On Wednesday I loaded 5-gallon buckets and headed over to the Vineyard in a quest for sand and pomace. The area was covered by water thousands of years ago and a massive amount of sand was deposited at places in the slowly draining lake.
The image below shows “Trinidad” as the local name. Look for the blue star at the upper-right. The Columbia River is at the upper-left corner. Left of the blue star are the vines with house and winery near the center. Railroad tracks are next to the grapes and the place was used as a RR stop, source of fill, and repair (?) building. Someone with the Great Northern Railway thought it was geological and physical similar to Trinidad, Colorado, thus the name.
Soon someone used the setting, terraced a few roads and made a property platt map. Back on the East Coast lots were sold. Twice. All a scam. The railroad was relocated at one time and the new work cut through the sand and into a layer of basalt. That’s just down from the vines in this image. Other than that – it is all sand. There is much fine material, apparently blown in after the water drained away. Then the area was windy, dry, and unvegetated.
One of the by-products of making wine is pomace. Stems, skins, and seeds. The seeds are called “pips” – reason unknown to me. 
These have unique shapes and are a focal point in archaeobotanical studies, because of these well-known differences and because they often are the only remains that are preserved. I think of the whole mess as soil amendments. In this case it is not composted. It is left in large bins after “the crush” and thrown on the ground in the spring or summer.
I loaded 8 buckets of pomace (~300 lbs.) and 10 buckets of sand {from the blue star spot} or about 800 pounds.
Then we had lunch, followed by a trip to COSTCO in East Wenatchee, about 25 miles up river.
Thursday morning I unloaded and added pomace and sand to the top of my new asparagus bed, followed by a heavy watering.
My favorite grocery store had a sale of ground beef. Large packages, about 4 pounds [limit 2], were on sale for $2.99 per pound. Sunday morning, I made a crock pot of chili, and froze the rest in one pound packages.
I still use the wood stove. Low temp during the night was 41° and the high today was 64°. 
I did a little work outside in the wind and cold, mostly cleaning up dead wood of a large Elderberry plant. The stems have a soft center and the larger parts will be hollow. Compared to many trees, the heating value is lower, but it dries and starts a flame easily.
And now I need to add something to the stove.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.