Chardonel Grapes are Ripening

First Blackberry Blossom

Easter Egg Hunt in the Vineyard

This may well be the Easter egg hunt to start an annual tradition:

The Mulch Spreader

Anja and Duff bought a brand new mulch spreader, from Millcreek Manufacturing, and it was delivered to the farm this morning.  We will be using it on all three vineyards, which are fortunately located within a half mile radius.  It took us two days to mulch six acres of grapevines.  And the mulch pile, which we had been amassing for two years, dwindled to nothing!

Here is a link to a video showing how it works.

Beautifully mulched grapevines!!

Planting more Grapevines

The last few weekends were spent planting more grapevines. We had prepared the ground already, but still  had to mark the rows, as well as each spot for the vines.  Then we dug out a deep enough hole for each rootcluster.    The first weekend, we planted 200 additional  Traminette vines at  Anja & Duff's ground, and last  weekend, we planted 150 Chambourcin vines (grafted, on rootstock 3309) at the Long Shot Farm.  Everyone helped and it did not take us that long at all!

Toben (7) helps to make holes for the vines

We must have made some math error because when we were all done, we still had space for another 50 or so vines.  Luckily, Double A Vineyard had sufficient grapes left over, and shipped them out  right away- so those stragglers got planted today.

After we had planted all the vines, we used our plastic layer, and covered them - then we had to go through and poke holes for each new vine to stick out.  We are hoping that this will help in case we run into another drought like last year.

Duff checks out his newly planted Traminettes

Barn Remodel Week 5 and 6

We got the back side of the barn done!  Replaced the upper vent with a window and re-attached the rain spouting.  The only mishap was one nail out of the nail gun missed a board, went inside the barn, where it ricocheted off a wine barrel and shattered a window pane from the inside.  But we got it fixed and all looks good now.

Now we will work on taking the old silo down!

Sadly there will be a bit of break in the barn progress, as we are waiting for warmer weather to stain the remaining boards for the front of the barn. Hoping for May to get this done.

Barn Remodel Week 4 - Windows! (and Lower Side)

A lot of progress was made this week:  the entire lower side (above the crush pad) was covered in boards and battens, and we put in three large windows where the old hay doors used to be.  We also added a window next to the entrance door on the upper side and four large windows were framed in on the back side!