About District 4

Fourth District, Calaveras County, CA

Altaville | Angels Camp | Douglas Flat | Murphys | Vallecito

Calaveras Spring

I have always been a morning person -- when I wake up, I get up. I love to start the day with coffee and the newspaper. Usually, I try to finish the crossword puzzle before checking email, voicemail and starting the today's projects. The last few mornings, I have enjoyed sitting outside on the porch or patio. While it is still pretty cool, a good jacket and hat allow me to sit in the sun.

This morning after a breakfast men's Bible study, I picked up the mail and returned home. There I went to the back porch to read yesterday's Calaveras Enterprise and Union Democrat, and today's Sacramento Bee. I believe the local papers contribute to our communities and deserve our support.

I'm also reading "From Vines to Wines" by Jeff Cox in preparation for planting a very small vineyard at our place. My interest grew out of getting some vine sticks left over from another planting. The sticks are for Viognier, a white grape. My brother grows Viognier in his vineyard in Virginia, and I like the taste of the Viognier wine made by Sobon in Amador County. So I figured that I would plant about 20 or so vines.

Of course, the next question was "when to plant". A lot of us home gardeners follow the rule "Don't plant before Frog Jump." But with the great weather that we have had lately, it's awfully hard to not jump the gun. And while doing a bit of web research, I found an article that provided some history of Viognier. I was surprised to find out that the name may come from the Roman pronunciation of Gehennae meaning the "road to Hell" because of the difficulty in growing the grape successfully! Now I think I will get some more advice before planting.

As always, please use the "Write Lee" link to share your thoughts.