Spring is here! spring is here!

And the frost chances have passed, so the vineyard rejoiced! I mean, look at all this celebrating!

We are so happy the frost chances are passed and the vineyard can really grow. This, in my opinion, is the most beautiful season. The heat is mild, the breezes are lovely (unless it’s some sort of spring storm brewing…then that’s too much!), and there’s finally some green.

so what are we doing in the vineyard?

Well, we finally finished the short pruning: every plant is pruned to the right amount of buds for the season. Now, we can go through and pluck all the new bud growth off of the trunks of the vines. We will generally monitor the vines as they grow too, including:

• cleaning off the trunks (we don’t want that growth for next year)
• straighten the vines on the wire
• somewhat comb the vines as they get longer, to allow for sunlight into the canopy where the grapes are developing all of that delicious flavor
• leaf thin to allow for sunlight into the canopy for the grapes
• train new cordons (see photo below) across the top wire
• tighten or untighten green ties on the plant as they grow and get girthier

So, there’s still work to be done, but for the most part we just get to sit back and watch the vines go!

winery update: after the storm

As some of you will know, Iowa had a flurry of strong storms sweep through the state. Fort Dodge was hit pretty hard, and 2 days later we are all still cleaning up. The vineyard was unaffected, but the winery got a bit of damage. Luckily, we are able-bodied humans who can clean up a mess and repair for now (until the insurance takes care of some proper repairs).

As it turns out, #amateurroofing is fun (say all of the amateur roofers)! The morning after the storm, everyone got up on the roof and fixed the damage so the show could go on. Aside from some very minor leaking, we haven’t noticed any long-lasting permanent damage, so we are thankful!

those are all the updates for now!

All of our events will go on, as regularly scheduled! So, get out here and relax after working hard to clean up that storm mess all week 🙂

with midbest love,

Meg