Winter In The Vineyard

I have a photo in Catapult Magazine, titled Winter in the Vineyard.

We gathered for family time at the Maresh Vineyard Retreat in early January, and I wandered down to the rows of grapevines below the retreat house. At the end of each row, Martha Maresh had mounted a bird house--not just any old bird house--each of these are unique, decorated by different clay faces.

Martha tells me there are sixty-plus birdhouses, used by both the violet green swallows in spring, and by bluebirds year round. These birds act as gnat-catchers while they're living among the vines. Good way to cut down on insecticides!