Howard-Hill Vineyard

Ethan and I planted over 740 plants today.  We started what I hope will be all the plants we need for our Spring garden and the beginnings of some of our Spring offerings in the new Nursery. I hope to have some traffic in March and there should be lettuce greens, beans, squash, cucumbers. and several other garden varieties just in time for the last frost date. Thanks for your help today, Ethan.   It was fun working with you today and discussing existential things. ~ Dad

2016 State of the Vineyard This year, Bill Howard and I were able to complete the pruning of the muscadine vineyard by February 1st.  That was a real milestone for us.  In years past we struggled to get half of the vines pruned before the buds began to swell in late March. (That is not a good thing.) We started cutting back to the fruiting nodes earlier this year and were intentional about completing the job before we got distracted with other tasks.  I was intentionally focused on this one thing. Being intentional got it done.   The "oldest" block in our vineyard was planted from 2009 to 2010, and it consisted mostly of 'Ison' and 'Seedless Fry' cultivars.  I was not interested in propagation of vines at that time, nor was I really interested in crafting my own wines.  I just planted seedless grapes that the kids might eat and their required pollinators. those vines turned out to be a great learning experience for us as we lost nearly 30% of wh...