Pruning the Vines, Part I
One of my least favorite parts of tending vines, but one that can’t be ignored. Pruning. It’s got the same ring to it as weeding for me. Except with pruning, I’m actually taking off parts of a healthy viable plant. With weeds you’re just getting rid of something that wants to take over your garden or yard and ruin everything. It’s not the labor part that makes me hesitate to go into the vineyard to lop off shoot after shoot of potential grape producing branches. It’s the fact that I haven’t mastered the skill of choosing what to cut and
Maple Syrup Season, Part II
Since Chad is tied up today with the boiling process, I am taking back over the blog for Part II of our series on the maple syrup season here at Bonaventura Vineyards. This year marks the most amount of snow still on the ground when we started boiling; Chad had to shovel out and around the evaporator. Once we have collected enough sap, we wait for a minimum of 30-40 gallons, we begin the process of boiling it down to remove the water. When the sap comes out of the tree it consists of only 2-4% sugar, the rest is
The Garden, Part I
This time of year we really start to think Spring here at Bonaventura Vineyards, more specifically Spring planting and our garden. Over the years both of us have kept gardens of varying sizes so once we moved here with all this outdoor space it is not surprising that we have planted a garden that has grown in size each year. In prior years the garden has been on the north side of the barn, in a spot where we believe the prior owners had theirs years ago; this year we are planning to relocate slightly, however it will still be