Bud Rubbing

After the adventure at Sawcut Gorge, Chris and I returned to working on Jon's vineyard. Chris was quite gleeful that he was going to go back to Wellington before me, so he would not have to keep working. By this time we had finished all the wire lifting and moved on to bud rubbing. Bud rubbing consisted of knocking off all the canes that are growing along the main stalk of the vine. 

As I was going up and down the rows, I heard this strange cheeping sound. It seemed as if it was simultaneously in front of me and far away. I stood for a bit, listening carefully.

Eventually I determined that the sound was right under my nose. These four guys were hungry and waiting for mum. Every time I tapped the vine, they would open their mouths. Jon had told us to take out any nests we found. I wasn't sure what to do in this case. He told me we turn a blind eye to nests with personality.

However, nests where there weren't personalities living, we still took out. I must have pulled out a good seven nests. Some empty, some not. In one case, I found a nest because a bird flew out of it right in front of my face. It gave me a serious fright!

After three days, we finished the bud rubbing. At some point, I asked why there were roses by so many of the the vines. I was informed that the roses catch disease faster than the vines, so if a rose is unwell, it is possible to treat the vines before they die.

I had a great time with Jon and Bev and I learned quite a bit in a short amount of time. On my last day, they both took me back out to Picton to catch the ferry. The view along the Marlborough Sounds is breath taking. It was the reason I took the ferry rather than fly. Unfortunately, I was so tired after a solid three weeks of activity that I passed out during a good part of the Sounds leg of the journey. Ah well. What I saw was still worth it.

Winemaking: Year Four

This is the fourth year I've made wine and the third year I've gone to Dennis' place to get grapes. (the first year I lived at a place with an established grape vine) Dennis is a pretty good sport. He wasn't feeling 100%, but still helped me harvest the grapes and pull them all off of the stems.

I much prefer making a zinfandel by hand rather than a merlot. The grapes are much larger, so the number of grapes we had to pull off the stems is much lower. The year I made the merlot by myself it took me from 10am to 1am with a 30 minute dinner break to harvest the grapes and pull them off of the stems. (I'll do the math for you. It took 14.5 hours.) It took the two of us three hours to harvest the grapes and pull them all off of the stems.

It was divine providence that I managed to get a hold of Dennis and harvest the grapes when I did. The next day it rained. I heard on the news that all the wineries in the area were scrambling to harvest. Partially because the grapes would rot from the dampness, but mostly because the rain would drop the sugar content in the grapes. The higher the sugar content is, the more food the yeast can use to make alcohol. Low sugar content makes for watery wine.

I mashed up the grapes on my own when I got home. I used my hands, not my feet. Everyone wonders. My brother commented that I ought to have a cleaner hobby.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

This past year was the year of change. A year of new adventures. I laughed plenty. I cried bunches. This year has knocked the wind out of me. I've been so busy that all I feel like doing is sleep. But I wouldn't trade this year for anything.

I graduated with a BA in Design and started a job at the Yolo Wool Mill.

I went to New Zealand with my Dad.

I knit my first lace item.

I made wine for a third year in a row.

I learned how to cook. Food. Real food. A level above ramen. (Which is impressive to anyone who has lived with me)

I chased several lambs that had gotten on the wrong side of the fence from their mums.

I made friends with a kitten, now cat. (I never thought that would happen)

My name is Baloo. I live here.

I thought I'd go over my goals I had for 2010.

1. Keep this blog updated.

Status: Done. I've been posting at least once a week.

2. Make a portfolio site for my work.

Status: Moot. I decided I don't want to do graphic design professionally at the moment. The portfolio would have been part of my resume.

3. Have a daily comic site up.

Status: In progress. I am still drawing my comic, but the site is in the works.

4. Publish and sell some knitting patterns.

Status: Semi-complete. I did publish my Mr. Tumnus pattern for free. I have several patterns in the works to publish for $.

5. Learn how to spin wool.

Status: Completed. I started out using a spindle and quickly progressed to a wheel. An extra big thank-you to my grandparents who bought me a wheel as a graduation gift.

6. Graduate. Find a job/ internship/ something to pay the bills

Status: Complete. I did graduate and worked two different jobs. I worked at an art gallery for two months part-time. I've been working at a wool mill.

Goals for 2011:

1. Spin enough yarn for a large project. (Sweater or Blanket) Then complete said project.

2. In the same vein, knit a sweater. I've tried multiple times, but I've never actually completed a sweater.

3. Visit the Bonneville Salt Flats.

4. Make another music video.

5. Own only one carload of stuff.

6. Make a miniature garden or terrarium.

Winemaking 101: Part 2

Winemaking 101: Part 1 can be found here.

