Hello, Spring.
Pruning, pruning and more pruning! The last couple of months have been full of activity here at Tira Nanza. Winter rains have transformed the ranch from burnt black to luscious green. The wildflowers are blooming, and the days have slowly started to become longer and warmer. The unseasonably warm days of January gave way to much cooler months of February and March. What once seemed likely to be an early season has inched back towards normalcy with vine budbreak likely to be some time in mid-April. Along the way we pruned all of our vineyards, added two new livestock dogs to our team, and began construction on our new deer fence among myriad other projects.
Hand pruning almost 30,000 grape vines is definitely a labor of love but is probably the single most important thing we do in the vineyard each year. Through pruning, we make the decisions that will guide the vines growth over not only for this year but the one after it as well. Each plant provides the delicate challenge of optimizing this year’s growth while ensuring that we will have good positions when we prune the following year. If we leave too many buds, the vine will produce a multitude of small canes and clusters and spread its resources too thin to produce quality fruit. If we leave too few buds, we are both cutting into our yields and likely over-restricting the vine. Every cut is made with the intention of directing the plant’s energy into producing the ideal balance of vegetative growth to fruit, where the plant is able to produce fully ripened, concentrated fruit. Once the vines are pruned, we paint on a layer of an organic sealant that protects the pruning wounds from disease. We employ a few different methods of pruning in our vineyards but they all share the end goal of growing vertical shoots that create a canopy that perfectly shades the clusters growing below, while providing adequate airflow and light penetration.
Outside of the vineyard, we have been doing both a lot of work and planning on developing the other parts of our farm ecosystem. Our living room and shed have been transformed into greenhouses where we are starting hundreds of seedlings for our garden. We will soon be planting a vast array of vegetables, herbs and flowers. Some for consumption, some for pollinizer habitat, and some just to increase the natural beauty and biodiversity of our farm. Along those lines, we are in the process of bringing chickens, sheep, and goats to the ranch to help in a variety of ways, from providing eggs to fire control and weeding and fertilizing in the vineyard. In order to protect our future animals from the predators in our area we have adopted 2 livestock guardian dogs from our good friends at a nearby ranch. Luca and Lola are 12-week-old, Great Pyranees, Anatolian, and Akbash crosses that are currently learning the ins and outs of livestock protection from their mom and dad and will be moving to Tira Nanza in late May. In the meantime, we need to repair some fencing in the pastures and build a nice shelter for our working dogs.
Another large ongoing project has been the replacement of almost 35,000 feet of deer and cattle fencing that burned in the fire. The new fence is coming along, (with metal posts this time!), and should be completely finished in the next few months. The first priority has been the deer fencing as deer love to eat the young buds of a grapevine and can decimate a crop overnight. The cattle fencing project is forcing us to take a deeper look at our future grazing processes and determine both the most effective animals for the job and how and where to contain them. Our steep hillsides and vegetation make some sites optimal for goats while other areas are better suited for cattle.
Overall, the end of winter and these first few days of spring have been full of fun and incredible natural beauty. The land is already unrecognizable from a few short months ago and is truly beginning to look as it did before the fire came through. Life is returning to the ranch in a variety of ways. Over the last few weeks two geese have settled down by our pond and one heron has been passing through from time to time. Soon spring will be in full swing and the vines will be pushing leaves but right now we are thoroughly enjoying watching things slowly wake up and come to life.
Cheers,
- Greg & Sydney