Latest from the Garden- End of September report

The newly transplanted spider lily checking up on things here.

Not much as changed too much in the garden since my last blog posting, except that I pulled out the tomato plants a couple weeks ago (a mealy bug infestation took its toll), and put lettuce in their stead to accompany the two types of basil that I planted from seed months ago. One of the types of basil shown here is Genovese basil, whose cinnamony flavor I recognize from a pho dish at a local restaurant, and has flatter leaves than the other more common, Sweet Basil.

This spider lily was a late transplant that was given to me by one of my neighbors when I complimented her the lilies growing in her front yard beds. I hope that the lettuce lasts into the early part of winter. As far as the basil, maybe I'll pull them out, put them in a pot to keep inside all winter, which I have never done. We'll see, I am kind of excited at the prospect of making basil available throughout the coldest months of the year!

The newest addition to the garden saying "hi!"

As much as it pains me to share this, but it looks like my lavender is in its death throes. I have not figured out as to why it is dying. My watering of it has not changed, though it tends to not be very water intensive even if it lives in a big barrel type pot. Who knows at this point. I thought maybe it has to do with me needing to trim it down after its fantastic bloom from a couple months ago, but it has gone without a trim before. Perhaps the plant got attacked by some slugs or something. Time to dig around, I guess. Needless to say, I am pretty bummed about this plant going up to plant heaven. Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

A couple of morning glories.

Great Exceedtations: Texas Rangers, their fans and their expectations

This gist of this subject has been bouncing around my head for a couple of years and I think it is time to post it.

We all have expectations for things that surround us. We expect our kids to grow up to be well-adjusted individuals. We expect our jobs to pay us a salary commensurate to our experience and work output. Though not of equal importance, but we also have expectations of our favorite sports teams: I expect the Dallas Cowboys to make more noise in this years' playoffs than Jerry Jones does when tooting his own horn. Expectations are everywhere whether we like them or not. And my expectations for the Texas Rangers are no exception.
 
After the 2009 MLB season, my expectations for the Texas Rangers' 2010 season was quite simple: playoffs or bust. I felt this team was primed for its first postseason run in a decade and had all the pieces to just get in. Nothing more. A playoff berth would suffice. Well, they got in. Then they won their first postseason series. On the road. In the ALDS. Then they beat their arch playoff nemesis Yankees in the ALCS. They finally beat the Yankees. In the playoffs. And then they got the World Series where they succumbed to the buzz-saw that was the San Francisco Giants.

Not too shabby. They exceeded my expectations. One could say that the Rangers blew my expectations out of the water. And for many months afterwards, I still could not believe that my favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers, made it to the World Series. The Texas Rangers. The World Series. In the same sentence. That did not sink until maybe right around the 2011 World Series. So getting to the World Series that season was the proverbial icing on the cake.

I upped the ante for the 2011 season as my expectations were that the Rangers were to not only get to the playoffs but get to the World Series and win it all. My expectations were one strike from getting met. Twice. And there in lies the current psyche of most Rangers fans these days. The Rangers were so close to winning that we as fans could not wait until the start of the next season to prove that previous outcome was not a fluke. That the team should be given a free pass into the World Series because of the catastrophic way the title was lost to us.

So as the 2012 season started, I purposely kept from making any mental, or even verbal, expectations so as to not jinx myself in any way. Of course, that did not help as the team wallowed through a second-half slump that in many ways mirrored the slump slugger Josh Hamilton endured at the plate. Coincidence? Are the two slumps directly related? Eh, maybe, but I am not touching that one, plus it is a moot point. It is a team game, not a tennis match. Either way, the team looked tired the last six to eight weeks of the season and barely showed enough *umph* to eek out a wildcard game with the Baltimore Orioles. 

The team right now is banking again on the thought of "just getting in." Nothing more. Someone in the media says that they are playing "meaningful baseball" right now, which is great and all, but we all know they should be fighting the Oakland A's for AL West supremacy, instead of just fighting for their playoff lives. But the way their September play has shown, "just getting in" may not be good enough. 

