Happy Earth Day but really, shouldn't every day be Earth Day?

Those who have been to the vineyard know that we have kids and dogs running around all the time (ours and everyone elses)!  We have families that come out and picnic, kids that walk down to the pond to catch frogs, a few friends that like to fish the pond and of course, we have started the 'walk in the vineyard' series so that you can walk through the vines with us!!  Given that, every day should be Earth Day!  We do our part with solar power for the deer fencing, blue bird houses, bat houses and owl houses to encourage natural pest control, minimizing the use of pesticides, and NEVER using restricted use chemicals.  We mulch the annual prunings, have a compost pile, use a combination of flame control and pulling weeds to manage the weeds (thank you volunteers) and if we need to spray, we use targeted spot applications using a small hand operated backpack sprayer.  We recycles all bottles (either at the bottle depot or by donating to local artists who reuse them to create new arts).  As we move forward with building the winery addition, we will continue to keep green principles in mind and we will incorporate small changes that make a big difference.  After all, we all want this to be something we can enjoy for years to come!  So, feel free to make suggestions, join us to work in the vineyards or walk in the vines!  We think of everyday as Earth Day and always think of the impact to Amrish and Becca as we make our decisions!!    Happy Earth Day!

Spring flings!

All winter long it felt like spring would never get here.  And now, it feels like we are speeding right along to summer!  The 70 and 80 degree days are bringing new faces out to the patio and bringing familiar faces back together.  This past weekend we enjoyed watching people who hadn't seen each other all winter get reacquainted and make plans to meet up again on a coming weekend.  Watching friendships develop and grow is such a great part of our winery experience.  This just reaffirms our tag line - Good fences made good neighbors, a Fence Stile makes neighbors, good friends!

Cheers!

Anniversary plans

Spring is finally here!  The pruning is done.  I read somewhere that there are about a thousand decisions being made in the process of caring for vines - how to prune, how much load to carry, one trunk or two, etc.  1,000!!  I don't know if it's a thousand but we made the first of many of these decisions for this season as we pruned.  We decided not to carry fruit this year on the Vignoles, the Vidal and the Noiret.  We will plan for a half harvest on the Chambourcin, the Seyval and the Concords.

To make sure we have room for our tanks for our harvest, we have also started the construction on the addition to the existing facility.  The holes are dug, the posts are in and hopefully, the concrete will be poured in the next week (weather permitting).

In the meantime, let's celebrate our first year as a winery!!  This coming weekend, we plan to unveil our new shirts, have some live music, cake (can't have a party without cake) and maybe even some fireworks.  The first year hasn't been without the ups and downs - the most recent one being the storm last friday that took down the patio enclosure we have.  However, those aren't problems - they are just small bumps in the road and stories that someday will turn into tales told around the firepit! 

All in all, the ups out-weigh the downs by a huge margin.  We have met some fantastic people, developed many new friendships and formed some close bonds.  This weekend, we plan to play a lot and celebrate!

Good fences made good neighbors, a Fence Stile makes neighbors, good friends!