silk flowers and rattan balls.

If you are making a bouquet, you can make a handle by grouping a bunch of wooden sticks together and wrapping them with ribbon.

TAH DAH!!!

I am really pleased with how this turned out. It was fun to make, and a welcome distraction from my sick days. I hope the holidays are finding you happy and healthy, and now I'm off to make Jesse's boutonniere!

HOUSE HUNTERS.

2011-12-14T21:47:00.000-05:00

Being basically perfect outside today made for a good excuse for Hannah and I to visit the farm. We're currently looking for a spot to build our house, and although we had ideas of where we wanted it, we also wanted to examine all options before proceeding. It turns out the house that currently lives on the property is not going be available until well after the growing season so we figured why not go ahead and build our own dream home while we wait? It's something we wanted to do eventually anyway, but since we're eager to get on the land and get farming, we might as well take care of the things that could get pushed to the wayside once the train gets moving.

You'll be happy to know that we did some searching and we've found our plot. Baring any other snags, we are planning to actually build this thing over the winter. So stay-tuned for some guaranteed hilarity and entertainment as we construct our dream home before the plants come screaming out of the ground. Fingers crossed!

BACK TO REALITY.

2011-12-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

We're back! Jesse, my family and I had a wonderful, perfect trip to Chicago. There was much basketball, babies, and butter churns, as well as plenty of Intelligentsia, 30 Rock, and relaxing. Jesse and I had a somewhat stressful time this past week...so this weekend was much needed. That being said, we are happy to be home and ready to jump back into reality. And as for the stress, I am adopting a new motto I saw on a poster in the city yesterday: Everything is going to be alright. Maybe not today, but eventually. And this we know. We have our families, we have the support from so many of you, and everything will be alright.

creepy indiana.

that's a cow-print bench, people.

the felix hotel.

view!

good book store.

this is why it is a good book store.

bethany and michael's hood.

my brother dunked! (this is not a picture of that)

norge is unimpressed.

jake sharing his story during halftime.

the cubbies get festive.

intelligentsia!

beautiful coffee.

so perfect.

typical.

pound it.

best gift. ever.

THAT TODDLIN' TOWN.

2011-12-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

Jesse and I are off to Chicago for the weekend...very excited to see my brother's basketball game and to introduce Jesse to EVEN MORE of the Crabtree family! We might not be so regular in our blogging over the next few days, but fear not! We'll be back. Have a lovely weekend!

THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: RE-IMAGINING CHAPITALIZATION

2011-12-07T18:27:00.001-05:00

Chapitalization is the somewhat controversial, somewhat common addition of sugar to wine to boost its alcohol content. The amount of sugar present in grape juice is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol it will produce. Chapitalization is an extremely regulated process, generally only allowed in regions where the sugar content of the grapes, or brix, consistently struggles to make it to a desired level of the producer. The controversy comes from winemakers and consumers alike: that you're messing with the nature of the ferment; or from the farmers: you're cheating by choosing your own alcohol percentage. If you're still with me, here's where it gets interesting.

Nearly every––and I challenge you to find any DIY winemaking book in this country that doesn't say it––recipe I've ever found requires that you add pounds of sugar to any wine not consisting of grapes. POUNDS. The reason being is that many fruits have comparatively low sugar contents. Grapes are incredibly sweet, most other fruits pale in comparison. Blueberries, for example, hover around 10-14 brix where grapes often eclipse 20. The attraction to adding sugar is that it measurably raises the brix level, ferments quickly and efficiently, and is easily adjustable. The downside of sugar is that, well, it's sugar. It has next to zero nutritional properties. Despite the fact that I've made wine with everything from blueberries to apples, I have never added cane sugar to my wines and never will. However, I've definitely chapitalized.

Even the most die-hard of skeptics will typically agree that a spoonful of honey is good for you. Local honey is a big market these days because of its nutritional and antiallergenic qualities. Honey is, almost without exception, one of the single most nutritious substances in the world. They say one could easily subsist on honey and water forever. When the brix level of my ferment requires higher sugar contents, I happily chapitalize with honey.

Honey is almost twice as sweet as sugar so it must be used cautiously. Also, it takes a lot longer to ferment. But like our papa farmer, Eric, always said "Everything worthwhile takes time," and wine is no different. I used a couple cups each in the blackberry and wild berry wines which both took forever but turned out nearly perfect, and arguably all the more healthy for it. Adding honey to our ferments also contributes to the diversity of the drink itself. I like to assume diversity is to wine what diversity is to everything else: healthy.

Originally, I was opposed to the idea. I felt the pressure of the purity dogma––that any addition is blasphemy. Whatever, I enjoy adding honey to wine. If done right, the wine will turn out not only palatable, but entirely comparable to grape wine. To attest to my strange luck, Hannah is an aspiring bee-keeper. Once we have our bee operation up and running on the farm I will have an extremely fresh supply of the stuff after a couple years. Already bubbling with microbiology and nutrition, I'd be a fool not to employ it.

