Saturday, September 26, 2015

Grape Harvest 2015

We had a great grape harvest this year - weather conditions were perfect and harvest parameters were great for each of our varieties.

We started with our Concords, which we picked  over several days during the last week in August.  We sold most of them at the local fruit auction.  On August 30th we picked the last of them and pressed them for juice (some of which we fermented for some wine experiments).

Nothing beats fresh Concord grapes and juice!

We harvested Chambourcin grapes from our young vines on September 7 (Labor Day)- a bit early, as we are going to try and make some rose wine from these.

On September 13 we picked all of our Vidal Blanc grapes.  This was our first harvest from these vines and we are looking forward to some white wine experiments.  Next year, we should have a lot more as the vines mature.

And finally on the weekend of September 19 and 20, we picked the remaining Chambourcin grapes.  It kept us busy all month!  Now comes the clean up of the bird netting, the harvest bins and all equipment maintenance.





Saturday, September 5, 2015

Greenhouse turned Shadehouse


We planted Morning Glories along one side of the greenhouse and tied bailer twine from ground anchors to the top of the greenhouse roof.  The plants just found their way - and once they reached the top, they grew downwards.