I’ve Seen Fire, and I’ve Seen Rain

The last half-year has been…interesting. 

This is what people always say when they don’t like a wine, but are trying to be polite.  I’m being polite here as well.  We have spent countless hours in the hot sun, in the ripping wind, in the pounding rain setting up our farm here in Anderson Valley.  We began in earnest in June 2017, breaking ground on our little green tractor barn.  We ran into snags almost immediately:   

1. Flood
Some of the metal wall panels were damaged in transit.  Usually this is a quick replacement, but when the factory in Houston is under ten feet of water from Hurricane Harvey this takes two months.

2. Fire
Anderson Valley is tiny, so most of the contractors come from over the hill in Ukiah or Redwood Valley.   In October a fire erupted in the early morning that threw Mendocino into chaos; shutting down the freeway for days and evacuating whole neighborhoods.  We waited to push on, fingers crossed that things wouldn’t get worse for our new neighbors.

3. Mud
Our construction pushed into November and December, the beginning of the wet season.  Well, when you have fine loam soil that has been  pulverized by work trucks for months, it gets really, really dusty.  Add water and you get mud like peanut butter.  Good thing I had my wellies with me!

So, in 2017, we learned patience.  Hoping that a dream delayed is that much sweeter when it finally comes.