I'm trying to get a photo that shows how abundant the wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace) is out among the grape vines this year. I'm not having much success, but there are a few that come close. Here's one in which you can see the wild carrot growing up around the vine trunks. It would probably fill in the space between the vine rows, too, except for the fact that the space is mowed (or plowed in places), keeping the wildflowers at bay.
The vineyard parcel outside our back gate at sunrise.
I'll post another photo or two in the coming days.
Stunning!
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a lot of Queen Anne's Lace. We had Queen Anne's Lace galore lining the fence and hedge rows of the local farm fields. But so many local farmers no longer raise cattle so hedge rows and fencing were cleared allowing for the huge pieces of farm machinery to navigate the now wide open fields without getting hung up. The blue corn flowers were spared because they grow along the edge of the paved roads. It used to be beautiful to see the blue of the cornflowers, the white of the Queen Anne's Lace and the reddish orange of the Tiger Lily as you did your early morning walk or run through the country side.just as the sun was rising. All gone now for the sake of the farmer getting a few mor bushels of corn or beans or an extra round bale of hay. Your photos of the vineyards look like heavenly to me. Thanks for the photos.
ReplyDeleteWhat Woody said. Growing up in Kentucky we had those same flowers growing along side our roads. If the farmers hadn't let the hedgerows grow up, the cows would have had no shade. Viva la hedgerows and Queen Anne's lace, too,
ReplyDeleteEvelyn, I was born in Kentucky and still have a very remote family farm in Owen County. I got to thinking after you commented that you remember the flowers along the roads. I remember my great grandfather telling me as a very small child that during the Civil War they gathered the roots from the chicory aka the blue cornflower and roasted and ground it up and used it for coffee. I tried it myself and it resembles coffee in flavor but not something I'd drink daily. Seems those in the deep south prefer it. Your correct about those hedgerows being protection for the cattle and mules. The hedgerows also provided shade for the pigs. A combination of stone walls, osage orange and hawthorne trees made great "fences". Picturesque and utilitarian! Oh, now I am waxing nostalgic.
DeleteEvelyn and Woody, my grandmother used to mix chicorée with coffee for breakfast and, as I recall, it was very good, I don’t know what proportion of each she used. She also used brow sugar. With buttered, toasted baguette and some home made preserves! Yummy!
DeleteNever heard of Queen Anne's Lace - though, thanks to Google we're wiser now. (I gather that name is used mainly by North Americans - despite it probably referring to our own early 18th century monarch?).
ReplyDeleteThe vineyard is prospering! Even with that heat and no water augmentation allowed. I haven't heard any discussion but it appears it should be a good harvest year for the grapes.
ReplyDeletemitch, it's even more impressive in person.
ReplyDeletewoody, there is also a lot of wild chicory out there, what I think you call corn flowers. I used to call them that when I was a kid in upstate NY.
evelyn, yes!
raybeard, there must be some in England, no?
mary, I hope so!