Sunday, March 26, 2023

A Miracle


Will it work Part II

 It's just a little stick

He showed me how to prepare a grape branch for grafting






It is an especially sweet grape 





growing in the fertile soil, under spewing  Mt Etna Volcano.








We walked through the vineyard, always aware of the smoke rising from Mt Etna






See the rocks at the base of the barrels? 
 Mt Etna volcano reminds everyone who is  in charge. 

And what about that stick?
It came home with me to give to my neighbor who is going to graft it onto his grape stock. 

  What else do you give a neighbor who has taken such good care of my animals  and property while I was having a grand time in Italy. 

And now my neighbor has achieved the almost impossible.  
That dried up old stick I carried around with me has come back to life. 


 

Salute
Gina


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7 comments:

  1. MaryMarch 27, 2023 at 12:12 PM

    That's amazing Gina! Are you starting a vineyard? Looks like a lovely white grape.
    Oh Sicily, beautiful, historic, interesting Sicily. . . . . . .one of my favorite places and would love to return, for the wines, the pasta, the perfect pizza ever, the scenery!!!
    Mary X

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    1. GinaMarch 31, 2023 at 9:18 AM

      Not starting a vineyard. I have four adult Interlaken grapes growing on my property. They are more than twenty years old and still producing fine eating grapes. My neighbor wanted to take a few cuttings and that is why I thought of taking a cane to him from the land that grows the very best. You're right, Sicily is beautiful .

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  2. RosemaryMarch 28, 2023 at 7:47 AM

    Dear Gina - so pleased and delighted that your little dried stick, carried home from Sicily, has flourished and is now thriving for your neighbour - I am sure he will share the end results with you when he harvests his vineyard in the Autumn.
    Thank you for your lovely very sweet comment - I was really touched by what you saidX

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    1. GinaMarch 31, 2023 at 9:22 AM

      Dear Rosemary, Now comes the difficult part...growing in our harsh climate. If anone can do it, my neighbor can. The cuttings he took from my stock is not doing anything. We have decided that Fall was not a good time for grafting my grapes. We will try again in a few weeks.
      I'm so happy that you are all getting better.

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  3. Mary in OregonMarch 28, 2023 at 3:14 PM

    So glad you did make it to Sicily, Gina! And now your neighbor will always have a little remembrance of your trip. I learned how to graft when I studied horticulture. What a remarkable talent you have to have kept that "stick" healthy and to have succeeded in letting it regenerate in Utah.

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    1. GinaMarch 31, 2023 at 9:26 AM

      Dear Mary, I give all the credit to my neighbor. He is the one who took that little stick and four months later, it sprouted. We had another snowstorm last night. There is not a flower in sight.

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  4. KathleenMay 23, 2023 at 3:30 PM

    Hi Gina. Hope all is well with you.

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