Freed Estate Vineyards: 2007

Freed Estate Vineyards had a wonderful harvest season this year! Here are some photos:

The grapes are looking beautiful and ready to go.

HARVEST!

Mike clipping bunches of Cabernet Sauvignon

Bryan's girlfriend, Nathalie, and her mom helped

Juan and Maria

David and Richard

Loading buckets

Joey and Bryan transferring buckets to bins

Bryan pouring grapes into a bin

Mike gives cribbage advice in the middle of the harvest!

Tania and Joey gather full buckets and hand out empty ones

Joey and Tania bring full buckets to pour in the bins

Joey and Tania pour grapes in the bins

Beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Lunch break!

Pam and Mike taking their lunch break

HARVEST PARTY!

Pam and Mike decided to have a Harvest Party to celebrate such a great year. It was held in the new (unfinished) barn, and we all wore costumes. It was a blast!

The grandkids, Tania and Talula, dressed up as the cutest kitties ever

Candice and Talula

We had a hobo-can fire outside the barn

Cindy and Bobby

Wild Bill, Jim Beam, and Mike gathered around the hobo-can fire

Some trouble-makers

Wayne and Joey looking better than ever

John James showed everyone how to do the Two-Step

More Two-Step

John and Kathy James

Mary Beam and John James

Jim Beam and Pam

Mike and Cindy

Even Talula and Tutu did some dancing

Other fun things to do during fall in the area:

Picking apples at the James Orchard

Visiting the Kruse Farms pumpkin patch

It was a great summer! Pam and Mike came out to the vineyard at the end of May. Candice and Joey came out at the end of June with their family. Bryan came out in July. Read on to hear the details about summertime at Freed Estate Vineyards.

June

Joey's family came all the way to the vineyard from Phoenix, Arizona to meet Talula for the first time and celebrate her first birthday. Here are some candids from June.

The summer vineyard

The summer river

Joey's family, sister Devon, mom Gloria, and brother Quinn picking raspberries

The family took Talula to pick cherries

Mike showed the family how to fish for bass

Mike with Joey and the family

Tania couldn't wait to go swimming

Pam, Talula, and friends at Talula's birthday party

Devon and Talula

Joey's family before leaving

Fourth of July

Fourth of July was spent at the vineyard this year. We had a bonfire down by the river and could see the fireworks from up by the patio. Here are some candids.

Talula

Mike with Jim, Mary, and family

Pam with one of her little buddies

Pam's sister Cindy, with husband Bobby

Joey gathering wood for the bonfire

A deer across the river

Laying cement in the new barn

This summer, we laid the cement in our new barn. It was hard work! We had Jim, Bryan and Joey doing most of the difficult work. Here are some of the photos.

At the very end

Mike making frames for cement tiles

Pam decorating a tile

Pam and Mike enjoying a beer

Tania decorating a tile

Mike writing his name in the cement

Tania playing with cement

July Fun!

We had a lot of fun this July, and especially at the Oregon Country Fair. It's a truly unique event.

Bryan and Joey at the fair

Joey pulling Tania

Talula in the wagon

Man on stilts

Drum circle

Random crowd shots

Tree people

Back at the vineyard, Tania and Talula on the tractor

Candice and Talula

Joey thinning the Syrah

Chickens!

We got chickens this summer. They are so funny, and it's great to have farm-fresh eggs.

Farm-fresh eggs

The flock

The head honcho

August fun

We had a lot of fun in August. Here are some candids.

Tania and Talula at the Douglas County Fair

Candice, Talula, Tania, and friend Christine

Pam and Mike with their dear friend, Vann

Bryan with friends Christine and Sindy

Pam bonding with Talula

Bryan dancing with Talula at a concert at Stewart Park

Tania and Talula dancing at the concert

Bryan holding giant zucchini that he harvested from our garden

Henry Does Wine!

Henry Estate Vineyards puts on an event called Henry Does Wine, each year. They have a bunch of different bands playing, food, and of course...wine!

Talula enjoys her corn

Tania hula-hoops

Pam dances with Tania and Talula

Mike takes a break from the dance floor

Lorna and Pam

Making Beer!

This summer, Bryan, Candice, and Joey embarked on a beer-making experiment. The first batch turned out well!

The ingredients

The wort

Draining the wort

Poured into a carboy

The yeast doing its job - The foam indicates activity!

Camping!

In August, we went camping at Lake Marie, in Winchester Bay. Mike chartered a fishing boat and he, Pam, Bryan, and Joey went fishing for salmon on one of the days. The family also fished in the lake and hiked.