Rangers fans wear their frustrations on their sleeves, including yours truly. Baseball is a tough sport and Texas Rangers fans have gotten spoiled with the team that Jon Daniels has put on the field the past few years. And I think, right fully so. The present make-up of the team even with the absence of Nelson Cruz, is set up to make a run into the playoffs and beyond, but because of the "way baseball go" they might not even get in. I expect them to be in the playoffs, at the very least, and with all platitudes aside, this fan base knows what this team is capable of and anything less will be unacceptable. 

Baseball town? Sure, why not. Though football will always be king here.

16 de septiembre, Dia de "Meh"- A Tejano's opinion

I have never celebrated 16 de septiembre, Mexican Independence Day. Nor will I ever. Even having grown up in Texas with some Mexican roots, I do not feel any connection to many "Mexican" holidays like Cinco de mayo or Día de los Muertos. One could chalk it up to assimilation, or even apathy. If anything, these days, to my friends, were just another reason to party.

My Mexican connections are fairly strong but they have not translated into a definite relationship with the country that claims most of my heritage. I can count on one hand how many times I have visited México. First as a nine year old, where we visited my grandmother's family ranch and when my eyes first saw mountains. The second time happened many years later as a college student for an awesome class trip to northern México. Then a few years after that, for archival work back in a former life in academia, and had breakfast with the state archivist for Coahuila state. 

I have plenty of extended family in México, great aunts and uncles and their families from one branch of the family. The rest of my family either left México for Texas many generations ago or have been here from the get-go, such as my Dad's family, whose roots lie elsewhere. 

For many of us Tejanos, Chicanos, Pochos, Mexican-Americans, we have a hodge-podge of cultural legacies. Some of us, like myself, are fluent in Spanish. Others are not as lucky to have been reared with the language. I grew up in an era where you were not hit on the hand if you spoke Spanish in school and had to anglicize your name, like my Dad had to endure in each case.

Though many of us can trace their roots through México, we do not necessarily embrace much of that culture. We will never forget certain aspects like menudo, tacos de pastor, piñatas etc., but we will forget the multifaceted reasons (many not so smart) México sought to rid itself of Spanish rule.  

Fortunately, I have not turned my back on my Mexican heritage with its varied intricacies. It is the land of some of my forebears and has made a mark on who I am today, but some of the holidays are lost on me. Not because I have forgotten them, but maybe because I do not necessarily care to remember them and what they stood for.

Zen and the Art of Texas Wine

More wine talk from a wine novice here. I am a wine consumer and I love to talk about Texas wine almost as much as I like to consume it. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

From what I have seen and read about Texas wine, it takes something special to have staying power in the industry. Call it moxie, chutzpah, cojones, or whatever, but it does take something extra special to stick around. Think about it. Where else on this planet would a wine industry have to encounter the weather extremes that Mother Nature throws at this great state of ours on a regular basis? Take this year for example, not only have we dealt with this enduring drought that has ebbed and flowed for the better part of the last 5 years, but a once-in-a-lifetime late season freeze dealt the Texas wine industry a kick in the pants that will affect the industry for several years to come. If that wasn't enough, a spring hailstorm damaged portions of the Texas Hill Country wine crop. Umm, yeah...only in Texas. And then there was the whole "For Sale in Texas Only" maelstrom. 

Hey look, I am as gung-ho about anything Texas as the next Texan, but the rules set by the Go Texan program benefit the Texas wine industry and should not be viewed as semantics fodder. The utterly fantastic article written by Jeff Cope is a must read primer on this subject: Messina Hof replies to For Sale in Texas Only and Go Texan. As it has been so far this year weather-wise, the "For Sale in Texas Only" label may need to be used more often than in years past because there may not be enough Texas fruit. All I know (and feel) from this spat is that the way the rules and regulations are set up, the "FSiTO" should not be a red badge of infamy, but as tool to help wineries navigate through and around the wine industry as a whole. Plus, at last check all of these wineries were still within the state of Texas, and that should be the most important takeaway in this discussion.

