Enough

If you're genuinely interested in a thriving small winery culture in the U.S. please support the effort to stop HR5034, a bill now before Congress.

This bill protects a legal dinosaur, the three-tier system of producer-wholesaler-retailer, created at the end of prohibition back in 1933. It essentially gives wholesalers a monopoly to distribute wines from producers to retailers.

For huge wineries it can be a useful service. But it can kill small wineries before they even have a chance.

The beer and wine wholesalers lobby has made a practice of locking up legislatures nationwide, and now they're doing it in Congress. These shameless hucksters have invented scare stories that are designed for mindless regurgitation by political panderers of the worst kind who simply want to stay in office. Whether their actions support a free market and create more jobs through small family operated wineries or preserve a monopoly and create more wealth for robber baron wholesalers is immaterial to them.

This is the sole reason we have not developed our vineyard into a winery. We refuse to risk personal capital - even though it would create jobs and improve our local and state economy - when such mindless and capricious politicians buckle so readily to such intense and moneyed protectionist goons.

Early Pruning

It's an unusually early spring. We started pruning about 10 days ago, two to three weeks earlier than average.

Today we did about 650 feet of row, not a huge amount but enough after a day of actual work work.

Feels good to get back outdoors after a winter of indoor work.

And afterwards, a fitting dinner - Julia Child's choucroute garnie with smoked ham hocks accompanied by a couple of Left Foot Charley wines - first a gewurz and then a riesling.

Spectacular.

The Quiet Season

This is the quiet season for the vineyard, although if you were listening to the howl of the North and West winds, you wouldn't call this a quiet season. But it is. The vines lie dormant under an insulating bed of snow.

It's cold out there now, with our January thaw behind us. Fortunately the thaw days did not vary as dramatically as in 2003 when we had one March day where the daytime temperatures when to 39 to be followed by a minus 17 that night. The county froze out with most grape growers only reporting 10 percent of a full crop.

Instead we had a typical week of rain and melt, with a high of 42 but cool nights and no dramatic peaks and valleys.

As I look out on the vineyard in its blanket of snow I think of spring and its awakening. Despite the fact that pruning is demanding, back pain work I'm looking forward to that time when spring again bursts into view and the farm comes back to life.

We're harvested!

This was one year when it never seemed that picking time would get here. Our cold rainy summer didn't allow grapes to ripen as they normally would and even a lovely September couldn't move them along as quickly as we would have liked. A cold rainy October didn't speed ripening, but finally it happened, they were ripe enough to pick.

The grapes came off on Monday, despite less than favorable weather. That's about a month later than usual. Unfortunately that extra time on the vine gave some of the pests who feast on the vineyard crops including deer, fox, raccoons and birds, more time to eat their way through what was probably a less than average crop. Picking didn't take long and when you've worked and waited for the year's bounty, that's always a big disappointment.

Now it's time for us to reflect on what went right this year, what we could have done better and what we'll need to plan for next year to -- hopefully -- end up with a better crop. Farmers, my mother used to say, are the biggest gamblers, betting their livelihood on crops that are affected by so many factors outside their control. Maybe so, because we all believe next year will be better -- that's what keeps us going and keeps us growing.

The Joys Of Sprayer Repair

How many people on the planet get to repair sprayers? I'm fortunate to be among those lucky few.

The bypass line ruptured and it was leaking pressure the last time I sprayed, which made it a challenge to keep the nozzle pressure steady and get uniform coverage. Diligence prevailed at the time, of course, but repair was a must before the next spray.

It took all of five minutes and a 69-cent compression clamp. The results were gratifying - rock-steady pressure and tremendous coverage, which is perfect for the annual bloom spray.

Nozzles were replaced, new 50-mesh screens were added and it performs like new. It's not even 20 years old yet, so it's just getting broken in!

Bloom!

Finally we're at bloom. It's a good two weeks later than usual so we'll need a boatload of heat the rest of the season to catch up.

I did a bloom spray tonight to protect the emerging berries from a variety of fungi, primarily powdery mildew and botrytis.

Ah, the scent of diesel wafting o'er the blossoming vines.

After spraying the chardonnay, a glass of it sounded really appealing.

Well, okay - I may have another! After all, bloom happens but once a year and it should be celebrated properly.

Cool Weather Slows Other Crops

It's official. The National Cherry Festival in Traverse City will not have local fruit when the festival opens in early July. In a report in today's Traverse City Record Eagle -- check it out at www.record-eagle.com -- growers near Traverse City are predicting they won't harvest local fruit for a week and a half to two weeks. So the festival will have to import cherries from other growing areas, whether that's southern Michigan, Washington or Oregon. That's a dramatic contrast to last year when we did have local fruit for the festival and it's reminder of how cool this year has been despite a couple days of scorching hot weather last week.

That's also a reminder that as a farmer you're at the mercy of nature -- and nature can be capricious at best. Right now predictions for the next two weeks put temperature highs anywhere from the high 50s to the high 70s. Plus a couple days will be rainy. We need the rain but it's not the best time for fruit growers get doused and we do need the heat to bring those crops on. I'm envisioning a late harvest for everything this year, including the garden. The upside? I may not be sweltering the the August heat when I can.