New signage is up

 

The old sign sort of rotted into oblivion so Alex gave me a new sign for Christmas. This week, he replaced the old one with the new. Happy Summer Solstice! Everything is so slow this year. Northerlies this week brought frigid temps again. 

Extreme drought in the US

Houseboats on a shrinking Lake Oroville

They estimate that 88% of the western states are experiencing drought. Four states are under extreme drought conditions which are expected to get even worse. The entirety of four states -- California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada -- have drought conditions. The situation is dire as ponds, streams and wells dry up and cattle go thirsty just as summer is approaching. The fire situation is expected to bring a new level of tragic loss to the region.  The Storm Prediction Center's fire weather outlook was classified as "critical" or "extreme" across parts of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

Lake Mead, the country's largest reservoir, is at its lowest level since it was filled and electricity production at the Hoover dam is down by 25%. The Colorado River which supplies over 40 million people will deliver 30% less water this year. About 130 houseboats have been removed from a shrinking Lake Oroville in California. 

Las Vegas, home to 2.2 million people, gets just 4 inches of rain a year. That's unsustainable. Having lawns is being made illegal in some places. Utahns are being asked to pray for rain while farmers are being asked not to grow. Some are predicting a megadrought that will last many decades. God help the USA.

They haven't really measured the extent of damage the last season did to the vineyards. This coming season can do nothing but add to the injury. 

I have said since we moved to Ireland, thank God for being on an island in the Atlantic. I am grateful for every drop of rain we get.

Lake Oroville Dam before the drought

 

Happy June Bank Holiday

 

Rubble collected in fishboxes

It's not the way I would have chosen to spend a June Holiday, but we got it done before the rain. To keep the polytunnel from flooding due to rain, we had to improve the drainage. That meant digging a trench, laying a drain pipe and covering it with stones to improve the percolation. 

The downside, I was soaked after working so hard on the inside with the sun out. I was using Alex's heavy-duty crowbar to break up excess cement spread across the dirt floor, then picking up the pieces and tossing them into fish boxes. Backbreaking work. 

Alex finished digging the trench on the outside of three sides of the tunnel (East, West and North) and laid the pipe, then spread the rubble over the pipe while I continued breaking up cement and carting soil to close the gap between the polytunnel and the earth. Just as we were finishing up, the sky opened up and I thought we'd be testing our work. But the shower passed, and we realised it was lunchtime. We finished laying the soil inside along the north side of the tunnel and called it quits. 

We've decided to hire a rototiller and till the entire floor to level it out. So use of the polytunnel will have to wait. Then we'll lay down black plastic sheeting and a walkway of gravel. On the right will be vineyard equipment storage and an old farmhouse sink with running water. On the left will be raised beds, a potting bench, and some shelves. I'm going to get a few pallets from the coop and build some pallet furniture -- for the shelving and benches. Beyond that will be a table and chairs and possibly a hammock. I can see coming in there for lunch or a gentle snooze in winter sun. 

The rest of the afternoon got chilly and showery. Tomorrow, we may have to go to the boat if the weather improves. 

Update on vineyard progress

 

Rondo with florets

Everything is so late this year. The Rondo has flower buds but none of the others do yet. The Albarino has suffered greatly over this winter. None of the vines are happy and quite a few look dead. I think the late cold snap did them in. 

May was cold and wet in Ireland according to Met Eireann's May Report. All rainfall totals were above their Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month. All mean air temperatures across the country were below their Long-Term Average for the month. Most long-standing stations had their coldest May since at least 1996. This is counterintuitive as all available sunshine totals were above their Long-Term Average (LTA). Who knows?

Overall Spring 2021 was relatively dry, sunny and cool, with a cool and sunny but dry March and April, and a wet May.

Water remains pooled over cement 2 days after rain. 

In fact, the day after the polytunnel went up, it rained solidly all day and half the tunnel flooded. The water coming off the tunnel pooled and flowed into the tunnel. Now, Alex has to put in a drain, for which he has started digging. Fortunately, the rainwater softened the earth and I was able to rake the soil a bit more evenly where the cement vehicle had left hideous muddy tire tracks dug into the soil. 

The last couple of days, we've spent breaking up and collecting the excess cement that had spilled on the floors around the posts. We'll use the rubble to fill the trench 

New drain diverting water downhill. 

