Grape Archives - Page 3 of 15 - The Winery at the Long Shot Farm

Berry Patches Revived

Posted on April 10, 2016

Despite the unseasonable cold weather (and snow), we managed to get a lot of work done on the farm this weekend. The most important task was to plant the remaining 100 Niagara grapes – so that plot now has 150 grapes in about .5 acres.

We planted 14 new blueberry bushes, slightly enlarging the patch near the barn, and replacing some of the previously planted bushes. We also applied aluminum sulfate to the blueberry patch, to keep soil acidity low in order for the bushes to thrive.

Our strawberries started shooting leaves over a week ago and the colder weather has not slowed them down. We cleaned up the patch and then covered it with straw, letting only the new leaves show through.

The elderberry patch also got a good “thinning out”. They need to be pruned almost like brambles (just not as often). Old fruiting canes need to be removed so that new canes can grow and bear fruit. And yes, we are still cleaning up and pruning in the blackberry patch – just two more rows to go!!

Planting Traminette

Posted on April 5, 2016

We had lots of helpers this weekend to plant 200 new Traminette grape vines. It did not take us that long at all!

Anja and Leif are planting

girls taking a snack break

We stuck to our “proven” method of planting vines, but this year, we surrounded each vine with cardboard (which we had been saving all winter), and then we covered the cardboard with mulch. Hoping that this will keep the weeds a bay and allow the grapevines a head start. It certainly looked pretty when we were all done.

Half the vines were grafted, using rootstock #3309, the other half was not grafted. We’ll try and document the difference in growing habits, disease resistance, winter hardiness etc.

Eastern Winery Expo

Posted on March 13, 2016

Jens and Tina each took a day off work to attend one day of the Eastern Winery Exposition – which is held in Lancaster every other year (the odd years are held in Syracuse). We split up for the educational sessions, so that we could cover the double track of seminars. Luckily we did, as there was a lot of good information! We also had time to walk through the exhibit area and talk to a lot of vendors.

Sessions that were especially useful were a track dealing with the chemistry, processing and fermentation of fruit wines; and a session devoted entirely to Chardonel,
which is a variety we recently planted. Other sessions dealt with filtering protocols for winemakers, and fungal disease prevention in the vineyard.

We ran into several winery owners we knew, met new ones and also met several of Tina’s former “classmates” from the HACC enology/viticulture program. Definitely a worthwhile day!

Planning a Bonfire – à la “Burning of the Vines”

Posted on February 27, 2016

We are planning a big bonfire…as soon as we have our grapevines pruned. As of this weekend, we think that we are one third done with the initial pruning (which is where the massive amounts of vines come from). As we prune, we keep the cut vines on several piles in the center of every other row. This eliminates driving the tractor through every row, which cuts down on soil compaction by the heavy tires, and makes it altogether faster.

We attached the pallet forks to the tractor bucket, and then scooped up a pallet. Jeff drove through the row, and Lars and I lifted each pile of vines onto the pallet. Toward the end, its more of a rolling, rather than a lifting effort :).

Lars then jumped on top of the whole pile, in a belly-flop sort of fashion, and his weight kept the vines from falling off as Jeff drove toward the “burning pile”. (it’s quite a balancing act for him).