So you've got grape juice fermenting in a cooler. It's been about two weeks, so you should start checking to see how much longer the juice needs to ferment.

Materials List for checking the juice: Hydrometer, graduated cylinder

Put some of the juice into the graduated cylinder. You want to make sure there is no grape skins or seeds in the cylinder, so cover the top and slowly let the juice through your fingers and into the cylinder. Put the hydrometer in. Make sure it isn't touching the sides of the cylinder when you read it.

Once it reads zero, you are ready for the next step.

Materials list for transferring containers: A large pot or two, a colander, a funnel, carboys, airlocks, stops big enough for the carboy tops with a hole in it for the air lock, oak chips.

First start straining out the seeds and skins.

If you like, squeeze the skins to get every drop of juice.

Discard skins and seeds.

Pour the juice into the carboy until the juice reaches where the bottle starts to slope in. You need to make sure there is some room for the oak chips.


Take your oak chips and pour them into the carboy. You want there to be at least a quarter inch to half inch layer in the bottle. Make sure that there is very little extra space in the carboy. If there is too much oxygen in the bottle, the wine will become vinegar.

Place the stopper and airlock into the top of the carboy. I breath into the bottle a little to get rid of some of the oxygen.

Once the oak chips settle, we'll move onto the next step.

Winemaking 101: Part 1

Winemaking 101: Part 3

Winemaking 101: Part 1

This is my third year making wine. I've done it using the fewest materials possible with as little money as possible. The first year I got 11 bottles. The second year, I ended up with 32 bottles. This year... I estimate 10-11 bottles. The merlot grapes dried up while I was in New Zealand. But the Zinfandel grapes were in decent shape.

Official Disclaimer: This is how I make wine. I take no responsibility for the quality of wine that could be made with these directions.

Materials List: Cooler, garbage bag that is big enough to put between the cooler and its lid,

Step 1: Find wine grapes. The giveaway is that they are all juice and seed. Eating grapes have pulp. Harvest grapes. If you don't have a refractometer (ideally you would have 22 degrees brix) you can pop open a grape. You want the seed to be completely brown and your fingers should be sticky. Last year I had to harvest early because the grapes started to raisin.

Next sort out the good grapes. Remove all the stems. DO NOT WASH THE GRAPES. The yeast is on the grape skins.

Squish grapes. I do it with my hands in a large pot. Dump grape skins, seeds, and juice into a clean cooler and seal the top. I put a garbage bag between the juice and the lid. Let it sit a day or two before you punch it down. This involves opening up the cooler once a day a pushing all the grape skins into the juice. Mold sometimes grows on the lid. Just wipe it off. You're good as long as the mold isn't in the wine. Ideally, the cooler would be in a basement or a consistently cool area. 68 is ideal.

After two weeks, start measuring the sugar content with a hydrometer. You are waiting for it to tell you that the sugar content is zero. Unfortunately, I can't find my hydrometer at the moment, so I need to go get one sometime next week.

Winemaking 101: Part 2

Winemaking 101: Part 3

New Year

A New Year and a New Decade.

This past year has been much quieter than the previous year in terms of traveling. But I still did quite a bit. Here's a bit of reflection.

Five cool things that happened in 2009

Our house hosted 15 shows. Over the course of these shows we had around 48 bands come to play (although some played more than one show). Here's a little sampling of who played in no particular order: unkuT:Hunks, Love Songs, Paleo, Woman Year, Ribbons, Nat Lefkoff, BOATS!, Sterling Riot, and many others.

Sterling Riot

Brennan (my housemate) and I started drawing our daily comics on April 22nd. We've both been successfully keeping up with drawing a comic day thus far.

I do a three panel comic every day.

I participated in my first art show called Cretures of the 4est and empierrrr. I displayed 10 of my paintings. And within a month had sold 9 of them.

My Mushroom Paintings. Gauche on wood.

The Shack inhabitance (my housemates and honorary housemates) made wine for the second year in a row from the grape vine that is growing in our backyard.

All the grapes from our vine

I got to see James Kochalka perform live. He is perhaps best known for his daily comic that he has been keeping for over 10 years. American Elf.

We are Dragonpunching. (Kochalka is second from the left)

I do have a few goals for 2010.

1. Keep this blog updated.

2. Make a portfolio site for my work.

3. Have a daily comic site up.

4. Publish and sell some knitting patterns.

5. Learn how to spin wool.

6. Graduate. Find a job/ internship/ something to pay the bills.