Bracing

We're bracing for bracing weather. The news and weather people have been warning us of a frigid Siberian air mass heading our way for the past few days now. And tomorrow's the day! There's not a lot for us to do, actually. We've covered (and re-covered) our little fig tree. Everything else is on its own.

The annual winter taming of the grape vines is under way.

Meanwhile, pruning continues in the vineyards around us. More and more vine rows get done with each passing day. The cut canes get lined up between the rows and will be ground into mulch in the coming spring. Growers used to burn them as they cut them, but I think that practice has gone out of favor in the interest of air quality.

The remaining single canes will eventually be bent to the horizontal and attached to the guide wires. New growth will push skyward from the buds on that cane. And then the vineyards will be green again! But we have a couple of months of brown to get through yet.