Surreal

I was hunting around the web recently and found that someone linked to this site.  That's rather uplifting.  Someone noticed and thought enough to share. 

Let's see if I can own up to that.  My last go 'round with a potential investor didn't go well.  There was no interest at all.  So besides being in the doldrums for awhile a lot of thought has gone into reorienting the entire process.

The burden is really on me.  There probably will be no one else so another system of financing and development is required.

Right now it looks like it will be architecture, moonlighting, residential projects.  Always wanted to do that so it's about time that it became a significant occupation.  It'll give me a chance to get back into designing again and that will help the rest of these efforts.

POTD from the National Arboretum

Wine and Music

In 10 words or less what do you do.

Wine and music is not what I do, it's what I want to do. 

Mission Hill

Here's a vineyard/winery that started about 30 years ago. 

It may not be your you idea of a vineyard, nor mine, but it still is very impressive.  I wish them much success and need to read further about how they accomplished all they've done. 

Pic of the Day

Sophisticated

The woman in this screen shot from the British Columbia ad that plays during the Olympics speaks one word: "Sophisticated".

I really like that.  It's great advertising.

But there is a great deal of effort in wine making.  It is farming after all.  That's a lot of what interests me.  Sure the romance and "sophistication" is nice, but a chance to work in the dirt and grown something good is much more interesting.

The Shining

 DESIGN

For some reason my mind strayed to one of my favorite thrillers "The Shining".  YouTube has a great video performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  One of the many interesting parts of this performance is the timpanist striking actual bells.  Continuing my exploration I came across this - Kubrick as Architect.

Aside from the maze, which is another concept entirely, there is a certain fascination to be had with the architecture of the building particularly in how Kubrick renders it.  But this article points to some of the fascinating architectural elements and how they relate to the story and its characters. 

"Kubrick attributes to the staircase.....a function which is not only architectural, but also figuratively and narratively pivotal."

Read the article, watch the movie again.

 

Related Stuff

There's lots of stuff to cover.  So there should be some system to identify the topic.

Let's try these for a start: 

DESIGN - to include site and building design
CONSTRUCTION - technical stuff about how to build certain things
VINES & WINE - obvious
MOG - now here is one that i really like.  The term came up during a tour of a tank farm.  Someone was describing the weighing of semis full of grapes.  Some determination had to be made about how much MOG was on the trucks. Materials Other than Grapes.  I'm going to try and take advantage of that term. 

Georgia wines.

If you know what this is, you know a lot more about wine-making than I did last week. 

Generally it's called an amphora but in Georgia it's a qvevri.  The linked article from WaPo is where I learned of this. 

Time to do some more investigation. 

Lemonade

So, I was turning some things over in my mind and decided that maybe, just for the sake of argument, I should make some changes in my approach to . . . . . . well . . . . . . just about everything in my life.

Spice up the blog, be more consistent, exercise, find a great job, get financing for the vineyard, assemble a management team. 

Gee that sounds like last years resolutions but that's when I had no motivation.  And that's all changed. 

The 5 Year Plan

It couldn't possibly be true.  Yep, Rob had warned me.  The family was walking down the beach somewhere in Florida.  Of course that's all that Florida is is a beach.  Well, actually it's just a big sand bar.  So we're talking about the big 5 YEAR PLAN for the vineyard and Rob says, "Yeah, I'm in the 7th year of MY 5 year plan."  Well that wasn't going to happen to me. No sir!.  You see, I'm just 2 years behind in my 5 year plan. Well maybe 3.   

Hints for writing YOUR 5 year plan: one line item should look like this:

     ITEM #6.  Procrastinate

                      Justifications:  don't have all the facts, do laundry, find a job,

                      exercise (OK that might be a stretch), wishing I'd just win the lottery.

At least admit it up front.  It'll save a lot of soul-searching later on. 

And if there is an english major out there please explain how "procrastinate" is an active verb. 

All politics are local

The problem with "global" solutions is that if they don't work the mistakes are global.

A walk in the vineyard, diverted

For sometime now I've been trying to imagine what it would be like to start my day in the vineyard.

My first decision was not to start in the vineyard but in the kitchen to bake bread for the day.  This shouldn't be too difficult, just a matter of starting the fire in the oven, preparing the dough for the next day, letting the chilled dough settle to room temperature and bake.

Starting the fires seems like a good way to begin a day. 

A brick oven seems like the good way to go.  Probably feels like a tedious way to bake bread but maybe that's the point.  Ultimately it's the aroma, crust and texture that counts and this is a great way emphasize that.  And it takes a bit more care to do it this way.  One has to pay attention and the attention makes the loaves more valuable. 


