Almost Springtime

It's been a busy Sunday here, as we slowly approach the coming of Spring. Each year my winter farm chore is to trim the 2000 plus grapevines. There are four fields, each field takes about a month. I start in December and save the largest field for March. This largest field consisting of Chardonel and Traminette grapes will take until April 15th to finish. Bud break is usually a week after that and the trimmings must be done before bud break.

It's a good winter job. Gives me an excuse to be outside in all sorts of weather. The vines are trimmed back to the cordon wire leaving a bud or two on each spur for the coming year's growth and fruit clusters. It is one of the few times in all the vineyard chores that each individual plant is examined. Often during the summer and fall the vines are treated as a mass, not as individual plants. Winter is the time of trimming, pruning, cutting out the dead wood, inspecting each plant for vigor and health and hand digging the fescue grass that has a tendency to accumulate right next to the trunk of the vine, hiding from the summer roundup sprays.

As the job progresses throughout the winter, it's interesting to see and hear the gradual change of the season. The ground is no longer frozen, the meadow larks have a certain urgency in their calls now, and the robins have begun to filter through on their way north. As I trim this year, I wonder how the plants will manage without my care for the next few years. Brother Joe has said he'd like to take care of them, but it may be more work than he'd expect. I also wonder if he'll enjoy the labor as much as I do.