I’m a little late. I promised Timothy I’d get something up before the end of the year. Not much to write about the farm in the winter. Most of my yard looks like a black fungus infected it. Unrepentantly we had 3 days of 18degree weather and all of my flowers fried. Dead. Organic is tough too. Although my collards and chard taste great, I share them with my slugs and snails. In this dormant season I just want to see what happens. I’m experimenting with what it’s like to leave and let be and I see my Asian lettuces coming up in spite of the freezing rain.
December 31st I officially closed roshambowinery, which resembled 10 years of my life. It feels very permanent, but then I assume it’s going to take me 6 months to figure it all out, just what have we been paying for all these years? I’m looking out my office window to my right, and see my poor rhododendrons and my lacey ferns just shadows of themselves, their leaves like drooping dogs ears, and bedraggled with mildew. It’s going to be a tough, busy, and cold few months.
But that is how it goes. Yesterday I bought our first bare roots to plant this weekend. Prunes! I brought them home to a not so eager welcome. But have you ever tasted a fresh prune plum? Not juicy, but so sweet and deep with an almost molasses and deep sugar syrup like flavor. Timothy and our friend Jeff also built 4 new raised garden beds. They are propped up along a walnut tree waiting. I’m going to put lots of asparagus roots into them, I need to get to ordering them. Spring is going to be so green.
It feels real.
Get Hector
4 Comments
Hi, Naomi–
Glad to see that you’re going on and keeping the ranch going. I got a call from Steve that I still have 3 shipments to pick up–could you let me know a good time?
thanks,
Peter
Awesome! I’ve always felt your heart wasn’t quite in the winery and so I’m glad to see you’re moving on to doing something you have a passion for. May you have much success with Roshambo Farms!
What a wonderful, heartening story! I just know you will never be sorry that you made this change in your life. Despite the temporary set-backs we all, in Northern California, faced in January due to a harsh reminder from Mother Nature, my plants are coming back little by little already. Yours will too.
You made my day! Choices like yours are changing our consciousness.
Thank you
Hi – not sure how to contact you other than here, and I realize that my timing is atrocious, but I have a question – is there any way I can get my hands on a bottle of Roshambo chardonnay? There’s a story behind it, I’ll try to be brief. My best friend lives in England, I moved to California from London years ago, so we don’t see much of each other and celebrate like crazy when we do. Last time she was here, we took her to Roshambo winery and she loved it. Came away with a few bottles of chardonnay, which sort of became the official drink of her visit.
Cut to 2010. She’s facing her first birthday without her husband after a heartbreaking divorce (he’s not a bad guy, just troubled, and in the end proved impossible to live with – he was brought up with vicious comments flying, so he does the same, without meaning them or realizing the damage) and is grieving like crazy. I’m sending her a massive bouquet of sunflowers (there were many, many sunflowers in the house while she was staying) and I would love to add another memory of California, to try and take her mind off the pain for a while and remember the glorious time we had last time she was here.
Any chance? Any suggestions?