John Manion, Beloved Husband, Winemaker Extradronaire, VP Liquid Assets

It starts with sunlight, a good grape varietal, blessed terroir, knowledge to bring it together, and a lot of help from our friends and family! Viola, a wine that is fine!

Our backyard vineyard idea was a landscape solution to begin with. Could we really grow a pretty vineyard to look over, that would have four season interest, be drought tolerant, and maybe yield a good grape for a nice wine. A grand experiment that luckily has worked out well, and ultimately created a nice lifestyle for us at Domaine de Manion.

We use to enter a lot of home wine competitions, and did well with medals and awards. Later, my husband, John, was even asked to judge some of these competitions. With judging duties and the pandemic, we stopped entering our wines.

This spring for fun, we entered two of our wines in the 2022 Orange County Fair Home Wine Competition. We were surprised when we received a Gold Medal for our Syrah 2020 and a Bronze Medal for our Syrah Rosé 2021. We knew our wines were drinking well. It reinforces we are managing the vineyard well, and doing right by the grapes. John is a great winemaker, and he has a nice style with his wines.

Hail to the winemaker! The wine is fine!

Related Past Posts:

Hail to the Winemaker

Surprise at the Orange County Fair

Anticipating One’s First Grape Harvest

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

An Avocado Stump Becomes a Statuary Pedestal

I love to repurpose things for other functions than they were originally intended. Usually it is vintage or antique pieces, but in this case a tree stump. I love trees, and try and nourish and manage them as best I can. Sometimes severe weather, a tree planted in the wrong place, or maybe just “the end of a life cycle” for a tree dictates that it must come down.

Such was the case with a few of our avocado trees on our property. Originally, I believe, our property was a working orchard with rows of avocado and macadamia trees. We still have our incredible macadamia trees, but the avocado trees were on their last legs when we bought our property. After a few years, I realized these avocado trees were never making a comeback.

Rather than cutting the tree at the soil level, I thought to use it as a base for a high boy table at first, and left a tall stump. This goes along with the intertwining “beauty and function” philosophy of French Country living. “It must be beautiful, and also functional.” The high boy table idea, didn’t work out for me, but ultimately it provided the perfect pedestal for my “life like” horse statuary. A tree stump is beautiful, timeless, and functional in many creative directions. I began to landscape around the horse and pedestal, planting three Italian cypress in 15 gallon pots in the ground to keep them somewhat small, and adding a climbing rose that now has support. It became a small vignette.

A Tree Stump Provides a Perfect Spot for a Resting French Lapin

With another nearby failing avocado tree, I was going to create a little garden chair with a stump, but ultimately decided it was a perfect spot to nestle and elevate a peaceful statuary French lapin. There again it provides beauty and function and a nice focal spot for this particular garden room. All timeless.

If you have a tree that has to come down, think first about what you could creatively make using its stump. It has had a history on your property, and it can continue repurposed in a different way and function. I have seen beautiful wood bars and/or furniture made from felled trees. I mentioned a few ideas, but the possibilities are endless.

My point here is not really about tree stumps, it is suggesting to you to keep an open mind about repurposing objects and things, and keep your creative mind flexed about possibilities all around you in your world. In other words, keep the concept “lemons into lemonade” flowing. You never know what wonderful unique piece or solution could evolve for you with your home and garden.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

New “A Frame” Fencing Over Raised Beds

I started this potager or vegetable garden on the north perimeter of our property from virtually a blank slate. I enclosed it with willow fencing, planted a privacy Podicarpus landscape wall, built raised bed kits, created pathways, irrigated, and further planted climbing roses and tree topiaries. It faces a sunny south exposure, and it worked. I was able to grow a lot of wonderful seasonal vegetables.

Eventually the word got out amongst the squirrels, there was good eatin’ at the Manion potager. This year we have live-trapped and relocated 21 squirrels to better digs. It didn’t help. I love wildlife, and closely observe the little ecosystem around us with great pleasure. See below for a related post.

