Summer Time here at the vineyard

Gosh, this is a glorious busy time. Canning green beans, making kraut and chow chow, freezing squash. After the last heavy frost, the leaves on the grapevines went totally brown. I thought I had lost the yield for this year, but you should see it now! Wow! They look great and full of muscadine and scuppernong grapes. This venue would be so perfect for small weddings, anniversary gatherings. The new facility has a rest room and seating for up to 30 people at round tables. The porch is wonderful for just relaxing, drinking a cool glass of Alcohol Free wines made from our grapes. Make us part of one of your outings for the summer. Call 704-880-3722 for times to drop by. Located off Jennings Road in northern Iredell County, NC.

Evening out at Grietje's Garden

The Evening Out at the Vineyard was a very nice event. Here are some photos taken by my friend, Lori. Hope it gives you a warm impression of the atmosphere. Each centerpiece was a teapot with 3 red hearts, silver and gold accents, rosemary, a lavender butterfly and clippings from the muscadine vines. At the base, golden grapes enhanced the arrangement. Red chargers, placed at each setting, contained a napkin with a special chocolate kiss. Our performers were the Grove Trio with Brenda Wallace, Clay Lunsford and JP Vanhoy. Our meal was prepared by Marty and Stephanie Cass. Lori McKay and Amy Howell worked with care to make sure each guest was served for the evening. We were all very tired after the event, but a good tired. I am thankful to be blessed with such good friends and the opportunity to share the vineyard with them all.

I have to acknowledge our son, Adam, for helping me with the staining of the concrete floors and our son, Jesse for also helping with the clean up from the staining so I could put the sealer on the floor and hanging the mirrors and other art work for me. Our son, Reuben made the wooden table at the entrance of the building and also the 3 wooden wine containers. Jesse's wood crafts are also displayed in the building and of course, Adam's expertise in building the facility is there. Reid has helped with the landscaping and other needed Honey do's. I appreciate all their love and support.

A special evening for friends or couples.

  An Evening Out at the Vineyard is just 2 weeks away. Friday, February 10th, 6:30-8:30PM. Live music with the smooth, sweet voice of Brenda Wallace and well known musicans: JP VanHoy and Clay Lunsford, the Grove Trio.  A perfect evening for a gathering of friends or couples. Food prepared by Marty and Stephanie Cass, caterers recognized for the quality of their cooking expertise and especially their desserts. Space is limited. Reservations are needed by February 1st.  $30.00 person   Grietje's Garden, 324 Mosswood Road, Olin, NC 28660 Call 704-880-3722 or email grietje@yadtel.net for reservations.

March 24th-UMW Book Study-More Bad Girls of the Bible

UMW- Mark your calenders for Saturday, March 24th, 8:30am-2:00pm for the Leadership and Spiritual Growth Book study hosted by Union Grove United Methodist Women here at Grietje's Garden, 324 Mosswood Road, Olin, NC. Cost per person is $15.00 which includes the book, light continental breakfast, snack, lunch, and beverages. Seating is limited to 40 participants. Reservation is confirmed with receipt of a check made payable to Union Grove United Methodist Women. Please include name and contact information including phone numbers and email addresses. Mail these to Penny Ledbetter, 324 Mosswood Road, Olin, NC 28660     Contact information: grietje@yadtel.net

The well-known book, More Bad Girls of the Bible by Barbara Essex will be the featured focus of our study.

I will be facilitating this book study in our meeting area of  our Farm Distribution Center here at the vineyard. I am a trained layspeaker in the United Methodist Church and lay leader of our church, Union Grove United Methodist. As a teacher and sister in Alpha Delta Kappa International Sorority, I am trained as a facilitator and have provided numerous workshops and presentations.

Grietje's Garden Facility

Some have asked, "What does the facility look like?" Here is a picture from the day of our open house in October. 

I am looking forward to the Evening Out at the Vineyard on February 10, 6:30-8:30PM. Planning these events pushes me to get things done! It will be a beautiful evening out with the 4 course meal and live music. Reservations are required so please call now for this.

Oh, The Grove Trio with Brenda Wallace, JP VanHoy and Clay Lunsford will be our musical enterntainment for the evening. You won't want miss this.

grietje@yadtel.net/704-880-3722

Evening out at Grietje's Garden

Come celebrate Valentines...or Winter....or February ...or just a wonderful Friday night out at Grietje's Garden, Friday, February 10. 6:30-8:30PM

Enjoy a delicious full course meal with an appetizer: cheeses, soup, salad, main entre' - Chicken pasta primavera, dessert- Italian Cream Cake, one complimentary glass of alcohol free wine, tea, coffee, rolls.