The rain came off the tunnel and into the inside. 

Drainpipe that's been lying around waiting for this project for years. 

Polytunnel is complete

A very good size and yet inconspicuous. 

Three days of labour and the polytunnel is finished. Next, we will bring electricity and water to the tunnel. For that, we need the digger to dig us a trench from the house supply. I must say, Cathal and Alex did a great job. And the quality of the materials is exceptionally good. 

Naturally, it was the hottest day of the year and if it wasn't for the slight breeze, it would have been too hot to work. Alex drank litres of water. Fortunately, the breeze was not too strong or it would have been impossible for the two of them to handle a sail that big. 

Ghost has walked the entire perimeter several times and helped me clear stones from inside. She's fascinated. She was very helpful in supervising construction the entire time. 

Now to level the ground where it was disturbed and set it up inside. We have to buy a transport vehicle to move all the equipment up. 

I checked to see from the road if it can be seen behind the garage and it's almost invisible. Now we'll just plant a few fast growing trees above the wall behind the house and we won't even be able to see it from the house soon. 

Can't see it from the garden

There it is behind the garage. 

Growing nuts

Acorns on the oak tree. 

I was walking past a plant at the garden centre and its tag caught my attention. "Are You Nuts?" was the question posed. Naturally, I had to investigate. It turned out to be the name of a company that sells nut trees. A walnut!  I have wanted to plant a walnut tree for ages and we have enough land that we can easily accommodate a large tree under which nothing will grow.  In Ireland, only three nut trees are viable:  hazelnut (we have two), chestnut (we have several), and walnut (we now have one). So we will be set - possibly in our lifetimes.  

I walked out with the plant. It was only €5 and it was only a few inches tall. But I am happy to wait. I repotted it and it's in the nursery for several years to come. We plan to place it in the middle of the field above the new polytunnel with a fence around it so the donkeys don't eat it. As it grows bigger and bigger, nothing below it will grow except grass. No problem. 

I've always loved a lone tree in the middle of a field. I have often wondered what the story was behind the lone trees of the world. 

I'm hoping for hazelnuts this year as one is more than 5 years old and the other about 3. The chestnuts are still in pots but ready to be planted out this year, so it will be a few more years before they fruit. I was surprised to learn that all three nut trees have both male and female flowers. I always thought they needed one male, one female plant which is why we have two hazels not that I know if one is female and another male. The same goes for kiwis. In fact, I had noted last year that the older tree had both flowers and catkins, which I assumed was the male component. 

Surprisingly, just this morning I found an oak tree we had planted a few years back had a few acorns for the first time. The squirrels in America loved the acorns and would squirrel them away every autumn. Squirrels are apparently great thieves of all nuts but sadly we don't have any -- squirrels that is. If we did, we'd likely share, although Alex did wage war with the clever squirrels when we lived in America. 

So what does this have to do with wine?  Nothing at all, except edible landscape. And nuts always go well with wine. 

Polytunnel progress report

 

Steel poles, crossbars and door frame in place. 

Considerable progress was made quickly on day three of the polytunnel construction project. Cathal and Alex worked well together and were very complimentary about the quality of the materials supplied by  'D-Plant Horticulture'. It is a superbly manufactured and assembled polytunnel kit. We are very pleased so far. 

Alex brought in a contractor we have worked with on many projects in the past to level the site and help with the construction. He was so impressed with the quality of the materials, how they were presented, and the detailed instruction booklet and excellent videos, that his girlfriend’s father has either already ordered one or will be doing so very shortly – he is expecting to be constructing it in the next weeks.

They levelled the site, dug the holes for the posts, and inserted the posts on the first day. They then poured the concrete in torrential rain on the second day. Alex was surprised that the rain would allow the cement to set but they weren't worried and it did set. I was worried that Ghost, our young cat, who had been running around the construction site and in and out of the holes the day before, would fall into the concrete and get stuck. Fortunately, that did not happen. 

Three days later, they erected the frames, put up the ridgepole, diagonals, door frames, and applied the tape. The only things left are to install the polythene and the doors. One more day should do it. 

Once again, we are having a day of heavy rain and Alex is out on the Bay with BIM doing oyster surveys for the Co-op, so no more construction until at least Sunday. 

Steel poles are in place. 

Site levelled and concrete poured into the holes to cement in the posts.

Lots of rain on top of the concrete.