My husband, John, made these “A” Frames over our raised vegetable beds. Actually, this idea came from my uncle, on his property in upper Wisconsin. These “A” frames are time consuming, but really are protective of your vegetables. Each side is a 4’ x 8’ frame (for a 4’ x 8’ raised vegetable bed) with matching triangle ends and support. The screen is 1/2” wire hardware mesh, which is stapled onto the framework. Two hinges at the top of each side allow you to lift up the side and work on your vegetable beds when you need to. Hook and eyes on each end are further security from any bandits trying to get in. It is a pretty simple design that is very effective.

I have experienced different pests, insects, and wildlife through cycles in my garden. One year I experienced a lot of tomato worms. One year I saw a lot of delicate dragonflys. One year rabbits were really a problem. Right now it is squirrels. So I know this too shall pass.

In the meantime, I am securing everything I can with chicken wire, and hardware mesh. Please share if you are having trouble with wildlife in your garden.

Related Post:

Eyes on You

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

May 2022 South Garden Facing North. Poppy, Where Did You Come From?

Quite a few years ago I was given some oriental poppy seeds. Some were red, and some were purple. All were beautiful and delicate when they bloomed. Poppy seeds are very tiny like carrot seeds, and benefit before sowing, to mix them with sand. From that one sowing of poppy seeds, the poppies come back each year. However, it is always in a different spot, different number of poppies, and different blooming. It is a mystery of where they will spring up. This year one sole red poppy has sprung up and bloomed beautifully in my South Garden.

I said to myself, these poppies sure have a mind of their own. Then I thought, there are some life lessons and musings in the way these beguiling poppies conduct themselves. Maybe you will sport a smile and agree.

It is okay to stand out in a crowd. We are all very special and unique in this world. No one is exactly like us. Remember to be your best of who you are, and not anyone else. You will never be a “wallflower.”

Follow your bliss, and everything else will fall into place. We make our own everlasting joy and happiness, and it comes from within us, not from external circumstances or material things. Bloom because you are happy.

Make each and every year different, in what you do, what you experience, and where you go. Keep your life vibrant in trying new things, meeting new people, reading, and traveling. Bloom in a different spot each year.

Persistence is everything. Even if you don’t have optimum circumstances, sheer persistence and perseverance is on your side, and you will bloom.

Be authentic to yourself and others. Don’t try and be something that you simply are not. An oriental poppy will never be a groundcover verbena.

Life is fleeting. Enjoy each and every day. Live in the “now” and “present” as much as you possibly can. You may not have a tomorrow, but you bloomed in magnificent beauty today.

You might look different from others, but we are all part of, and connected to this beautiful universe. Be careful not to judge by appearances. Everyone is beautiful in their own right, and everyone has a reason they are part of this beautiful universe. Be a beautiful poppy.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. A little bit of humor goes a long way in easing tension, lifting one’s spirits, and creating moments. A red oriental poppy couldn’t be any further from the design of the South Garden. Red oriental poppy makes you stop and chuckle.

Stand up for yourself and what you believe in. No one else is going to take up your mantle. Be passionate, and make a difference. You might see red, but I am a strong and determined red oriental poppy.

Don’t be hard on yourself. “You are enough.” You might not understand the circumstances that allowed you to grow and bloom, but the fact that you did is a gift.

Embrace change. Life is all about change. Don’t worry. Don’t fight change, rather “go with the flow of change.” Everything seems to work out just about the way it is intended to, in the end. If there is only one beautiful red oriental poppy this year, maybe there will be more next year.

April 2019, South Garden Facing West

May 2019, Main Pathway, Purple Oriental Poppies

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Vines Now Nearly Hiding “Coop de Manion”

The last time I mentioned our vineyard, Prepping the Vineyard, it was March and pruning had just finished. In a few months time, the vines have exploded in growth. In fact, you can hardly see the chicken coop through the vigor of the vines.

Vines Before In Spring After Pruning

I often joke that grapevines are like weeds, and they are. Besides all this growth vigor, the vines are flowering and tiny grape clusters are forming. It looks like it is a good fruit set for this year.

Grapevines Flowering

I really enjoy how the vineyard looks in the spring. The vines are a lush vibrant green, full in canopy, stretching for the sky, and basically happily unbridled.

