A "Spring" