GER102: Pruning the Vidal

We ended up at the vineyard this weekend, instead of my parents, as i have come down sick again. second weekend in a row, but it cant be helped. i slept all day yesterday and while i felt ok enough to go down to the farm today, we got there pretty late—around 1:30-noon. ger has scheduled the lot 11 pruning to be finished within 3 weekends, so its important to be at the vineyard. with the 2 acres to be planted in april, its important to use every weekend we may.

ger gave me a second lesson in pruning the 2 year old vidal in lot 11. up until this time, i had thought that the thicker canes were the ones to establish along the cordon wire, but that's not exactly so. some of the thicker canes had more than a hand's width between bud breaks. in those instances, ger had me look at a less thick cane that shot off from the thicker cane. if the buds were spaced tighter than the thicker cane, i was to clip off (oh boy) the thicker cane and train the thinner cane along the cordon. ger said that this would give us more fruit in less space with room to grow along the cordon for next year.

my head was too thick today to really feel like i would be making good decisions, so i made the best decision of the day. i told ger i would get the vines prepped for his final decision and training to the cordon wire. this meant i would choose which canes would stay and which canes could be snipped. if i couldn't decide between a thicker cane or a thinner cane, i would leave both and strip down the rest of the canes. it most likely wasn't the most time efficient way to work the pruning, but i felt better when i didn't have to struggle bending the vines to the wire—thats a bit nerve-wrecking when i'm feeling on top of my game.

uncle pete came over to check in and help us finish the last row. they had just returned from the west coast. he said they watched bottle shock on the plane—man, i wish that movie would show up on fios on-demand, but i don't think its gonna happen.

in the end we finished two rows, with a third of a row somewhat stripped. we'll work tomorrow, as well. i think we have 9 more rows to go. ger is in the wine room, racking the 08 and the boy1&2 have just finished roasting marshmellows. i planned on making bread pudding and working on kayleigh's sailor valentine, but i'm thinking maybe its just time for bed.

Procrastination

i've got plenty to blog, with over 1,600 pounds of seyval/vidal/viognier/marsanne/sangiovese harvested, processed and stomped. we had plenty of people helping with the harvest and stomp. i have plenty of images and stories—but i'm procrastinating. its that time of year and i always dork posting harvest. i'll get to it. meanwhile, enjoy my phrase-stylings on twitter. yes, i will get to it!

this weekend, we harvest touriga and tinte cao. looking for stompers!

Taming New Frontiers

hazy early morning in what we refer to as lot 11, the vidal vineyard, or the east vineyard

Our frontier acre of vidal is looking a bit more tame—a sort of civilization of shoots is growing from the lunar landscape of the previous year. the frequent rain we have been receiving has been a blessing in making sure the tender vines make it through their first year, so we haven't had to worry about getting water up the big hill. its been a pretty wet season so far.

compounding the lack of blog posts has been our heavy scheduling of graduations, boy2's birthday, maryland vineyard field days/girl1's birthday, momma's summer grad class [information management!], and boy1 fracturing his toe in two places. our precious vineyard hours on the weekend have been getting chewed up from bleed over of our weekday life. west coast pete has arrived just in time to get the leaf canopy management under control.

here is the last image i have of work i've been able to contribute to the vineyard. right after the several weekend of weekday bleed overs, boy1 fractured his toe and was unable to go to the vineyard. yes, those are plastic ties. remember when i was part of the bamboo stake pounding brigade? now the vines are starting their disciplined life of training to stakes, wires, and trellising. i walked the vidal vineyard, twisting the plastic ties around the bamboo stakes and the first cordon wire.




that day gerald worked in the vineyard with me, reviewing the health of the leaves and training the tender shoots to the bamboo stakes with plastic tape. the plastic tape is gentle to the vines—it doesn't cut or tear into the vine—but holds them firmly to the stake so they have good support as they clamber up to the sky. boy2 and i will be happy to have boy1 able to be back in the vineyard again. boy2 will have his playmate again, and i will be able to participate in the vineyard more fully. right now, i've been limited to taking images and doing an occasional walk-thru. but its also been great hanging with the boys outside the vineyard, working on my coursework, and catching up on old hobbies.

Perspectives

blackberry shoots spring out of the compacted earth

connie's post:
Its a warm february and life is thrown off by the confusing hot and cold signals nature is blowing our way. while the new vidal vines are doing their best to hit the snooze button and ignore the warmth, we have new plants growing to fill the tall tree vacuum from the previous year. most of them look like weeds and a few look toxic (check out those mushrooms!)—no doubt some are—but as the adage goes, a weed is just a plant in the wrong spot. above you see the start of a promising blackberry bush and there are many more of them. i'm planning to transplant them this march, down at the bottom of the hill to take advantage of the water run off. i like walking through the vidal acre, pausing and looking at the new plants, and it would be great to have a plant field guide to identify them all. i also have plans to resurrect the growing trays at home in order to get a head start on growing lavendar plants. i'd like to see how they would fare along the deer and small critter fencing. i think that's the thing with february. one gets antsy for green of any sort and then all of the sudden, you are growing mesclun in window trays. well, ok. that's me. i really dig having a southern exposure kitchen.

the post installation project in the vidal acre has been completed and the geometry of the posts in the field always makes me think of environmental art. while the proofing vineyard is cozy and intimate, the vidal acre in its infancy seems freakishly frontier-ish. it's wide expanse of dirt, sprouts, and tall fence postings and it reminds me of my childhood driving family vacations out west. the silliness of scale is only enhanced by the field being hemmed in by the surround acres of tall trees.

currently, we are in the middle of pruning our vines and that will be the subject matter for my next post. we have a much, much, larger job than previous years and we are learning quite a bit as we go.