Enjoy live music with the sweet voice of Brenda Wallace accompanied by Clay Lunsford and JPVanhoy of the Grove Trio.

Reservations are required. $30/person .

Call 704-880-3722 for reservationsdirections or email Penny at grietje@yadtel.net.

Christmas Tasting with Live Music

Come join us on Sunday, December 11, 3-5 p.m. at Grietje's Garden. Listen to live music by Jewell's Harp with Jewell and Chuck Waldrup and enjoy a tasting of our alcohol free wines, juices and ciders.

324 Mosswood Road
Olin, NC 28660

Alcohol Free Venue

Customers ask, "Where is your wine?".  "If you'd let that ferment, I'd buy it."  I guess when the word "vineyard" is heard...the first thought is that there is a wine. Well, I've taken a different approach with Grietje's Garden Vineyard. Here there is muscadine cider blush- a mix of muscadine and scuppernong juices from our grapes, 100% muscadine juice, 100% scuppernong juice, muscadine alcohol free wine, scuppernong alcohol free wine, muscadine vinaigrette, syrups and jellies.

Why no wine? I'll have to admit that I enjoy a glass of muscadine wine in my home and occasionally out. I know my limitations. I may go months without having a glass of wine. But I do not want to market...push to sell a product that might cause harm to someone else or to their family. I've seen too much what alcoholism can do to a family. Enough said about that.

Now I have value-added products that most adults and children can enjoy. The Farm Distribution Center is a family friendly venue. And that's what a farm should be. :)

This is a photo from our recent Holiday Craft event discussed on another post. It was a good day of sharing and family time.

Holiday Time

My first try at a holiday craft event was pretty good. We had 9 vendors for the craft event on Saturday. Everyone sold something, but not as much as I had hoped for each participant. I have some reflecting to do on the date to do this. Should I do it the first weekend in December? The weekend before Thanksgiving? Make it a weekend event with music, etc. in the vineyard? So many people in our area are putting up Christmas trees the weekend after Thanksgiving...or are still having Thanksgiving with their families...and there is Black Friday to contend with, too. So...doing this again the weekend of Thanksgiving is probably not the best time...although this year for my family and me, it worked out well.

Hopefully, there will be at least  2 other events at the vineyard before Christmas...working on this. Stay posted.

Holiday Crafts at Grietje's Garden vineyard

Come join us at Grietje's Garden for Holiday crafts at the vineyard.

Saturday, November 26 .

Handcrafted baskets, ornaments, pottery crocheted items, baked goods, jewelry, homemade cheeses, art work, stained glass, muscadine juice, cider and alcohol free wines! And More!

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Help us "kick off" the holiday season with this festive event.

324 Mosswood Road
Olin, NC 28660

Google for directions from your location.

704-880-3722

Summer in the vineyard

 It always amazes me that something that looks so lifeless in the winter, can become so full of luscious growth in the summer. During this time I work to manage the weed growth and mow  the 3 acres at least once a week. The last placement of fertilizer will be around July 1, Southern States Garden Super Grow. We've had some rain, but I have to supplement with our irrigation from the well.  There is also pruning in the summer. Yes, pruning. Suckers grow from the base and extra vinegrowth on the main branch has to be clipped back to allow for the nutrients to reach the main area of the vine. This also helps the plant's stress level of having to provide water to so much vine during this hot weather. I have to make sure there is good air flow also through the vines. Watching for insects as Japanese beetles and June bugs is an ever going issue.  So,  this is a busy time, but a pleasurable one. Watching the grapes mature enhances the excitement of the harvest in the fall.

Reid said, "Honey, get your camera!" I took this from the sideporch of our home. It went all the way across the sky. How beautiful it was. How awesome to be at that place at that time to witness nature, God's creation.  Recently Jacob and Luke, the grandsons, were at our home. There was a rainbow that day, as well, not as big or brillant, but still nice to share the experience. Jacob asked if we could go to the end of the rainbow to get a pot of gold. Wasn't expecting that from a 4 year old. I think we tried to explain to him that a person can not get to the end of the rainbow and maybe that if we got there, the gold might already be gone.
That makes me think about how when we get to where we thought we wanted go, sometimes it turns out not to be what we anticipated or even really wanted. The joy comes in the journey and experiences we have and share with others as we move forward in our lives. So, today, I am thankful for the blessings of a rainbow. Peace

It's been a while.

