Srambling to get it all done

Spring time is always incredibly busy on any farm, and we sure fit into that predicament. With the warmer weather and longer days comes lots of work in the vineyards and garden. Danielle ordered a large assortment of heritage vegetable seeds for the garden and every time I look at the box of seed packets, I get anxious wondering if we will get them all planted at the right time. We planted annual rye on our garden spot last fall as a cover crop. I picked up an 8 foot wide disk to try out on my John Deere 3120, which is my project tractor (like I really need another project) a couple weeks ago. I used the disk when I got it home to disk up half of the garden spot and now its ready for the rototiller if/when we get a few warm sunny days in a row.

The vineyard progress towards bud break in the two vineyards seems to be getting away from me. I'm just about half way through pruning the Chambourcin vines at the Naked Creek Vineyard, and hope to get them finished by Saturday afternoon (if the weather cooperates). I've pruned everything in the vineyard here at Spring Mill Farm, and my main work here is planting the vines I purchased from Grafted Grapevines and the cuttings I received from Cliff at Chateau Z. As I mentioned in a recent post, I planted the NY hybrid last Sunday. Yesterday aternoon, I was able to get the twenty-five vines of Petit Manseng. Last year when I planted the NY Hybrid, the Petit Verdot, and the Viognier, I really worked the post hole digger for the tractor too hard with the 24 inch auger. This year, instead of tring to dig the planting holes in hard unworked ground, I plowed each new row and ran the small pull behind disk over the row. I did that two or three weeks ago and the planting holes have been much easier to dig, even with the 24 inch auger. At some of the holes last year, it would take over a minute to dig the planting hole with the tractor. The auger would barely inch through the hard soil. After working the ground, the tractor is able to dig the holes in a few seconds. Much easier on the equipment and the operator!

Yesterday afternoon as I was gathering my equipment to plant the Petit Manseng, I noticed that the buds on cuttings of several of the varieties that I got from Chatea Z were really beginning to swell. I snapped the picture below of some Wine King cuttings. I really need to get them in the ground quickly. The temperature here is forecated to get down to 32 degrees tonight and it doesn't look like we will have anything that has broken bud if we get a frost., but it won't be long! I'm hoping that tonight will be our last hard frost of the season. I know thats a little ambitous, but why not be optimistic.

Wine King cuttings with swollen buds

Today, after work, I was able to get some more cuttings planted. I got the Delaware, Herbemont, Wine King, and Diamond cuttings in the ground. I've been putting three cuttings in at each vine location. I think that should be sufficient to be sure we get a live vine in each spot. Next Spring, if we have more than one live vine at any of these locations, I will transplant it somewhere.

I've also been amazed at the diversity of soil types from one end of the vineyard to the other here at the home farm. In the upper end of the vineyard, we have a darker brown loamy soil that is much more workable in your hand and appears to be richer. towards the end of the rows, the soil changes to a redder, heavier clay loam. You can see the diversity in soil types in the pictures below. I will be excited to see the difference in growth and flavor characteristics as the geology and microclimates of the vineyard change from one place to another. I've been trying to learn about the French term terroir, but I'm hessitant to use the term becuase of the snoby stigma that often time accompanies the concept.

Here is a excerpt from an article written by Jim Law of Linden Vineyard, which leads me to think how the soil and elevation differences thoughout the vineyard will impact the grapes to be harvested:

"Does terroir exist in the East? Of course it does, but expressing it and understanding it takes more time than most of us will spend on this earth. Over the last 7 or 8 years I have been fairly consumed with the expression of terroir in my wines. I feel as though I have made some good progress, but have a lot to learn. France is my model, but I don't like to use the term terroir only because of the snob factor. I prefer to use "place" but I use the two interchangeably. I would like to share what I have uncovered and where my focus will be in the future."

The soil is a red clay loam here. Note the 24 inch auger.

This picture was taken in the same light as the previous one. Notice how much darker and friable the soil is.

The more I try to learn about the small nuances and differences that can be caused by geology, the less I feel like I know. If I get nothing else from my vineyard work, I will sure get a lesson in geology.

I've yet to learn as much about the terroir and microclimate differences at the Naked Creek Vineyard. I have not studied the soild there nearly as much since it is a mature vineyard with permanent cover crops. I'll try to get my hands dirty a little more there this year.