Rows of Happy Grapevines at Domaine de Manion

Now as the vineyard marches toward harvest, the grapevines get down to business further maturing in canopy, growing the grape clusters, verasion or coloring of the grapes, and the ultimate ripening of the grapes in sugar brix for harvest.

It has been fun sharing the vigor of our vineyard. Is there something in your garden that explodes with vigor that you look forward to each year?

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Courtyard Iceberg Roses at Domaine de Manion

It is hard to believe we are almost through the first half of 2022. Soon it will be summer time, and life seems to switch gears. Take some time, to pause, and appreciate all that is in your life this year. Have you already accomplished some of your intentions you composed when 2022 was just days old? Are you on track to do the things you want to do? Have your priorities changed? Do you need to make a course correction? Are there things that need to be eliminated, or added? Are your days filled with joy?

All good questions to ask yourself now, so the last half of 2022 is everything you want it to be.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Open Your Eyes to the Eyes on You

Working in the garden is my zen time. The garden pulls me in, and I can spend hours before I know it. Yes, I do listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and music, but I also listen to nothing but the thoughts that come in my head and live in the present. It is such a gift. Living in the now, or present is where you are suppose to live, as hard or as easy as it is for you. So many good, good things come your way when you live in the present. One of them is heightened awareness, which is another special gift.

I can be busy in the garden, and suddenly I feel like there are eyes on me. An uncanny awareness of being watched. Sure enough, if I follow that feeling quickly I soon experience whose eyes are gazing upon me, and I am surprised. Sometimes it is a lazy lizard, a little bird, my favorite hawk, or tracks that are only left behind. The wonderful creatures in my garden watch me, as I watch and am aware of them. There are many, many creatures large and small who call my garden “home.” Here are a few.

My imagination creates personifications for the treasured wildlife and their roles in my garden. The songbirds are the musicians singing so sweetly in the morning and into the day. The lizards are the comedians, lazily lounging in the funniest spots and often displaying territory muscle with their “push ups.” The hawks are reigning royalty soaring high above it all. The squirrels are pirates unabashedly eating my young vegetable seedlings and stealing away treasured macadamia nuts. The gophers and rabbits are just “sneaky” troublemakers and are forever challenging, keeping me on my toes. The coyotes and gopher snakes are policemen, keeping a good “check and balance” in the garden. The night owls serenade me to sleep, and remind me of a day well lived.

St. Francis Watching Over the Wildlife, the Garden, and Mother Earth

My Favorite Hawk Always Perches Atop the Torrey Pine

Coyote Tracks and Gardener Boots in Our Sandy Soil

Lizard On Top of Stone Toad, Real Life Mirroring Imaginary Life

Open your eyes to the creatures in your garden, and you will be rewarded!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Past Related Blog Posts:

Welcome To My Garden (2009)

Follow the French

Cooking Class Silent Auction Item at Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito Fundraiser “Springtime in Paris”

The Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito is having their annual fundraiser on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Westin Carlsbad Resort & Spa, 10:30am to 2:00pm. This year’s theme is “Springtime in Paris.” There will be a luncheon, fashion show, and silent auction. Their silent auction has many wonderful items to bid on, including one of my cooking classes for 8 people, and also a case of our assorted award-winning Domaine de Manion wine. For more information and online ticket registration, please go to “Springtime in Paris.”

Your support will help the Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito: Provide scholarships for graduating seniors. Clothe school-age children with new clothes and shoes. Provide new clothes and toiletries for survivors of sexual assault. Prepare preschoolers for Kindergarten. Provide hand-knit layettes for military families. Provide cuddly bears for trauma victims. Such a great cause, helping make a difference in so many ways. If you can’t make the luncheon, you can make a donation online. I hope to see you there!

Fun & Fundraising at Point Loma’s Garden Walk

Have fun, and benefit the Division of Plastic Surgery Craniofacial Services, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego. Part garden tour, part marketplace, part fundraiser, and a great way to spend an April spring day in Point Loma. For more information and purchasing tickets online, please go to Point Loma Garden Walk. Group tickets of 10 or more are discounted.

For more information and inquiries on my cooking classes, please visit www.bonniejomanion.com

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie