la gramiere

Weedbadger in action!

This spring has turned out to be one of the busiest yet, and we are just now getting to the "weedbadging".

Here's a short video with my silly commentary.  As I explain in the clip, Matt is in our biggest vineyard which is planted very close together so he cannot use the automatic sensor, so it's a stressful job.  Not only does he have to be careful that the machine doesn't become the "Vine Badger"  he also has to keep the tractor as straight as possible so that he doesn't drive over them!!  I have yet to try, since I found plowing in a straight line a challenge, I can't imagine what I would do with the Weedbadger!

Getting those weeds! from Amy Lillard on Vimeo.

We have flowering!

Yep, as of last week, the roussanne vineyards were in full flower, now this week pretty much everything is except for the mourvèdre.  I've been spending my mornings out there working on the wires in the 3 vineyards that are trellised, well, I finished one and am on to the second, as always I'm behind in the spring!  Here are some pictures of the roussanne in bloom, last week it was quite hot so I was out there at about 6:30 every day to work until noon, then came home to escape the heat.  The temps have dropped so far this week which is nice, but after an unannounced and unexpected rain on Sunday I had to treat the vineyards yesterday and today.  This morning it started out pretty calm but by 8 am the wind kicked up, the sprayer was full though so I had to keep going... I came back home with a nice blue tinge on my face and arms from the copper.  I scrubbed and scrubbed, but I still smell like sulfur, ugh!

The rest of the week I'll be out there grappling with those unruly vines...

Click on the photos to see them larger, they don't really show that well here.  below are the before and after shots of the rows when I am putting the wires up and thinning the shoots.  The last shot is the aftermath of thinning the shoots.