VitiNord 2015 is next week. We are really looking forward to talking with other cold-climate grape growers - though they typically have warmer summers than we do. It should be a really exciting trip.
We didn't post many updates this summer as time was limited and we were working diligently to clear and terrace 4 acres. It is mostly cleared, but we only got a dozen terraces in and those are mostly filled with Duchess de Nemours peonies. It looks like we lost our special (unknown variety of) peony this year to last winter's cold. We will be trying to track it down and look for a replacement. It was so beautiful and long-lasting, maintaining its colors and shape for over 3 weeks on the plant. No pictures on the web come close to its beauty.
In terms of blackberries, we saw all of our Silvan blackberries ripen, but most were eaten by wasps (it was a very bad year for them). We got several Marionberries, but only one or two Wild Treasures (we chock that up to the wasps interrupting pollination). Hopefully, the cultural practices we used on the Silvans can be extended to Marion and Wild Treasure to hasten ripening next summer. We are still learning!
Grapes? Well, they struggled without the additional heat of the grape house. We took it down to make room for stump removal.
We have a summer farm tour video in the works and a fall video still needs to be recorded. Maybe we will get to that (at least recording it) before we leave for VitiNord. Too bad we can't take some Alaskan grown blackberries with us when we go. Perhaps we will have blackberry wine to take to the next VitiNord in 2018.
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