Weekends in Dundee

Join us as we explore Willamette Valley Wine Country one weekend at a time!

Archives for September 2014

Filling the Wedge with Espaliers

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This past week, we made an enormous push to complete various project is our backyard. We both felt the ever impending fall rains and eventual mud pit on the horizon, and it motivated us to rally and get things done. So last Sunday after our hot air balloon ride, we arrived home and went straight to work!

“The Wedge” as we like to call it is located on the right side of our house and is an area that we weren’t entirely sure what to do with. But after months of conversation, we finally came up with a plan.

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Facing my Fears, the Hot Air Balloon Ride of my Life

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It all started with a wedding gift.

Given my love of hot air balloons, my bridesmaid Julie and my college golf coach Tracy (the two ladies on the right) got together and decided that the perfect wedding gift would be a hot air balloon ride. Now for those of you who follow this blog, I’m sure you know I have a fascination with hot air balloons, I simply love them! But the other important part to the story is that I have a very real fear of heights.

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Celebrating our One Year Anniversary in Wine Country

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Last Saturday was a our One Year Anniversary and boy did we celebrate! Given our extremely busy schedules, we decided to celebrate at home in wine country instead of traveling out of town. We started the day with a couples massage at The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, and I will tell you that it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

For those of you who don’t know, The Allison is an upscale hotel that caters to wine lovers and the property is stunning!

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A Walk to the Beach for The Native Fish Society

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This past weekend The Renaissance Man was asked to give a presentation for The Native Fish Society as part of the 2014 River Stewards Retreat at Camp Westwind on the Oregon Coast. It was a fantastic event, and I was lucky enough to tag along for the adventure. Camp Westwind is located just north of Lincoln City in the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area.

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Sharing a Glass of Wine at Bergström

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Last weekend a friend of mine shot me a text message asking if I’d be interested in spending Sunday afternoon at Bergström Wines. At first I was overwhelmed thinking about all the things I needed to finish up over the weekend and then I realized what I really needed was to go share a glass of wine with a friend.

We’ve been having one of the driest summers on record, and the weather on Sunday was absolutely stunning! Not a cloud in the sky. We grabbed a table on the veranda, and enjoyed the views while keeping cool under the shade of a leafy wisteria.

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Granola French Toast, Just Because

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I don’t think you can really beat waking up to the smell of bacon. Now I’m not a huge bacon fan, but that smell just makes you want to roll out of bed and head into the kitchen to see what’s cooking. So on a Tuesday morning, as I was struggling to reach out of bed and turn off my alarm, I realized that bacon was cooking and quickly got excited to see what else was on the menu!

Every once in a while The Renaissance Man transforms an ordinary weekday morning into a special occasion that you end up talking about of the rest of the week. Yes, I know, I’m one lucky gal!

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We Labored on Labor Day, Processing the Honey

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It sure has been a buzzzzy summer…see what I did there? I’m starting to make honeybee humor, I think the bees are finally getting to me!

Over Labor Day Weekend we decided that it was time to remove the honey supers, move the honeybees, and process the honey. Wow that was short sentence, lets just say the process is much easier said than done.

Our first summer with honeybees was a total success! Each hive has two healthy brood boxes on the bottom, and the Noir Hive (left) came close to filling two honey supers, while the Gris Hive (right) completely filled one honey super.

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Checking the Health of the Honeybees

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I’ve mentioned this before, but for those of you who don’t know, The Renaissance Man is currently an apprentice in the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program. The program has been a great way to get started with beekeeping, and the best part is that they pair you with a bee mentor! Tom is our mentor, and he’s been an invaluable resource in our beekeeping journey. He’s come out to our house a couple of times to check on the honeybees, and he’s never farther away than a quick email when we’ve had questions. A few weekends back he came out to the house to do an “end of season” check-in on the honeybees.

We’ll be collecting honey from the bees over Labor Day weekend, so it’s important to make sure that the hives are strong so they make it through the winter.

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Lady Commodores on the LPGA

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Growing up as a junior golfer in the Oregon Junior Golf Association, I spent every summer looking forward to the annual LPGA golf tournament. The Safeway LPGA Classic, as it once was known, was a chance for me to get up close and personal with the professional golfers that I idolized. I volunteered at the event every year, and would carry a sign board for one of the groups.

And for those of you who don’t know what a sign board is, below is a picture. In my picture you’ll also notice that the “Mom” is hanging out with the board, while her “daughter” is in the blue t-shirt sitting on the chair. I will tell you that when you’re ten years old, that sign board is much heavier than you think! That’s what parents are for right?

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