Jeff also touched on something that I found rather disheartening, especially since it comes from a Texas born and based company: HEB may reset their wine shelves because, to quote Messina Hof's Paul Bonarrigo, "big guys want to control and not let Texas wines expand." Mmm...why would a Texas grown company be willing to be manipulated in such a way? (I could come up with a few rea$on$ why) Of course, I think this is funny, in a non-comical way, that this comes from a company that has billboards throughout parts of Texas (saw one in San Antonio) claiming that it is the top-selling retailer of Texas wine. (!!!) 

And then there's this: a few days after a return to the Metroplex from our summer vacation, we swung by a Central Market to see their Texas wine shelves, a little dusty, apart from the rest of the wine selections, with little or no labeling saying these are Texas wines. Plus the shelving unit served more as a wall between two different sections of the store than a functioning wine display! My impression? Texas wine, an afterthought. Again, very sad coming from a home-grown company that touts its Texas wine selling prowess. Disappointing.

I wanted to finish up this post by talking about, or wishing there was a way to keep the Texas wine industry from having to depend on non-Texas fruit to make up the difference on an as needed basis, such as a severe weather event, with some sort of state-wide wine co-op. But in the midst of getting these thoughts organized, Jeff posted another great write-up, this time about this exact topic: the need for more vineyards. His article, Grower Field Day and Benefit Dinner talks about events co-sponsored by Texas Hill Country Wineries and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Viticulture and Fruit Lab that start on September 27th at William Chris Vineyards in Hye, Texas. These events are geared at educating current and future Texas Hill Country growers with varied topics and seminars related to the growing Texas viticulture. And of course, what would a wine event be without a wine tasting? There will a couple of those, too.

Where have Yu gone, Mr. Darvish Ace

...Rangers fans have turned their lonely eyes to Yu. Yu, Yu, Yu

Don't fret Rangers fans, Darvish had an off day: five earned runs in five innings, including six (!) walks. Sure, that's not gonna cut it, but he'll figure it out before his next start.

On the bright side, Joseph Ortiz, Alexi Ogando and Neftalí did not give up a run, much less a hit in 2.3 innings of work. That's perdy darn good. And on the offensive side, both Jurickson Profar and Kittenface Gentry went 2 for 4, and Joey "How YOU doin" Butler got a pinch-hit run scoring single. Some good stuff to keep in mind there.

Plus, we're still tied for 1st place.

And then to finish:

Robbie Ross' stuff has left and gone away. Hey hey, hey...hey hey, hey...

My end of summer garden report

Grandpa Ott morning glories

Gaillardia hybrid and lantana

Overall, the garden was a mixed bag this summer. I'll start with the positive. There were plenty of flowers from the spring into the early part of the summer.  Which included Grandpa-Ott morning glories, lilies, lantana, gaillardia, and my biggest surprise, sunflowers. The most surprising aspect of the sunflowers was not necessarily that they grew so tall, but that they grew so tall while being grown in containers. Every single plant grown in my garden has its feet in containers. We are unable to plant anything into the ground as per our lease agreement. I have many years of experience with container gardening. So as long as the sunflowers were well watered, they did well.

Oh...and the lilies! I planted several oriental lily bulbs in different containers throughout the garden and every single one grew, save for one, and bloomed, each with a wonderful scent.

Smelled better than it looks.

I am very proud of my hibiscus plant which was a holdover from last summer. This one wintered inside and even gave us a bloom or two. This guy got trimmed and has bloomed continuously all summer. Another holdover from years past is the confederate star jasmine with its lovely jasmine scented blossoms.

Scratch and sniff needed here.

Herbs were my best crop for the most part. I bought a big plastic barrel planter where I moved my rosemary (have had it for 4-5 years, maybe), lavender, and oregano plants. The rosemary looks happier than it was in a much smaller container. The lavender bloomed well considering that I did not trim it like I could have last fall. I had another surprise with the oregano as it bloomed and helped attract bees to the garden. Other herbs that excelled were, mint (which bloomed to my surprised) and new additions, lemon balm and bee balm-Eary Grey (smells like the tea!)

