The Arbor....Pergola

Earlier this summer, I began work on the arbor. Unfortunately, too many tasks surfaced with our recent plantings and, with a re-assessment of our budget, the arbor project ground to a halt. Only the pier footings had been placed, the rest was on hold.The thing about the arbor, it was an integral part of the planting, namely, having a dedicated structure for grapes to grow on and not the side of a building. Any kind of micro vineyard of mine I had envisioned became a distant dream at this point. A few grape plants purchased by Russel in the beginning, immediately became the catalyst in establishing the arbor. From this time, it was about grapes. I had my thoughts, Russel had his. I agreed and designed an arbor, do it right, do it once, with the right cultivar. Russel on the other hand, get it the ground, any way possible, who cares, on a tree, up a wall, better yet, the arbor, where's the arbor?  Thus, the "temporary" friction.

At this point in the game, our  costs were absorbed other ways like, a network of hoses and switch valves to provide water for hundreds of plants, and more plants, and more plants, and the cost of constructing a new well and pump, more hose and more plants. Our time was also absorbed keeping everything alive throughout an extremely hot summer. Water, mulch, weeding. We were codling these hundreds of new plantings while keeping the invasive at bay and clearing new areas as well. We had to stay within our budget and timeline, period.

I was fortunate enough to have some additional work come in late summer that lended some extra cash to the project. At the end of September, most of the hard, labor intensive work had been accomplished, the summer heat faded into beautiful fall weather, and I was finally able to secure the materials and the time for the arbor. Meanwhile, the grapes were still in pots and growing up the side of the pavilion. Fortunately, the cultivars were appropriate for our zone and use and we were able to transplant out of the planters and into their permanent locations without much problem. The spring will be the time of revelation whether or not our plantings had survived though, I do feel confident at this point.

We call the arbor, the arbor, though technically, it's a pergola. They both are structures, generally for a garden. The pergola is an area to sit under, an arbor to walk through, as a gateway. That's the simplified version. We just like the way, "arbor" sounds. It sounds "gardeny".  Pergola sounds like a mythological village where death reigns.

Eventually, I'll extend an electric line out to it for an outlet and maybe some ambient lighting. The base will have a crushed stone sub-base and some kind of pervious paver or stone for a final surface. At that time, I'll also finish out the planter corners. We'll let it the entire structure weather naturally to a silver gray. At this point, it's all about the grape. The tips of the beams and joists were traced out from the end of a wine bottle. Nice touch...at least, I hope it makes for a good story someday while enjoying the fruits of my labor.

So here it is.

And so, the arbor was finally was built, and it was good.

Fall, and catching up

It's been awhile since my last post. I have been writing but not posting, just creating drafts on this, that and the other. We also just recently moved to the northwest Indiana area, which allows us about a half hour drive to Birdland and still be somewhat close to the Chicago area for work. Katherine and I have been coming out regularly for maintenance work, pulling weeds, clearing trails, mulching, burning excess brush and overgrowth. We've really been concentrating on the garden area which may not seem like much but when you consider it stretches over a few acres, it's a lot. I've been working on clearing an acre that once was an orchard but it's been long overdue for an overhaul. Many trees were twenty, thirty or more years old, blighted, diseased or just no longer producing. About ten trees were cut, mostly apple, a couple of cherry. Other scrub trees were cut as well, invasives that had been encroaching on the area. Katherine's been busy researching for the next round of planting in spring, namely the orchard area and it will remain an orchard.

Most of the farmers around here have finished their harvesting and turned the soil. The air smells different too, earthy and decayed. The cleared fields really makes the landscape desolate. Sounds from the trucks on Indiana 10 seem to be a little closer now despite they're over a mile away.

This fall has been fantastic in terms of weather. Most days have been warm and it makes the work enjoyable. Watching the color change throughout the forest and fields is bittersweet, the colors are both brilliant and muted, but you know they'll be soon gone and the winter will be here. The rain and wind have taken most of the leaves off the trees, some of the leaves still remain on the oaks along with some of the maple. The mulch deliveries still arrive on occasion, always a welcome sight. To date this year, we've spread approximately 120 cubic yards on the islands and, there's more to be done. Katherine and I pat ourselves on the back for this task. A job well done. It's been quite an accomplishment when we look back and see what we've done. This is one area we've grossly underestimated in the beginning, more specifically, the need. Fortunately, the mulch is free. Hopefully, fall and winter power line clearing will bring in regular loads. We need it desperately for the new orchard area; sandy and nutrient deprived. If the snow cover is light or non existent, we'll be busy throughout the winter months. There's always burning brush piles to attend to; a decent task in the colder temps. It is, however, a great time to be here. No mosquitoes, no deer flies.



The hunt club has been active during the late summer and early fall. Fields have been prepped to lure deer, tree stands in, blinds cleaned and repaired, decoys readied, fields flooded and general housekeeping around the club house.

One of the tools the hunt club has at its disposal is a pump system to draw water out of the river and flood some acreage at the north end of the property. Birdland borders along the Kankakee River and has an inlet, bayou, slough that backs up to a point that water can be extracted up and over, through 24" diameter pipe to the fields. Water eventually seeks it's own level and migrates through the sandy soil back to the river level. One of the benefits is that the adjacent fields, about 25 acres, can be planted with millet, grass or some other cheap grain and then flooded during duck season. Duck blinds are in perimeter locations. The ducks are lured in by their decoy cousins, water, food source and then BLAMMO!  It's a great concept and with some simple engineering, they've been successful in making it work.

Watch the video to get an idea of the pumping and flooding process.