"Certified Wildlife Habitat"!

Last week, the land of Bunker Hill Vineyard and Winery was certified as "Certified Wildlife Habitat" by the National Wildlife Federation! This was made possible because we provide and maintain all the basics for wildlife to thrive..."Water, Cover, Food, Quality Habitat and a place to Raise their young". As you enter our Wine Accessory building on your next visit, please look to your left. Positioned next to the sidewalk is a sign commemorating this honor (see photo).

Certified Wild Life Habitat sign in front of our  Farm Accessory Building.

As most of you know, we are a "Green" environmentally responsible vineyard and winery. We consider our resident wildlife an integral part of this environment. They live here freely and are never hunted nor harassed. We consider it a privilege to share our land with these animals. This same wildlife is represented on all of our wine labels (see photo).



Our wine labels represent the wild animals on Bunker Hill Vineyard's protected lands.

For the first time, we would like to share with you a small glimpse of our on-going concern for their welfare.

At various times throughout the year, assorted species of birds choose our vines as a safe and secure place to raise their young. When this happens, we consider that vine a restricted area. We run a "caution" tape around the chosen vine and suspend all maintence to that vine until the baby birds leave the nest. At this time, we do have an active nest of "Morning Doves" on one of our vines (see photos).




Caution tape protection.

 


Two baby Morning Doves.

 Although we're not absolutely certain, there appears to be 2 babies in the nest. Even though we are in our grape picking season, we will Not pick any grapes from this vine!

You are welcome to visit our vineyard/winery (Monday ~ Sunday, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm) and take photos of this mother Dove and her babies, but all photos Must be taken from a safe distance.

Thank You for Your Support...Larry and Lenora

How to "Pear" Wines (pun intended)?!

With this Blog, we're going to discuss a topic that is totally confusing to me..."How to Pear Wines"!
OK, raise your hands if you are as confused as me. Yep, just as I thought, we are all in the same boat! Let's step into the Wine Cave and mull (pun intended) this one over. To help us out, I invited a "Wine Expert" (Billy).
It appears that the first step is to find out all that we can about "Pears", so we can determine what pears have to do with wines. Billy I recognise your raised hand but, please hold your questions and/or comments until the end of our discussion. Without a doubt, pears are yummy! Mostly, pears are yellow, but they, also, come in colors of 'green and red'. They are closely related to America's #1 fruit...Apples and rank as the #2 fruit. Today, there are more than 3,000 known varities of pears in the world. Most of the pear production in the U.S.A. comes from the states in the Northwest. Well, there's a lot more good stuff about pears out there, but you get the idea. Pears are a fabulous fruit and, as Homer said,..."the Gift of the Gods". Billy, there's no need to jump up and down, I'll address your question in just a moment.
Now that we've garnered all of these wonderful facts about pears, we need to figure out how this relates to our red and white wines. The "Experts" (like Billy) keep telling us that a red wine 'Pears" with this type of food and a white wine 'Pears' with another type of food. Personally, I see no reason why you can't enjoy 'Pears' with All wines. The color of the wine (or the pear) should make no difference.

Ok, Billy, I'm ready for your question. Billy, where are you? Has anyone seen our wine expert, Billy? Oh, darn it, Billy had to leave. He did, however, leave us a note. Let's read what Billy wrote..."A Pair of Pears is NOT a Pare"! Whoa, that's really deep! It's easy to understand why we need wine experts! I do wish, however, that Billy would have told us exactly which pears go best with which type of wine. Does a semi-ripe pear go best with a Rose' type wine? Maybe, next time, Billy will be able to stay a little longer. In the meantime, I guess that us (common folks) will just have to continue to enjoy our (unfiltered) wine with our usual (common folks) tastes and simple (common folks)..."GUSTO"!

"Salute and Happy Days"

An American Hero and..."The Brass Ring"!

With today's Blog, I'm going to tell you the story about the..."Brass Ring"!
Many years ago (more years than I would like to count) I had the privelige of knowing a marvelous old man. I was 22 years old, a medical corpsman stationed at a military hospital and my entire life lay before me. This gentleman was...100 years old ..., a military veteran and his life was nearly over. Physically, he was in very poor shape. He had suffered untold trials and tribulations defending America in many wars in many distant lands. In one of those wars, he had lost both of his legs. If there ever was an unsung hero, this old man would get my vote. As though a reward for his suffering and bravery, he was blessed, in his old age, with a mind unemcombered with senilty or disease. He was, truely, a page of living history! Each of my duty days, I would look forward to our conversations. I would sit on the chair next to his bed and listen to him tell me about the great moments of his (and America's) past. The history that I read about in school was alive and vibrant and laying serenly in a non-discript hospital bed just a couple of feet away. Day after day, he would turn page after page of his historic life and enhance my understanding of what it meant to be an American. This old soldier, in his youth, had stormed up San Juan Hill with 'Teddy Roosevelt". He had survived the mustard gas and the trenches of World War I. He had raised a family and buried each one. It seemed to me that he was the last survivor of a generation of Americans that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries.
One day, he told me the story about the "Brass Ring"! I have never forgot this story and have used it, as a guiding beacon, for my entire life! For the first time, I will share this story with you.
When he was a young child the old man went to a circus with his family. At this circus was a 'Merry-Go-Round'. As he and the other children would ride the merry-go-round horses, they would try and grab the..."Brass Ring"...off a post positioned next to the ride. If a child was lucky enough to grab the brass ring, that child would get a free ride on the merry-go-round. Most children tried and most children failed. It seemed that it was always just out of reach. It took daring and perserverence to succeed, but there was abiding danger for all who tried. Reach out too far and the child might fall off his merry-go-round horse and break his arm or his leg. On this day, at this circus, on this merry-go-round ride, in the distant past, a child with his eyes shut, reached far out for the brass ring. As though a dream, the child felt the cold brass metal against his hand. When he opened his eyes, he beheld his fingers firmly clutched around the prize! By reaching further, by perservering, by taking a huge chance, by risking everything, by dreaming the impossible, this child succeeded where the others had failed.
Without being told, I clearly understood the meaning of this story. What the old man was telling me was that it is possible to be anything and do anything with our lives..if we want it bad enough and are willing to...reach for the brass ring!
One day, I came on duty and was greeted with a sad surprise. This old man, this American war veteran and hero, was gone. According to the ward staff, he had gone to sleep and passed, peacefully in the night. I walked to his empty room and over to beside his empty bed. As I stood there, I recalled the words of another American Hero..."Old soldiers never die, they just fade away".

On this day, our Independence Day, it is proper that we stand beneath our unfurled American flag and salute ALL the hero's of our past and present. For it is them that have willed us our freedoms, our liberties, our independence, our futures and our opportunity to..."Reach for the Brass Ring"!

Salute and Happy Days!