The Talk Tall Trees Make

the exposed tall trees by the vidal acre.

Connie's Post
Often gerald will comment on how he feels the vineyard talking to him as he tends to it—he's referring to the high hum of the wind over the cordon wires, but i suspect he hears other natural conversations as well. and no, i don't think its odd, since i've experienced it as well—the sound of birds and wildlife telling you what time of year it is or the demi-roar of the wind as it whips over the fields of corn like wind on a sea.

i heard a new conversation on sunday, as gerald measured the fallow acre with his feet. the tall trees along the vidal acre were once supported by many other tall trees until last winter, when large sums of money took down a large portion of the wooded area. the tall trees that now stand at the edge are a bit cranky, being exposed as they are. the wind rushes over the hills and bends the tall trees heads together and they grunt and squeak their dissatisfaction at their new exposure while the supporting side trees murmur their sympathies. as i walked up the hill to my husband, i gave them a nod and a rueful shrug—sorry, but knowing what was done is done.

i hope they will grow stronger.

Birthday Weekend

Connie's Post
January had a bitter bite as i grew up in mighty MO. Zone 5 without global warming and nothing to stop the winds sweeping off the prairies will do that to a winter month. i remember short days of white, grey and black and pressing my nose against the window, sad to see the ice that kept birthday parties with relatives to a rarity. Nowadays, january is unexpectantly warm in maryland (zone 7 and a high of 50°) and birthdays are more pleasant. before we headed down to the farm on friday, we had a momma's birthday, special edition of backwards night. backwards night is subversive element we made up when there was just boy1, and is a revered treat for boy1&2. its very simple. we go to the mall and eat an ice cream cone with sprinkles FIRST (gasp!) then ride the indoors carousel one or two times and then eat dinner. whoa! blows your mind, eh? dessert first? decadent!

i was in the mood for decadence, though, and the best part was when we had dinner at saigon cafe (pho or grilled pork?) and the boys sang to me happy birthday together. that was the best. when we arrived at the farm house, it was still cold, but ger quickly made a fire and it put us right to sleep.

today we all went to the vineyard and while gerald made plans and measurements to finish the tool shed room walls, i walked the vidal eastern vineyard to see how the sleeping vines were faring. i remember walking the vineyard the year before and thinking of what a lunar landscape we had made in taking out the big trees and burning the debris. it looks a bit different now. the vines are sleeping well and for every yellow flag there is now a post, awaiting the cordon wiring for the vines to scamper up. vegetation is growing between the vine rows, all sorts of odd plants i need to look up and some grass as well. there are blackberry shoots struggling out of the compacted earth, with purplish sticker canes and leaves. they will have to be taken care of, as they are growing in the wrong spot, but they got me to thinking. i bet at the bottom of the vineyard hill, along the deer fence, i could put in several blackberry vines. they would be situated just right to take advantage of the water run-off and they would have the benefit of full sun and being inside of a fenced off area (muha-ha). so im going to look into that further, in mid-march, when it is best to transplant them.

after gerald and boy1 finished their preparations for the tool shed room, they joined me and boy2 in the vidal vineyard and we put in the remaining posts and removed the big rocks we dug up. ger and boy1 are now back in the vineyard, working while boy2 and i remain at the farmhouse. i'm working on a logo for a friend. later on, we will have champagne and ice cream cake. heh. i've waited my whole life for a birthday like this. thanks.

As We Walked In Fields of Gold

Connie's Post:
The sun had started the descent over the western proofing acre as the husband and his father finished running the deer fencing along the eastern vidal acre. they gathered up the tools and the boys. the husband's father left the eastern field with the boys as the husband walked across the field and helped his wife finish clearing the far floor of the vidal acre. it was another day of small but necessary progress.

the husband and his wife walked out of the vineyard and across the winter crop-covered field, pulling a hand cart behind them. the field starts with a gentle slope up to the old house but interspersed among the crop are wide plowing ruts that run long and parallel to the house. the tired wife giggled after several stumbles and subsequent cart yanking over the ruts. she commented, "what an awful field! but i like this yellow dry grass. it makes the field look so nice far away."

the husband looked up the hill and then down to his wife and started to sing:
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
as we walk through fields of gold

and then they laughed at the ridiculous thought of trying to run across the rutted field towards each other, arms out stretched. "this winter crop is barley," noted the husband. "sting has obviously never visited a barley field in his life," laughed his wife. then boy two, running down the hill to his parents tripped on a rut, and tumbled, crying for his momma to scoop him up. and so she did and so the day was done.

Marking New Territory

Gerald measures and marks the new vidal acre.

Connie's Post:

Gerald had an ingenious way of marking the new vidal acre. he used chain link rope, since the chain link wouldn't stretch. he then measured out the feet between the vines and attached a plastic twist holder. i held one end and he stretched the chain link length out. then he went through and marked the field with orange flags, each represents a vine to be planted. after each row was marked, gerald and i went through the field, straightening the rows vertically and horizontally. i knew we had straightened the rows correctly, as the flags aligned on the diagonal, just as i remembered from my old marching band days. go fort zumwalt panthers!

having the holes marked in advance made it much easier for gerald's dad to start drilling holes with the auger!
600 holes for 600 vines. gooooo, dad!

Far Afield

The field beyond the vidal acre.

Connie's Post:
Briefly, as it is late on Sunday. I'm slowly catching up on the weekends. This image gives a good sense of scope as to the immense task of clearing a portion of the hardwood forest for near future development.