Wine Enthusiasts and Cougars Both Visit (Fortunately They don't Meet)

Spring Is a Glorious Time to Be on a Farm!

Forget the upheaval in the financial markets. “Tariffs” — what are those? If you can put aside the chaos in Washington for a second or two, let’s just acknowledge that spring is a gorgeous time to be on a farm! Here are Sheryl and Nick thinking for one brief moment about nothing more than the beauty of these blossoms on our Redfield cider apples in the orchard:

These are the first of our dozen-odd apple varieties to blossom (and they also produce apples with a remarkable red flesh and make a great cider!), but others will soon, and the grapes are slowly coming out of their dormancy as well. We celebrated spring with deliveries to our wine club and cider club members, while also inviting club members to come out to the farm to pick up their orders if they wanted to. So it was great to welcome folks like Heather Cooper and Fred Bishop, who drove down all the way from near Tacoma, Washington, to pick up their wines (that’s the Pinot Noir vineyard in the background).

And here are Megan and Ralph Leftwich and Karen and Ron Fortlander, with our pear trees behind us in full blossom and the apple orchard in the background.

For those of you who are wine club or cider club members, remember that our spring salon virtual meeting will be today, April 23, 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern. We figure there’ll be something or other to talk about. As always, we’ll take all questions from farming to national and world affairs; as you may know from Nick’s columns, we do have views! (You can still join the clubs, but hurry.)

We haven’t had a spring tasting yet here on the farm, but we will. We’ve just been incredibly busy this spring between our day jobs and the farm, but we’re penciling in the afternoon of May 17 — stay tuned for details. And remember that you can always drop by our shared tasting room at Carlton Winemakers Studio, open 11am to 5pm every day of the week in nearby Carlton, Ore. It has our wines and ciders, and also those of other superb local wineries; we’re honored to be part of it. And Nick George, who tends the bar, is incredibly knowledgeable, on top of having an excellent first name.

We’ve also decided to open the farm to occasional visits by appointment. If you can gather 10 or more people together for a visit, we’ll figure out a time to share our wines/ciders as well as the beauty of the farm. Preference will go to club members; for more information, email info@kristoffarms.com .

Meanwhile, it’s not only the buds and blossoms that are stirring, but also the wildlife. Our wildlife camera caught this coyote couple out for a date:

And the deer are always inquisitive:

But there’s more! We’re proud of the mountain lions that have always lived here, dining on venison (sorry, dear deer), even if they make us a little nervous when we’re out for a jog around the vineyard. If you follow this newsletter, you’ll know that our resident cougars were killed, one hit by a car and one shot by a farmer defending his livestock. So we were bereft of mountain lions (cougars are another word for mountain lions) for a time — and then a new one abruptly showed up for a couple of days on our wildlife camera:

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen him since, so we’re not sure if he was just checking out the farm or is going to move onto this turf. Maybe we shouldn’t admit it during the Trump administration, but we want the cougars to know about our DEI policy: We welcome diverse species and treat them equitably, and our farm is inclusive.

Just please stick to deer and rabbits, and don’t mess with our wine club members!

As always, thanks for listening to us share stories of this farm we love, and the wine and cider we love sharing. Any questions, reach out to us at info@kristoffarms.com