Stephen Rulo

I love how Annie Laurie McDowell has befriended Orfeo and grown into his area.

I love Souv de Pierre Notting as you all know by now. He survived a vole attack as a baby.

I would see more roses away from the house if it weren't so hot.

Such an abundance of beauty, Sheila! I’m not sure which is most beautiful to me, the roses or the edible produce from your land. It must be so satisfying to harvest grapes like that.

Some roses love the heat more than we do. Ha! The grapes look delicious.

Are you making wine?

So beautiful, Sheila. I love the warm, dusty pink color of Annie Laurie McDowell. Your photos of the grapes on the vine are so striking; I especially like the one with the grayed wooden rail.

Those sturdy peach boxes have been my go-to for storing summer produce, as well! They're great.

We let our neighbor make wine from our wine grapes, Belle. That would be another fulltime job. Our original owners of this home did make wine, and the male/husband was down with his grapes 24/7. He was Italian and from Napa and did a wonderful job.

That is our vineyard on the right. Our chicken coop is more left of middle on the photo.

Sheila, what a beautiful scene just above. My son in law would be very envious of your vineyard. He would love to make wine and has some wine grapes planted at his brother in law's place. You have chickens, you country girl! I love those red grapes for eating you show in one of the boxes. Do you grow those, too? I wish I could trade you some hot peppers for zucchini. Or maybe some big red tomatoes to go with your wonderful grape tomatoes. We've had a scorcher of a summer, which has been hard on some things, but the veggies and peppers love it. Our temps are really dropping in the next few days, and I'm hoping for a little rain. We haven't had a true rain since May. And don't we both love irrigation. Diane

Wonderful fruitfulness!

Sheila - you have a huge expanse of grape vines! I didn't know you had such a large property. My fave pic is #5. Mmmmmm :) :) Great to be able to grow so much produce. :)

Thank you all. We do grow the eating grapes ourselves too, along with figs and a Meyer lemon tree. We take that lemon in for the Winter. The fruit trees are coming along too. It is satisfying to see the trees develop.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR, such a stunning view! And the fruits they look just as pretty as the roses

It looks absolutely lovely in all the heat! Here in NW Oregon we have had a lot of heat but also a little rain - which was fantastic in many ways, but the weeds got a super boost of energy and it's stunning how fast they take off in these conditions. The grape harvest (and I only have a couple of different grapes, not an entire vineyard) has been huge this year, and it looks like the figs will be as well. They love this weather!

Sheila, what a good-looking harvest! It's hard not to be envious. I love homegrown fruit and veg and yours should be on the front of a magazine. Oh, and your roses are fab too.

Two questions and two comments. Questions first. 1) May I come live with you??? 2) what kinds of wine grapes do you grow? Comments now: 1) WOWZA WOWZA WOWZA. You have a beautiful property, beautiful crops/flowers, beautiful skies, beautiful you! 2) I won't ask for any of your zucchini. 😜

Ha, Ha DD. The wine grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon. I'm leaving zucchini everywhere.

I would like to leave tomatoes everywhere, Sheila. Trade ya. I'll throw in a few Habanero peppers, too. Diane

We're hitting 98F in a couple of days. It's in the mid nineties now. I could use a second rainfall for the summer--haha. Diane

Sheila, are those Gravenstein apples in the box with the grapes? We are having a patch of high-90s here today and on through most of next week. Though that would generally not be unusual for Livermore, its a bit of a shock because there hasn't been much heat this summer except a few days just recently -- figs, grapes, pomegranates are all way behind where they should be this time of year because "highs" have nearly all been in the 70s/low 80s.. The fog layer has been hugging the SF Bay Area very close this summer.

Our prediction now is 100F in a couple of days along with several 99s. Just as the roses were having September flushes starting up. From late May on, summer continues to be scorching, but unlike California, we'll see an end to the heat before long. Oops, I need to get the drip system going. Diane

I think the apples are Pink Lady or Honey Crisp, Catspa.

It always surprises me that we are hotter than many parts of California.

More modern apple varieties, then, Sheila, which makes sense. They do superficially resemble the Gravenstein, which is also an early ripening variety but a very old, antique one (17th century). Growing up in Sonoma County, where the town of Sebastopol has probably been the world capitol of Gravenstein production for the past century, this is the apple of my youth and practically the only one I will use to make apple pies. A very aromatic apple -- a box of them will easily scent an entire room. Just made my annual pilgrimage to Sebastopol a few weeks ago to get a 40 lb. box of them -- refrigerated, they will last until January/February.

Most years you likely wouldn't be hotter than Livermore here, where 100+ often lasts for a week and repeatedly, but this has been the weirdest year with respect to summer temps, with noticeable effects, as mentioned, on fruit production (the blackberries were slow and not so sweet, either).

Those Gravenstein apples do sound wonderful, catspa. We really should plant one. My husband uses Granny Smith for pies so far. I got 4 Bababerries raspberries because our Caroline and Meeker raspberries are not as happy as the Boyne raspberries were in Alaska.