The vegetable yield, or lack thereof, was a big disappointment. Radishes were okay early on, but took forever to get going because it looked like they were plagued with either slugs or snails. Once I took more care with them, I had a few radishes to eat. I had zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers (twice) that failed to bear anything. It could be that they needed to be in a bigger and deeper container. I had a few green beans but not enough to yield a sufficient harvest. 

The lone bright spot on the veggie side were the tomatoes. And that's because I planted them in is a re-purposed ice bucket tote. It worked because I got some good cherry and grape tomatoes. The two plants are still hanging in there and are presently dealing with a mealybug infestation. There are blooms present so I hope I can keep the plants going and pests away for a few more tomatoes.

The biggest disappointments were the perennial flowers that did not even survive the season! I planted shasta daisies in two different pots and seemed to do well initially, but after the plants bloomed, both separate plants died. The biggest disappointing perennial was the dwarf purple coneflower, a fickle guy, who wilted at the smallest of dry spells. While its pot-mates, the oregano, rosemary and lavender, did exceptionally well, the coneflower up and died, as did the two following ones. Other short-lived perennials were two different gaillardias, including the one photographed above. I had hope to have a pop of color in among the big herb pot, but each one died. Perhaps, these perennials are not suited for container gardening.

As of this writing, the pride and joy of my garden is the long-lived chilepequín pepper plant, that has started a profuse bloom cycle. I've lost count on how many years I've had this plant in my garden, my daughter was a baby and she's almost 11, so I've had it almost ten years now. This plant came from the peppers of my dad's plant back at my parents' house. I first dried a few peppers, planted them in a pot, but nothing came up. So the next time I threw a few dried peppers and a few seeds just over the dirt, and sure enough up came the sprouts. Nature, I tell ya.

Thanks for visiting and for my reading about my garden. 

I'm 6'1". These sunflowers were tall.

Who wants seeds for next year?!

On top of Ol' Smokey- Mitas Hill Vineyard

Out on the winding roads of rural Collin County, north of McKinney, is the tiny hamlet of Squeezepenny, Texas. Far from the daily drudgery of Metroplex traffic jams, and glass and steel filled horizons, lies Mitas Hill Vineyard. A tree-lined oasis that even on a 104° day, made for a great experience. The idyllic setting amongst shumard oaks and junipers, the Mitas family have turned their passion towards wine making and subsequently into the business of entertaining folks. As a novice to winery visits, my expectations were fairly low, especially since I had yet to taste their wine. But after the visit, all winery and vineyard visits will be compared to the high bar set by this one.

My winery visit list is very short and only six weeks old: Fredericksburg in mid-July, we visited Becker Vineyards, Pedernales Cellars, and then a short trip down to Sister Creek Vineyards in Sisterdale. At the first two, we did not leave the tasting room. However at Sister Creek, we had a self-guided tour through the cellar that lasted as long as it took to read the page and a half of text on a laminated sheet. So this visit to Mitas Hill visit makes it number four, but none came close to the hospitality displayed to us by the Mitas family.

We were greeted by Michelle, daughter of owners Harold and Susan, with whom I had exchanged emails a few days prior to our visit to talk about a wine tasting and tour. Before we got a chance to taste their wines, we were taken across the way to the winery, where the magic of wine takes place.

Black Spanish getting their squeeze on.

We walked into the winery and were greeted by the truly intoxicating scent of fermenting wine. It was a treat that we arrived in time to see Santiago work on pressing the batch of Black Spanish grapes. If I remember correctly, the Black Spanish are not a stand-alone varietal but used along with their Tempranillo for their tasty Squeezepenny blend. 

Amazing color!

The floor in this room is sticky as a by-product of the wine presser which can spray out wine if not sufficiently covered. Harold mentions that if we stay still for too long that our feet could get stuck to the floor. Yep, feet got stuck for a moment.