VEGGIE LESSONS.

2011-12-06T10:01:00.003-05:00

In the first post of this blog, Jesse and I mentioned that part of the reason we were starting the farm (and ultimately the blog) was to engage our community in as many ways as possible. Last night we got an opportunity to do precisely that.

Kelly, a good friend of mine, called me on Sunday night. She was at the grocery store and wanted me to tell her exactly what she should buy. A few weeks ago, she had mentioned that she would be interested in joining our CSA eventually - but was afraid of having an abundance of "raw" vegetables sitting around, not knowing what in the world to do with them. This is not an uncommon fear. Many people want to cook, want to use fresh vegetables, want to buy from a farmers market or CSA - but they just don't know how. I could have included myself in this category a few years ago. Kelly asked if we would be willing to come over and cook with her, to give her some tips and show her how to REALISTICALLY prepare quick, simple meals that were healthy and kid-friendly. We were happy to do just that! Together, we cooked a simple meal of kale, squash, red peppers, onions and garlic, with some sweet potatoes. Super easy, super good. And for dessert, baked apples!

Jesse and I know that Kelly's apprehension about joining a CSA is typical. When we do start growing our own vegetables and open the farm up to shareholders, we want to be aware of this mindset. Recipes, cooking classes, information about specific vegetables, and a real relationship with our members is what we hope will solve this. We want everyone, ourselves included, to be constantly learning and growing together, figuring out how to fit agriculture into non-agrarian lifestyles. It is about simply living life to its healthiest and most abundant potential, and nothing demonstrates this better than family gathered in the kitchen, chopping vegetables and enjoying a meal together.

THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: THANKS-AGAIN-ING EDITION

2011-12-04T16:39:00.001-05:00

Hannah and I attended a dinner party last night with some friends. They had procured a fresh turkey and the obvious move was to have Thanksgiving again. And thus Thanks-again-ing was born. Since they said they had all the food covered, we were just to bring some libations.

I had been looking for my opportunity to break out the blackberry and wild-berry wines. They were the two wines this summer that, when we bottled them, tasted like grape wine. More specifically, like natural wine. For all the time I spend ranting about how we should drink more local wine and that you can make great, naturally-fermented wine from things other than grapes, I have yet to prove it to anyone besides my loving and patient fiancé, Hannah.

First, we opened the blackberry wine I'd harvested and fermented in July and it was nearly glowing in the glass. It reminded me of syrah from the Ardèche. It was light and almost effervescent, floral and refreshing and most importantly, everyone was enjoying it. Obviously, since the Food Network wont get on the ball and actually create that smell-o-vision they're always blabbering about, I can't share it with you, dear reader, but I'd pin it against any young natural wine out there with confidence. Although I had my doubts about the wild-berry wine––comprised of blackberries, rabbit-eye blueberries and black raspberries––it was similarly delicious! It was even lighter, but equally as alive.

I could have easily come all the way to Kentucky and failed - riding this hunch which assumed I could make dry, natural wine from any fruit. But as we passed the two bottles around the table until they were spent I felt exhilarated and inspired. Watching people not only indulge your whims but enjoy them is quite unreal.

At one point, Hannah leaned in and said, "We'll definitely have to cultivate those blackberry briars now," and I realized berry wines were going to be a staple in our life. Again, this was precisely the reason I came to Kentucky, I just couldn't believe it was someone else suggesting it.

OUR NEW HERO.

2011-12-04T15:08:00.000-05:00

Jesse and I had to miss the Tennessee Local Food Summit this weekend because my car decided it had lived a good, long life and is no longer with us. Great timing! We were super sad to miss the Summit, too, because our lovely Bugtussle papa Eric was giving a talk, along with a multitude of our farmer friends. One of these friends was Birke Baehr. Jesse met Birke last year during the Biodynamic Conference and he completely blew Jesse away...because he was TEN YEARS OLD. This short TED talk of Birke's is similar to the speech he gave in Nashville, and a wonderful reminder of why Jesse and I are embarking on this lifestyle. This is what it's all about, people!

I spy a future intern candidate.

ANY FRIEND OF BAMBOO'S.

2011-12-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Last week my mother sent me an email about a craigslist ad for arundo donax, also known as giant reed grass. The ad advertised that it was similar to bamboo, a material Hannah and I have a lot of interest in. It was simply inviting people to come cut the stuff down for free. After examining our bank accounts, free was indeed in our price range.

Bamboo is an amazing building material used for everything from trellises in the garden to roofing, flooring and even walling––if that's a carpentry word––in the house. After a little research, we found that arundo donax is basically the same thing.