On March 26th, our father passed away. He was a gardener and loved the earth. It was because of him that I began growing muscadine grapes. He had been in declining health, then fell on March 12th, went through surgery successfully, but his body just was not strong enough to take the trama. My 2 sisters, brother and I have had to pull together to close his gardening business which was hard emotionally and physically. But I feel he is proud of how we worked together to do this necessary thing. We were led to a young man, Morgan, who also has a love of the earth. He and his father will be leasing the farm land and helping to keep it going. This has brought us much peace and joy. This special young man will be there to pick the blackberries, the blueberries, the muscadine grapes, to plant the tomatoes that people in the community have come to love from our father's garden. We are sure Daddy is pleased with this.

This is Memorial Weekend. So we honor the memory of our father today and what he has meant to us and his country in serving in the army as a machine gunner during WWII and in the Army Reserves when he returned home. He later captained a survey boat, the Gillette, for the Army Corp of Engineers and worked the farm he loved until his body would not allow him to do it anymore...and that was just the week before he fell.

We love you, Daddy and miss you.

Love those grapes!

It is so much fun watching the grandchildren eat the muscadines. They have the technique down pretty good. I like to wear a bandana when I am working. They call it a pirate hat. Maybe these pirates are stealing my grapes! The boys are already asking me when the grapes will be ready. The oldest grandson, Jacob, says he will help me with the vineyard when he grows up. I will probably hold him to it. In fact, he really enjoys the farm. Mercedes, our oldest granddaughter, showed her first heifer at the state fair this year. Jacob will show his first this next year. He has already picked out the calf  he will show and named it Calfie. Earlier this week, the boys visited us for a few days. They "helped" me work in the blueberries for awhile. By that I mean about 5 minutes. We were trying to get out the dead grass and weed roots that might come back this year. Jacob kept holding up a clump of roots and would say is this roots. So, at least he knows what a root looks like. Of course he also asked me if the blueberry plants were weeds to be pulled up too. I think we have that straight now. So many children do not get the opportunity to learn about these things. I am thankful we can share these experiences with our grandchildren

Down the Lane

Well, here we are at Grietje's Garden of Rocky Ridge Farm. This drive, this lane, has taken me "there" and back more times than I can count. To and from work, errands, weddings, funerals, births, to  the hospital,  birthday celebrations, to worship, vacations, to chase the cows, walk the sheep, check the mail, to mow the grass, or on an adventure. We all have our drives, our lanes. A couple of years ago, there was no white fencing or wire fencing for the cows along this lane. There were no cherry trees or grapevines.  But the road still heads in the same direction, is located in the same place, is still red clay and gravel. My life is my road that God has given me to travel. Yes, along the way things happen, things change, but my path, my lane, my road to Him is always there.

Harvest is over. Fall is here.

The vines have been harvested at this time. They've worked hard. They deserve the upcoming rest. These vines are Dixie Reds, Carlos, Pam, and Frye. You can see hills in the background. I love the view.

My muscadine value-added products

These are 3 of the value added products made from my scuppernong/muscadine grapes.  From left to right, Muscadine syrup, Muscadine cider, and Muscadine vinaigrette. I also have a l00% Muscadine juice made from my Black Noble Muscadines. There are also 2 jellies: regular Muscadine jelly and a pepper Muscadine jelly. I am so proud of the art work on the label! I just found out I am a finalist for a RAFI grant. I am so excited. With this, I should be able to purchase a crusher and other equipment to begin processing some of my grapes myself. I hope to at least be able to make my own jellies on site. My interview as a finalist is next Tuesday, Feb. 1st. I pray I can present myself in such a way that this effort is successful.

Winter at Grietje's Garden

My vines are asleep, resting for the awakening of spring.It won't be long before I begin the pruning. This takes a great deal of time and care.

Thought I would share about where the name Grietje's Garden came. My middle name is Grietje. It was my great grandmother's name who lived in Broek in Waterland then Zaandam, Holland before coming to America in 1912 with my great grandfather and their family, including my grandfather on my father's side. It has always been very special to me to share her name. My greatgrandfather and his sons settled in eastern North Carolina. They ran a dairy for awhile then began to grow flowers. My father loves to garden, as well. He grows blueberries, blackberries and muscadine grapes, and various vegetables. Growing things is just in my blood. When I was thinking of a name for the vineyard, it did not take me long to realize that using Grietje in the name would be a way to honor my heritage and my great grandmother whom I never got to meet.  

Harvest time

These scuppernongs are so sweet. This is either a Darlene or Magnolia. That will be a good project this year..to make sure all of the vines are labeled. These are some of the newer vines, just planted in the last 2 years. It is very exciting when a vine begins to produce.