My Life on the Mountain

For those who ask how do I spend my time? I spend my time from October through May keeping two stoves and sometimes a fireplace lit. Occasionally when they're going well I play some music or cook some food.Child Ballad #209; As I walked out over London bridge one misty morning early."

Not surprisingly after we filmed and got all of that done a blockage developed in the 1100 foot line from the cave to the house so now we have no water even though we have power. Things are usually difficult up here but it's hard to explain to people how they are usually more difficult than normal circumstances when you're living on top of a effing mountain !
Now I get to run a new water line from the cave to the house which is going to be so much fun since it has to be buried in the next 30 days...

It was-5 degrees when I filmed this

Now you get to see why I love this place. Although the the house itself is interesting enough it's the location on such an enormous and beautiful property that makes it.

That would make this the fifth farm in the world that is growing this particular endangered species of grape. My seed. Stock comes from a 1717 Spanish mission in southern California then to an 1840s vineyard and it was abandoned sometime in the last 50 years and then my cousin has been growing them since then, and sent me over 50 cuttings. There are two Spanish monasteries that still have plants growing from the late 17th century they produce fruit occasionally and they are grown on three or four farms in California (and my cousins backyard) and my place in Virginia and that's it. Extremely rare and historic variety. It produces a clean white wine, a very good Pinot noir, a dry red, and a port, or a marsala or Madeira.
I also explore the house next-door on the other side of the property. I have a picture of it somewhere I'll try to find it and what it looked like 25 years ago when it was still standing. There were once a dozen houses on adjoining parcels that were all the same family but now there's only about three of them left my house is in the middle of the three and the oldest one.

A better view of the remaining gardens and the solar system. The flower beds are gladiolus, irises, red hot pokers, day lilies, sweet peas, tiger lilies, rock lilies, daffodils, and the Star of Persia.

The whirling sound i think is an owl. The opening shot is the breaks interstate park. The recent award makes this the only old growth forest in the western half of the state, one of only five private owned in the commonwealth.