Cultivated in Asia, Africa, India and parts of Southern Europe, this fast growing and hollow grass is often labeled invasive and is even outlawed in parts of Florida. It's used in many of the same ways as bamboo––from musical instruments to fishing poles––and they're even finding uses for it in bioengineering! Hannah and I have no idea what we're going to do with the 30 or so we cut down, but it was inspiring getting the stuff. It can grow to a height of 20 ft or more, eclipsing 30 ft in ideal conditions. It spreads impressively fast, so if you were going to plant some you would want to keep in completely contained, but the end result are these looming forests of unending potential. That's why finding a place to grow this stuff is now on the long list of Rough Draft "To Do's," because finding uses for it wont be much of a challenge at all. We will have lots of gardens and needs for trellis systems, but also we want to eventually build our own house––why not grow some of the materials ourselves? Heck, we could even use it for some walling!

COOKING TIPS.

2011-12-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." First rule of cooking?––don't listen to Carl Sagan. His recipes are impossible.

We as a culture have determined that cooking is an ordeal. It requires a recipe, a lot of money, time and a special skill-set. I assure you, this rumor is false.

Because Hannah and I are in the produce business, it's in our best interest to convince the world to cook more. Lucky for everyone, it's in the best interest of the entire world to do so. We decidedly can't afford to eat out all the time and if you care about your health and you're a normal person, you likely can't either. Eating out usually breaks down to one simple equation: if it's cheap it's probably not good for you, and if it's good for you it's probably not cheap. Our answer is to cook for ourselves and, with a little fear of sounding presumptuous, hopefully to convince other people to have the confidence to do the same.

If you're in need of a few helpful tips, as so many have expressed to us, we wanted to lend a few we follow:

1. MEAT IS A SPECIAL OCCASION.
Hannah and I don't eat much meat and when we do we like to know who grew it. Typically, it's not cheap, ergo, only for special occasions. For our daily protein we eat eggs, beans, cheese, lentils or some combination of them. Not an easy transition for a lot of people––myself included––but a necessary one. Fresh beans or lentils just take a little planning. Soak them over night, rinse them, and cook them for a couple hours the next day. Make a lot and put what you don't use in the fridge for the next couple of days' meals. Red Lentils are very fast and don't (necessarily) have to be soaked at all. A little protein goes a long way if your day does not require a lot of physical labor.

2. ALL OF OUR MEALS CONSIST OF AT LEAST ONE PROTEIN, ONE STARCH, AND ONE VEGETABLE.
Rice is the work horse of starches. Make enough to get through at least two meals. For the first, eat it fresh with some sautéed vegetables and lentils. The second, heat it back up by frying it with some eggs and greens. Any left over, reward your efforts with some rice pudding and honey. Sautéed or boiled potatoes (sweet potatoes or regular) are excellent, cheap starch options as well. I typically sauté potatoes because the pan caramelizes the sugars and adds a little complexity but boiling works, too. And it's definitely healthy. Also, potato salad is a delicious option if you have to pack a lunch.

3. WE BUY FRESH VEGETABLES WEEKLY.
We will soon have a garden to pick from, but while we're in the city, we have to buy some vegetables. One bunch of kale or collards or chard lasts us through three to five meals. Extrapolate that however's convenient: if you're a family of four, double it and so on. We definitely get a lot of mileage out of our broccoli or cauliflower as well. Also, save any scraps to make soup stocks. You can make a soup stock out of any vegetables, simmer them for 45 minutes in water then strain out the scraps. Potato soup with milk, kale and vegetable stock is simple and rewarding.

4. BUY WHAT YOU CAN IN BULK.
Pretty self-explanatory but it saves considerable money to buy starches and storage crops (like onions and garlic) in larger quantities. Per meal, we use at least one small clove of garlic and half an onion. Add a big bag of beans and red or black lentils, some real salt and a big jar of olive oil. Of course, try and buy what you can organically or directly from a local farmer. If they don't advertise, it's perfectly OK to ask if they spray.

Perhaps you have some rules of your own you want to share, or perhaps you flat out disagree with one of ours––please feel free to tell us. We want the world to cook more––let us know what you eat. Hannah and I cook two if not three meals a day for ourselves and we sit down and eat them together. It teaches you a lot about food, about discipline, and about each other to do so. This kind of lifestyle takes more planning and definitely more time in the kitchen, but hopefully in the future it will save you time in the doctor's office––more time to spend with your family.

A DAY IN PHOTOS - DECORATE, AGAIN!

