Grape Expectations

We got our zinfandel grape plant, Zaragoza, last May after falling in love with wine (growing, making, drinking- you name it).  She started growing like crazy so I used a wire tomato plant cage (which I clipped and bent open), some wire, and a wooden stake to create a trellis. After a long winter & spring of plumbing disasters which required moving the grape plant (don’t worry- the plant went into hibernation for the winter so it wasn’t disturbed), the trellis began to look a little (okay, a lot) worse for wear.  I decided to give the trellis a little love this weekend. Sorry that the wire is hard to see in the pics! :)

For those of you who have never seen grape growing on a vineyard, this website does a great job at explaining the Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) trellis system I am using for my “upright” growing grapes.  I am training the shoot to the bottom wire. Once she gets a bit bigger this year, I will get taller wooden stakes and the guide wires back up like last year (off of the sides of the tomato cage trellis).

Source: http://www.ristcanyonvineyards.com/html/tip5.html

Zaragoza didn’t produce any fruit her first year but she already has 4 bundles starting to grow this year.  Look at the difference in the size of these bundles over 2 weeks! Who wants to help make & drink our first bottle of wine?!

Sponsors- April 2012

It is that time of the month again!  No, not THAT time… Sponsor Swap time! ;)

We have some of the same amazing blogs as last month, but we also have some new blog friends! So please show them some love and check them out.  As always, you can find them on my sidebar all month!

No Place Lyke Home

Hello, Our Cozy Cubbyhole readers, my name is Brhea (Bree-uh) and I am thrilled to be here! I love that Erika’s DIY projects are fun, fresh and creative without being intimidating to take on. I blog over at No Place Lyke Home. I have a passion for cooking, photography and decorating. I tend to brag a lot about my insanely cute nieces and my oh so sweet husband. I hope that you will drop by for a visit!

One House, One Couple

Hey everyone! We are Kyle and Lisha from One House, One Couple. We bought, fixed, and sold our house for a profit during the recession, and we’re finally documenting all our hard work on our blog (mixed with some personal posts about life). Come on over and stay awhile. We love getting new visitors and we hope you get all the DIY inspiration you need! See you soon! ~ Kyle & Lisha

Bungalow 960

Hello! I’m Shannon and I blog over at Bungalow960. I started Bungalow960 as a place to document the happenings in renovations and improvements in the 1924 American Bungalow that I share with my boyfriend and our two cats, but it has morphed into a place where I share snippets of my life. I hope you’ll stop by for a visit!

Bleak 2 Unique

Hi! I’m Lori and I love sharing my creations over at Bleak 2 Unique. Taking the old and discarded and making it uniquely ours is a family trait…Yes, we are dumpster divers, crafters, and craigslistaholics. So come on over and let’s share.

Laid Off Mom

Hi there! I’m Louise…I’m an Apparel Designer and mother of 2 beautiful girls who was just recently laid off from my company back in July 2011. When I got the axe, I had two options…One, cry my eyes out, crawl under a rock & find another boss who may/may not lay me off…or Two, wipe my eyes and start a brand new life on my own terms! I chose the latter, and now I’m “Redesigning Life, Love and Motherhood.” I don’t know where this blog will take me, but hopefully you’ll come and join me for this amazing journey!

Attempts at Domestication

Hey there! My name’s Ashley and I’m a newlywed housewife from Richmond, VA. My husband and I met as kids and dated all through college before getting married in April 2011. We love traveling, watching movies, hanging out with our friends, cooking and Star Wars. My blog started as a way to keep my college friends, who are scattered all over the country, up to date on my life, but I’ve really gotten into the whole DIY blog thing. It keeps me motivated to try new things and to actually make the things I pin on Pinterest. I do posts about my attempts at DIY, crafts, throw in a lot of random stuff about my life and share recipes from time to time too. My husband and I just bought our first home so we are in the process of shifting focus to mainly home decor and DIY. We would LOVE to gain more readers! Your support means a lot to us!! YOU ARE THE BEST! xoxo

Discover. Create. Live.

Hi guys, I’m Kate over at Discover. Create. Live. I’m happily married to my high school sweetheart Wes, and we have a beautiful little girl Hayden. We love to blog about our family, gluten free cooking, and lots of different projects we do to help beautify our home. In addition, each week I post different printable “graphics” as well as things that inspire me. I love finding new people to interact with, so feel free to check out our blog, and leave a comment so we can check out yours too!

His Shabby Her Chic

Hi everybody!  I’m Brandi and I blog at His Shabby Her Chic.  I moved into Kevin’s bachelor pad 2 years ago and we’ve been making progress towards making his house our home.  I enjoy all things crafty, décor, and of course love my dogs, Bot & Izzie, beyond all reason.  I also like to think I’m hilarious, but Kevin tells me otherwise.  So join me on my journey of turning this boring old house into a home.

First Home Dreams

First Home Dreams documents the restoration, renovation, and decoration of a turn of the century brick farmhouse. We’re turning our first house into our forever home one shaky step at a time.

Get Neat

Hi everyone! My name is Rachel and I am the owner of Get Neat. Get Neat is a professional organizing company based in the Washington DC metro area (including VA and MD) designed to help people create a balanced life by finding an organizational system that is simple and functional. We would love it if you stopped by and visited our site and blog! Hope to see you soon! :-)

Record Crate: Take 2

After the record crate debacle a couple of weeks ago, I have kept my eye out for a new storage solution for our vinyl.  A little research revealed that six-bottle wine crates would be the ideal size for us (13-14″x10-11″).  The ones we found online were quite pricey to ship but we also knew that none of the wine stores near us carried or gave away crates (we had asked around when we were looking for crates for our living room shelves). As if right on cue, the convenience/liquor store at the end of our street started carrying a wine that came in a six-bottle crate!  Since we are devoted patrons (AKA we drink a lot of wine), Sam, the guy that works there, put one aside for us. It was so nice of him! We picked it up yesterday and it works perfectly!  There is even room for another when he has an additional spare crate.  SAM SAVES THE DAY! :)