While here, I began to think how I came across Mitas Hill. Then I realized that, had I not come across a re-tweet of an article written by Mitas Hill's PR person, Holly Becka, I probably would not have known about this place. Plus their wine can only be purchased on the premises. Hence why I had not come across it in my search for Texas wines. And in an interesting bit of happenstance, Holly was here in the room, taking the tour with us. Small world, indeed. 

Michelle took us back for the wine tasting and what stood out for me was not necessarily the wines, which were very good, but the first set of wines were paired with a small portion of cheese, fruit, or homemade chocolate mini cupcakes to coincide with the wine we were to drink. And they were prepared by Susan Mitas. What a pleasant surprise and talk about hospitality! Below were the wines we tasted with corresponding food pairing:

• Tempranillo with a slice of Manchego cheese. ¡Fantástico!
• Rosé with stuffed mushrooms. Very good.
• Zinfandel...though not paired with anything specific here, Michelle said this wine could be paired with just about everything made at home. Outstanding.
• Black Venus (Black Gypsy) with cantaloupe balls. WOW!
• Squeezepenny with homemade mini cupcakes made by Michelle's sister-in-law, the family sommelier. Batter and frosting were made with the same wine. Super Wow.
• And the last two were the Bojnice and a Tempranillo-Cab (75-25%) blend. Not my faves but good in their own right.
• Oh, by the way...the wine tasting was complimentary. (!!!)

Though our daughter is not of drinking age, she did partake in the tasting pairing, though with an orange soda. Thanks for being so thoughtful. We had the pleasure of Harold regale us with various stories about the property and stories about the Texas wine industry throughout the wine tasting. He spoke lively of Inwood Estates' Dan Gatlin and how he is essentially the father of Tempranillo wines in Texas. Harold said that the Tempranillo here at Mitas Hill will differ from those grown in West Texas on account of the underlying limestone that is found under the parts of the vineyard, which is reminiscent to the conditions found in La Rioja area of Spain, home to the Tempranillo grape.

Come back in two years to pick the grapes off of these guys.

We then hopped onto a tractor-pulled trailer that swung but around various spots of the vineyard. The first stop, Harold gave us a quick lesson that could have earned us a half credit hour towards a Viticulture certificate. He showed us what they have been working on to get new plants started by splicing a piece of vine onto root stock. All of this is right up my alley as I have my own garden. Harold took us into the vineyard and showed us the newest additions to the vineyard.

Further along Harold showed us older vines that, even though they are well-maintained, they still need tender loving care. It is a never-ending process of trimming the vines the right way so that they will grow and produce grapes, uh...productively. And like anything that involves nature, there are things we cannot see that could harm these vines, such as Pierce's disease, so the land is not only aesthetically pleasing on the eye, but also made to keep pests at arm's length. 

Black Venus leaves waved hi as we drove by.

What I found fascinating about this tour, is that Mr. Mitas is such a great storyteller. He says that way before they actually got into the wine business, he and his wife took a vacation up to the Red River valley, near the Texas town of St. Jo, where they met a gentleman who made wine using the Black Venus grape. They made such an impression on this man that they brought home a case of Black Venus wine and 25 Black Venus plants.

Future home of wine barrels. In a limestone cave.

As I alluded to at the outset, the scenery here at Mitas Hill is impeccable. The entire property is surrounded by beautiful trees and aesthetically pleasant on the eye. And aesthetics is what they are going after once the construction of the event center is completed next year. This center will be the focal point of the Mitas Hill complex and will be home to a grand wine tasting room with views of the vineyard, a ballroom, several deck areas, and even a pizza oven that will persuade visitors to stick around and not just pick up a bottle of wine and go back home. 

And that my wine drinking friends is what the Mitas family is after. Not to just sell you wine, but to have you experience what they have to offer. Wine is along for the ride, but is only part of the package. I, like many others, cannot wait for the event center to open next year. 

As I have learned rather quickly, working in the Texas wine industry is not a flash-in-the-pan sort of hobby like many in the past have done and failed when things got tough. Do not forget that all of the wine produced here is also grown and maintained out here in the backyard of the Metroplex where there is a ton of work left to do. And from I saw at Mitas Hill, they are doing it right.

Slow and steady wins the race.