The Grape Grower

Lon Rombough is a self-taught student of grapes and a graduate of Oregon State. He has a master's degree from the University of California, Davis. His self-taught degree was earned in the field starting at age 13, when he grew his first grapes. As a graduate, he found employment in grape growing, but this occupation was less rewarding than that of his wife, a teacher. It was then that Lon Rombough got serious about what he had learned in school. If anything, what his father, a naturopath, had taught him trumped parts of his formal horticultural schooling. Breeding grapes became an avocation, then a profession.

"When I left school, the only jobs I could get in genetics were in places where I didn’t want to live," Rombough told Acres U.S.A. He stayed put in Aurora, Oregon. There he started developing the first of approximately 200 varieties of grapes.

He is now coordinator of Fruit and Nut Interest Groups, which consists of members who specialize, absorb new information, and pass it on. As coordinator, Rombough is in contact with growers in all states and many foreign countries. His book, The Grape Grower, recently won the 2003 award for "Best Talent in Writing" from the Garden Writer’s Association.

"There was a man named George Mitsch who lived across town. He was growing and selling grapes. He had the biggest collection around. He passed away in 1963, the same year I planted my first grapes. . . ."

The interview with Lon Rombough picks up there.

To read more visit http://www.acresusa.com/magazines/archives/0604Lombough.htm