Pruning as fast as we can!

With the unusual good weather, we've been able to get quite a bit ahead with the pruning.  The vineyard crew has been working non-stop from 8 to 4!  We only have five in the team tough, so it's not going very fast. The shortage of workers seems to continue on since harvest , unfortunately -- but thanks to the rainless days, we are on schedule. Rain is forecast later in the week, though -- but we need it, so no complaints!

The vineyard crew deep into pruning

Almost all of he 'Earthquake Block' is pruned!

With the Chardonnay vines already pruned, our home overlooking the vineyard looks beautiful in the mist

We love jumping over the cuttings with our friend Molly - Tony's dog

And Bonita can't stop running on the cover crop!

We heard Tony say that we got a glowing report from the CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) inspector, on his annual visit to renew our Organic Farming certificate. he does spend a long time checking everything!  The CCOF does actually an excellent job in keeping organic certified farmers in check -- did you know that their organization's organic certificate is the strictest in the entire world??

Our first visit to the vineyard in 2012!

January 10, 2012
It's been a while since we last told you about what was going on in the vineyard! Well, Mom wrote the Harvest Report right after we finished picking (while she was in Spain!) and after that, not much happens until pruning time - which is now. So we had our first visit yesterday, with Zach and Tony and the vineyard team, at our Dona Margarita Vineyard in Sonoma Coast. Here are some pics to illustrate it:

The team (minus Mom, taking the pic) reviewing the vines to decide on the pruning

The cover crop of barley we planted right after harvest is growing very nicely!

This poor little bird had the bad luck of crossing Bonita's way! Thankfully we rescued him -- but can you tell what Boni & Chico are thinking??

We had a ton of fun digging the ground for gophers -- can you tell from my nose? -- and almost got one, honestly!

And after the visit, we went down to the stables and visited with our friend Kristen, the trainer - and her dogs Riley & Mayday, our good friends!