Just enough bread for the day and maybe some croutons for soup tomorrow.

BUGS

One of my greatest concerns in the vineyard is BUGS. One has to develop a BUG eye, the ability to see bugs. Unfortunately I treat bugs like commercials: if they aren't crawling on me I ignore them.

Karen has a great bug eye. From across the room I can tell when she's spotted something crawling around in the corner ten feet from her with no lights on. She has this certain expression that is a combination of disgust and why haven't I disposed of this creature yet. This habit is extraordinarily effective with her roses and orchids. She will notice immediately if there is something crawling underneath a leaf that shouldn't be there.

But I'm a big picture sort of person.

So with a vineyard it will be imperative for me to focus on a level of life that I am not accustomed. Early and often.

It is estimated that there are approximately 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive. There are 1,017,018 species of insects in the world with some experts estimating that there just might be as many as 10 million species out there.

And they are hungry.

Our objective is to develop an organic, sustainable vineyard. So management of insects that are interested in dining on grape vines is rather important.

Oregon has a sustainable, organic program certifying vineyards for good agricultural practices. They offer assistance in attaining this certification and helpful hints about good practices.

The state of California provides all kinds of information about insects, plant diseases, recognition and methods for combating problems. There are descriptions of which bugs are good and of the good bugs which ones will eat other good bugs. Praying mantis eat other bugs. But they do no discriminate. So they will eat any other bug that comes along including other praying mantis. So it is important to know which bugs have a taste for the bugs that can do the damage.


An Adult Spined Assassin Bug: sensitive, likes moonlit walks and poetry and eats aphids and leafhoppers.

Waiting for Pinot

Actually it's more of a search. Where to find good grape vines for sale. If you click on the title link you will find a website describing vines for sale. There are even discounts for commercial growers (I hope that someday that's me).

This is a photo from the website of pinot noir grapes.

Now my concern is that this is a Gallo pinot noir. I haven't researched exactly what that means in terms of quality but it needs to be explored.

In selecting grape vines it is also important to pick vines grafted on a hearty stock resistant to phylloxera, that nasty critter that just about wiped out European grapes in the late nineteenth century.

From Wikipedia: "Phylloxera was inadvertently introduced to Europe in the 1860s, possibly on imported North American vinestocks or plants. Because Phylloxera is native to North America, the native grape species there are at least partially resistant. By contrast, the European wine grape Vitis vinifera is very susceptible to the insect. The epidemic devastated most of the European wine growing industry."

It will be important to learn more about the root stocks that are most resistant also. So one step at a time. The site linked above has some very nice information on all facets of grapes, planting, pruning, etc. Well worth your time and effort.

Aren't those pinot grapes lovely?

Fresh food

This is a nice Wikipedia photo of the West Side Market. The Market is a true Cleveland icon. It has been saved, remodeled and praised.

As a child my mother would take me from Scranton Road and Clark Avenue, by trolley, to the Market. The large vaulted, ceramic tiled interior space had all kinds of permanent vendors selling all kinds of meat, cheese and produce. There were whole carcasses of all kinds of animals. It is a real experience. If you go there often enough you get to know the vendors and there is always an interesting conversation.

What I remember most though were the outside vendors. Wrapped around two sides of this building were farmers' stalls, open to the air, that were occupied several days a week. These were my wonderment. The farmers would split open their summer melons and offer slices to assure you of their quality. There was much given away in the hope of a sale.

These outdoor stalls at more contemporary markets have no where near the character and ambiance of those at the West Side Market.










These white tents have to be set up and taken down by each vendor. They might provide a nice bright soft light on the sales area but little beyond that.










This is a corner entry and an interior photo. To my liking there have been too many upgrades over the years. The "outdoor" stands have been enclosed with tacky metal roofed enclosures. Cleveland winters are brutal and greenhouse farmers that work the winters are certainly far more comfortable. In the past there were canvas coverings and fires going in 55 gallon drums to keep everyone warm. The interior, with its wooden stands, brick piers and vaulted ceramic tile ceiling is truly unique.

Here's a birdseye of the stands that wrap the market building.

So the winery gets permanent stands. Yes it might be expensive. But it may just fix a memory of an elegant, rich, fresh, aromatic, lively market in the mind of another small child.

Olives

As part of the landscape of the winery and vineyard there needs to be a few alternative crops. Because this venture is intended to have a very long life, planting, maintaining and harvesting olive trees seems appropriate.

During my stay in Orlando, we used to frequent a farmer's market in Winter Park on Saturday mornings. One stand featured a variety of olive oils from many different countries. As time went on we tried a number of varieties amazed by the various flavors.

