trellis: done

There ya go. One grape trellis (for two plants), and yes, the ground looked just as overgrown as what is behind it before I started. This is at the site of my grandparent's place. I've gotten pretty adept at clearing, but you probably don't want to see all the briar scratches on my arms. I fortunately managed to get this project done before it started raining up there. The posts are 3 ft into the ground, and I dug out the areas in the middle where the grapes will grow, put down pea gravel for draining, some mulch for food, and piled the dirt back in.

I also prepared spots for apples. I had to gas up the chainsaw and cut down a few locust trees so there will be enough sun for them as the trees up there start filling out with leaves. Looks like Grimes Golden didn't work out. They're getting me Granny Smith instead. Tartness. April 9 is delivery day. Memo to self: get a sh#tload of cayenne pepper to sprinkle around to keep deer away (till it washes away). I'll have chicken wire as well, but the more the deterrance, the better.

Barley plants are starting to materialize. No word on when the hop rhizomes will be in.

This weekend I'll be starting potatoes in a barrel back home. I've got a couple of russets that are sprouting.

wine-not?

That's it. I'm dropping everything else and going into the wine business.

Apparently that was the sentiment of most of the other people who attended the Monticello class. Fortunately for them, Gabriele Rausse (the teacher), a native Italian who has grown grapes in the Albemarle County area for a couple decades, gave them a healthy dose of reality. Between the many diseases and hungry animals/insects all nefariously plotting against your investment (he estimates it would cost about $23K to establish a 10 acre vineyard, not including upkeep and maintenance), junk bonds seem to be a safer bet. Jefferson's own love of wine was one of several factors that helped drive him into debt. Pictured is a section of his vineyard.

Still, once I master the art of grape cultivation with those two concord vines, I could always expand ... OW. Just slapped myself across the face.

I got some great pointers on how to plant (like soaking roots overnight in copper sulfate to combat disease, shortening the roots, etc.) and a primer on pruning. Of course, there is patience involved since I can't expect any fruit for another 2-3 years.

After the class, we went to Mr. Rausse's place to try out some of his wines. Very impressive. Also daunting to see all the equipment that's needed for even such a small operation.

I think I've found a new favorite wine variety: Nebbiolo. Bit pricier than other varieties, but Mr. Rausse's was quite good and original ($35/bottle).

I've had decent luck this year starting my seeds indoors. This is what I've got sprouting so far:

riverside onions (transplanted 3/14)
Imperial black beauty eggplant
Sioux tomatoes
lettuce (transplanted 3/14)
stupice tomato
thai basil
bok choy (transplanted 3/21)
french dinant celery
slow bolt cilantro
sweet basil
Lebanese and suyo cucumbers
dukat pack dill

Outside, I'm looking for peas, spinach and carrots. There's much more to come. Unfortunately, the jalapeno pepper, Bolivian chile, and Italian parsley still have not sprouted indoors. Guess that means I'll be buying a few plants at the farmer's market.

historical geeky-ness pays off

I'm contemplating a "fake America" dinner in reference to the Palinites and in which I will veganize some cherished southern recipes. Searching for Jefferson's mac & cheese recipe, I found this announcement on the Monticello Web site:

"Mar. 20, 2010 Starting a Vineyard Workshop Gabriele Rausse will lead this two-hour workshop in the Monticello vineyards. He'll discuss the basic principles of grape growing -- variety and site selection, trellis systems, soil preparation, planting, pruning, pest control, and harvesting -- and provide beginning grape growers a foundation in serious viticulture. Reservations required; call 434-984-9880. Meets at the Jordan Classroom in the Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center, 9:30 a.m. $10."

Perfect timing, eh? Anyone is welcome to come with, but when you consider that I need to leave by 6:30 am on Saturday, I'm sure you'll much prefer having me tell you later how it went.

Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer

A couple of weeks ago, I was saying there was no way I could plant barley up at Ravenna with all this snow. Last week’s 60 degree temperatures changed that. But this weekend’s rains made me feel like one of the peasants stacking mud pies in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I’d had a grandiose goal of clearing a 40 ft square barley field. But, you see, mud gets heavy and is hard to shake off of shovels, rakes, etc. More importantly, I did not have as much barley seed as I’d thought. So the result was these two trenches instead of a square field. I removed all the sod, tilled and raked the rows, and planted the seeds. There’s no time to order more barley seed for this year. I’m just going to see how this much goes, what it yields, and then decide whether to expand my operation. It was a much easier time clearing the spots for my apple and grape plants.



Saturday morning, I thought the flood was going to get into screen house in front of my parent’s place. Didn’t happen. I’m very glad of that, since I remember painstakingly scraping all the mud off the concrete stones after the 1996 flood.

fruiting the plain

It's good to be somewhat acquainted with local agricultural representatives when you're contemplating big crops. As I've said, I want to plant apples and grapes at Ravenna this year. But what are good varieties for Allegany County and what are the pitfalls? (Besides disease, apparently it's deer and wild turkeys which are now hungry from the winter and eating anything with a bud on it.)

Enter Ben Cooper, county soil conservation planner who has advised my family on planting and maintaining trees to prevent erosion and improve the water quality of Town Creek. The creek is a significant contributor to the Potomac, so to all my DC friends drinking city water, I'll just say "you're welcome."

I called Ben up and it turns out he sort of knows me. "Yeah, I saw you clearing brush off the main road one day," he said. Yes, George Bush and I apparently at least have brush clearing in common. But I'll bet I'm more of a badass with a machete than he is. Then again, I don't use fire. I only go after vines and thorns.

There are no good nurseries in the vicinity, but the soil conservation folks are taking orders by Friday for an April 8-9 delivery. Ben recommended Grimes Golden. I also wanted to plant a red variety and chose Spitzenburg (I like hard apples, as well as Jefferson in spite of his hypocricies. Also, how can you possibly resist something that improves "drastically" as it ages?). The only grape variety they have is concord blue. Not great for future wine making experiments, but I'm in. Put me down for two.

The tiller awoke before dawn. He put his boots on.

Yes, I did visit Jim Morrison's grave when I was in Paris.

So I rented this tiller for 4 hours and went to work. I've got onion and lettuce plants I've grown from seed for about a month that need to go in soon. The lettuce plot will get a sprinkling of additional seeds soon after. I've learned with lettuce that it's good to have plants at different stages of development since they otherwise all tend to bolt to seed at the same time.

As I said in a previous post, this was an air strike against the deeply rooted "choker plant." I'll know in a few weeks how effective it was. Honestly, I don't think the mechanized tiller went much deeper than my efforts by hand, but it was a hell of a lot easier and quicker.

If you're playing close attention to the photo, you'll notice three significant changes from previous years. One is I redesigned the wooden planks. Originally they were meant to cordon off different sections and provide a boundary to the plot as a whole. I decided I needed wider walking paths instead (so you don't compact the soil and it's not such an acrobatic exercise to get around in there). The weeds were growing under the planks anyway. Somehow.

Secondly, I "moved the goalpost" - that trellis type thing I fashioned for peas. They never seemed to survive in the original location, so I picked a more shady spot near my neighbor's fence. I'm also going to try seeding them directly this year instead of starting them indoors.

Thirdly, in the background you'll notice my new Nissan truck. My Honda Civic was a beloved old friend, but since I hardly drive and need cargo space for tools, mulch and musical equipment, I finally overcame my sentimentality and gave it up. I cracked the front windshield twice trying to cram my bass cab into the front passenger seat which was the only place it could fit. Last month I did a gig with North of Canada in Arlington and equipment was no longer an issue. Now I just need to relearn how to parallel park.