2011-11-30T23:33:00.001-05:00

We were Christmas decorating once again today! Jesse and I spent the morning doing scary adult things like opening up a checking account together, so we had to follow that with ice cream and a Christmas tree. This time, the decorating involved more John Denver and the Muppets, more old home movies, and much more Barb.

our frasier fir! naturally, we named him "niles."

love him.

best kind of lights. hands down.

scaredy cat.

niles looks great!

oh, barb.

pro tree decorator.

nostalgia overload!

hanging her favorite ornament.

everyone needs a little felt church.

beekeeper ornament! thank you, stephanie.

saving this one for when brother comes home.

tah-dah!

merry christmas!

ODD JOBS.

2011-11-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

During this transitional time for Jesse and I, our families have been super amazing wonderful humans. On top of letting us live with them, they have also been finding random projects and jobs for us to do - anything to give them a valid excuse to hand us money. After raking leaves on Saturday, we were back to my grandparent's house today to put up their Christmas decorations. I know, I know... tough work. We had a great morning, listening to Christmas music on an old radio, digging through boxes of ornaments, and exploring the house.

As things on the farm are moving slower than expected, we are so grateful to our family and friends for these small distractions. The holidays have been lovely to us so far...and we hope they have been for you as well!

PS - if you live nearby and have any of your own "distractions" for us, let us know!

THE DRY COUNTY WINE REVIEW: PAWPAW EDITION

2011-11-27T07:42:00.000-05:00

There are one-hundred and twenty counties in Kentucky. Fifty-five or so are dry, around thirty-five are "moist," and thirty are wet. The county we're moving into, Bath, is completely dry. This is a rather hilarious state of affairs for a young man like myself who moved to Kentucky with the express intention of making his own wine.

You see, after national Prohibition ended in 1933 many states including Kentucky preferred not to abandon Prohibition altogether instead opting for the local option which gave individual counties the opportunity to vote on their own dry laws. Bath stayed dry, but lucky for me, it's not illegal to make small amounts of wine for personal consumption, it's only illegal to sell it. In homage to this irony I'm starting The Dry County Wine Review to occasionally discuss our dry county winemaking or wine drinking.

On Friday, Hannah and I went to visit the farm and packed a picnic of Thanksgiving leftovers and a bottle of Pawpaw wine. Pawpaws are a Native American tree fruit that taste like nature's ill-fated attempt at crossing a mango and banana. They're medium-sized, peanut-shaped green fruits with a tropical yellow custard flesh.

The outside of the pawpaw is bitter, and when I made the wine I wanted to include about 45% of these skins for tannin and a little savory edge. Apologies, but this is where it gets a little nerdy. As I understand it, and as Louis Pasteur tells us, different types of yeasts attach themselves to different kinds of fruit based on their acidity and sugar level. I wanted to maintain some of that in the fermentation in lieu of simply collecting random yeasts out of the air. I packed the pawpaws into a gallon jar and poured over them a couple cups of spring water and a cup of honey. Pawpaws are not particularly juicy or as sweet as grapes, so I had to add the water for liquid, and the honey to boost the sugar level. I don't mind chapitalizing with honey; it takes longer but I love the idea of incorporating the healthful qualities of honey to a wine along with the bio-diversity it provides in the end-result. Same for the spring water. I let the mess ferment in an open jar (or crock if available) for four days then moved it into a glass carboy––an airtight container for the secondary fermentation. It stayed there for one month, and then into bottle for several more. This particular gallon yielded exactly one bottle of wine. As I mentioned, we opened that bottle Friday. And it. was. interesting.

I don't mind it when a wine turns out odd, and Hannah, to her credit, always obliges my whims. She's a trooper but admitted this wine was a bit too much even for her. It tasted like tart and tropical grapefruit juice. I would guess the alcohol was no more than 8%. The acidity was aggressive but I liked it with the food. Quite honestly, it wasn't the most enjoyable wine I've ever drunk, but I'd take it over a typical Parker wine any day. But the intention was never to make great wine––mainly because I don't quite know how yet––it was to make dry, healthful wines. And this wine was undeniably healthful––so alive it was grinning.

Producers legally can't say it so I'll do it: Wine is extremely good for your health––from your immune system to your digestive––it's something we need in our diets. In her book Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon writes that “The enzymes in raw food, particularly raw fermented food, help to start the process of digestion and reduce the body’s need to produce digestive enzymes." We need fermentation, be it kimchi, beer, wine or pickles. If it's wine, it's not always gonna be 100 points. But the diversity is what we need, whether said diversity comes from using different fruits, waters or sweeteners, and sometimes you've just gotta shoot it back and pretend its medicine. Other times, when it's tasty, you can sip slowly and enjoy. Fortunately for Hannah, I made both kinds this year. What's fun is the mystery, what's exciting is the health, and what's hard to get beyond is the dogma that says the only good wines come from grapes. In The Dry County Wine Review, I'm always going to be begging to differ: good wine is the wine that grins––grape, blackberry, pawpaw or otherwise.