Terracing Story
After a visit to Sicily in 2006, Tom and Frieda were inspired to transform their juniper and ivy-filled hillside behind their house in the San Francisco East Bay area into a terraced vineyard. In 2007, Tom cleared the hillside of every shrub, tree, and all the tangled vines. Then, starting at the very bottom of the west-facing slope, the first terrace was dug out by Tom, by hand, with pick-axe and shovel. They both took turns hauling 25-lb blocks down the hill in a huge cart, a dozen or so blocks at a time. The base layer blocks were placed by Frieda along a straight string and were leveled, one block at a time. Blocks were stacked and glued to form the very sturdy retaining wall. They continued up the hill to dig, set, and build 6 levels of terraces. Then, over several years extending the terraces to the long southwest facing side of the hill, and adding two more levels below. Two determined people worked on weekends, vacations, in all seasons and weather for years, until they completed the terracing in February 2015 and the vineyard was planted in the spring of that year.
