The Chambourcin have turned color and the birds are starting to hover around our grapes. From the ones that I've tasted so far, I can tell that these will be delicious. The seeds are looking great as well. Unfortunately, the birds seem to have the same opinion. We are beginning the netting process today. We have ordered our nets and we're putting 2x4x5ft on the tops of all the posts to make sure that the nets don't touch the grapes. If the nets touched the grapes, then the birds could hop on the nets, stick their little beaks into the grapes, and have their way with our harvest. I'll take some pictures of this process so that if any of you out there have the Geneva Double Curtain, you'll be able to see how we protect from the birds. I know that when using the VSP, they attach a movable fruiting wire or a separate wire to keep the netting at bay. I hope we don't need to install wire that run from 2x4 to 2x4. But we'll have to see. A big shout out to our local vineyard supply (Orchard Valley Supply) and lumber yard (Morrison Bros. Lumber) for getting us the supplies we needed in 48 hrs at a very cheap cost!
The garden is going well and business is really picking up. We now have watermelons and okra (giant, mini, red, and regular). Squash vine borer has about decimated all of our squash and zucchini plants at the Poplar Tent garden, but I'm so sick of those plants that I'm ok with that. We have a second planting growing in the garden behind the vineyard and those are more than fulfilling all of our needs right now. I will probably do a final planting so we can have squash into September and October. I remember at NCSU, we planted some Zucchini in the first week of September and we were eating it until the first frost in late- November!
The deer have also made a showing in our corn. Luckily, we got most of it out before they arrived. Sadly to say, we are out of corn. We've been selling Carlos Moore's corn for the past two weeks. It's done well, but we're also out of it. If you have any corn for sell, we'd love to put it at our stand!
We suspect that our grapes will sell quickly, so if you are interested in purchasing some for your own winemaking needs, please call 704-782-2117 to reserve them.
A special thanks to Lorraine Shannon for the lovely photo at the top of our page!
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