It's hard to believe it has been over a year and a half since our well was drilled. Katie and I were lucky enough to be on hand to see the very first water finally come out of the ground a few weeks ago! Since the video below was taken, the well has been hooked up to the storage tank and is slowly filling it up.

I'm extremely excited to announce that Katie has officially joined the cause! She has done an enormous amount of work over the past few months helping to get everything ready for planting. In retrospect, there is absolutely no way I would have gotten everything ready if it was just me doing everything.

Remaining tasks before planting include: finish making holes for the vines, put together all the piping/tubing/pumps/valves for the irrigation system, get 6,000 steel posts put in for the vines to be trained up, don't get eaten by a mountain lion (a young male was spotted inside the fence last night, March is mating season and the juvenile males tend to wander outside of where they would normally hang out)

We are getting VERY close to planting time and I am extremely excited about it. So many of you have already booked flights and that makes me incredibly happy. We are going to have an unforgettable time. Very soon, a bunch of details will be sent out to everyone who has confirmed with me that they will be coming out to help plant. If you are planning to come but have yet to confirm with me, please send me an email.

Here are a few more fun pictures taken since last time.

Like me, Lulu loves wine and loves to sleep.

When I was a a little kid I used to love to take apart old computers. Back then, I never put any of them back together. Wiring this controller for the irrigation system was fun though :)

I'm starting to understand why farms, etc. always have junk laying round everywhere, and this is in Houston, 500 miles from Alta Marfa. I guess farming is a state of mind.

Found this beauty up on top of the hill.

PVC playtime! Assembling parts for the irrigation system.

27. We Have Water in the Desert!