Fine olive oils provide a wonderful compliment to so many foods.

I don't know much about these trees but a few things I've read indicate that they are fairly disease resistant and easy to maintain. They must be hardy since very old trees can be successfully transplanted. I was surprised to see 20 year old trees listed as a standard catalog item.

It would be nice to line the entry road to the winery with olive trees, set back far enough so as not to drop fruit on the roadway but balanced enough as a part of the entrance. At least that's one thought.

Empathy

How many times have you heard someone say "Even I can do that."

A good friend of mine sold AutoCAD software at one time. He had to take classes, learn the basics of how to use the program so that he could explain it to potential buyers. After awhile he decided that, since he knew how to use the drawing software, he would design his new house. HE knew how to "draw" and HE wouldn't need any help. HE could do it on his own. So I politely kept my mouth closed.

About a year later he told me that he would never design and build a house again.

I have heard this kind of story many times. We all possess certain skills and affinities. To assume that any of us can do anyone else's work because it looks simple is a rather silly idea.

I've learned to love music, painting, building, ice skating, writing, poetry, etc. not because I am good at any one of these but because I have tried them and they are not easy and I appreciate the great talents in other people. When it looks easy it is because the professionals have so much practice that they make it look easy.

A Place of My Own

Is this a book on architecture?

Not really sure. But as an architect I find myself having an ongoing conversation with the author while I'm reading. Mr. Pollan is a wordsmith, a writer and in my opinion a very good one since I've read almost all his books. I'm not quite finished with this one.

Because he writes he seems to have to justify everything about his "place" with in depth research and lengthy analysis. His insights are great, probably ones that have been around for awhile but I've never noticed since I'm not into the same kind of reading habits and subsequent analysis.

At my current page in his book he seems to be finally coming to the conclusion that architecture, although it has taken on the air of erudite philosophy in recent history, is not about words. It just is.

One of my classes in college was Design Process & Methods. It essentially was the argument for Pattern Language. One class had to do with the neutrality of the environment, including architecture. In essence it said that what matters is what we bring to any environment. All the history, experiences, remembered sensations, good and bad memories can be evoked by a place if the architect is deft enough in his/her assemblage.

Mr. Pollan's first reaction was clearly indicative of this condition.

"I tried it first, approaching and entering the building the way we were meant to, and the experience took me aback."

He continues by describing the physical conditions around him and his movements in the space finally saying, "I noticed how, on turning into the light-filled opening beneath the lifting-off ceiling, you could not help but let out a chestful of air, as your body perceived and then entered into the most welcome release of space going on all around it."

He will go on to tell us where in his history these responses come from. Well at least most of them. There are some that are wired into us by our culture and some that are personal and some that come through the experience of one's involvement with the process.

And that brings up another interesting point of discussion. But I'll leave that for another time.

The Devil Wears Prada

There's a line in this movie that is rather fascinating. Apply this to anything that you're involved in. It starts out with Miranda (Meryl Streep) criticizing some clothes:

This has sequins, but it's denim. It's of no use to anyone. We need to give women clear choices about -- (to ANDY) What are you looking at?
ANDY
Me? Nothing, I--
MIRANDA
You think you're above this, don't you? We're talking about skirts and you're smirking.
ANDY
I'm not smirking.
MIRANDA
Inside, you're smirking.

And now the room is totally silent. Everyone there has had this happen to them at one time or another, and they're just grateful this time, it's not them.

ANDY
No, no, no. I'm not. I'm not above anything. That's my motto. I swear.
MIRANDA
You see that droopy sweater you're wearing? That blue was on a dress Cameron Diaz wore on the cover of Runway -- shredded chiffon by James Holt. The same blue quickly appeared in eight other designers' collections and eventually made its way to the secondary designers, the department store labels, and then to some lovely Gap Outlet, where you no doubt found it. That color is worth millions of dollars and many jobs.

What happens in architecture today, and wine making and many other professions is that the STARS provide the latest and greatest and everyone down the line rides the wave. Next year it's something new and everyone follows that path. It's just that the path is eventually dominated by cost and the high-end design is reduced to the quickest, most base method of production.

The simplest example in architecture is the International Style. Even the best architects had problems achieving the simplicity of this envelope. But the developers, understanding the significant savings potential from the previous ornamented buildings at the turn of the century, jumped on the band wagon and promulgated the style to the Nth degree. And it still flourishes today among the developers interested in short-term profits.

What is so offensive though is that much of our lives are driven by FASHION, or this concept of FASHION. This season it's skirt lengths are above the knee and next season it's Malbec. How much manipulation is there in wines today in order to achieve what the masses desire?