Friday, May 7, 2010

5-4-10

WHERE'S THE BLUEBERRY BUSH?

FOUND IT!


SPINACH FLATS

RACHEL PRUNES PLUM TREE

FRAGRANT LILACS

ASPARAGUS HUNTING

DELICIOUS SPEARS

TASTE SENSATION

FIDDLENECK PARTY

THE ENEMY

Spring has sprung, which means high pollen counts, which means Aaron sneezing. He sneezed his way through planting 3 flats of seeds this morning. One had 72 places for spinach, and two flats had six spots for tomatoes and broccoli raab respectively. The seeds will live in flats for a few days until they hopefully all germinate, and then get transplanted into the greenhouse.

In addition to high pollen counts, spring means high weed counts. For Annelle and Thurston who know their way around the grounds, it's easy for them to spot plants. For us, it's harder because weeds and/or waste high cover crops are everywhere. In the middle of the morning, we weeded the immediate area around 6 blueberry bushes. We pulled out lots of mint and various grasses competing for sunlight that was in an 18-inch diameter surrounding the budding blueberry bushes. It was hot and difficult, but very satisfying as we could see instant improvement to the landscape.

As the morning progressed towards afternoon, we moved into the vineyard. We finished pruning the vines we started yesterday, and then began walking the entire 5 acre vineyard looking to tie down loose vines. With vines, we learned you don't get any good grapes until the 5th year. The first year is dedicated entirely to trying to grow the grape vine vertically. The next two years you try to train the vine to develop horizontal cordons along the stabilizing wires. The 4th year you try to have spurs develop evenly on each cordon facing upward. During each of the first four years, you cut away the fruit early on so the vine can put all its energy into growing a thick trunk with branches, and not waste its energy into producing immature fruit. From the fifth year on, you harvest grapes, and make sure the vines keep their proper spacing and shape. As they grow, you continue tying down cordons that may become loose. We tied a few loose branches to the wires, but will presumably spend several more days walking the vineyard making sure all the areas are securely fastened.

After a siesta, we finished the day by harvesting asparagus. Asparagus is one of our favorite vegetables, and harvesting for the spears was an incredibly enjoyable activity. We gathered a colander full and used them in our dinner. We roasted asparagus and beets in a bit of olive oil, and served them along with corn tortillas, lettuce, olives, spicy peppers, grated cheddar cheese, home grown beans, salsa, and home grown corn with onions, garlic, and red pepper for a "quatro de mayo" fiesta.

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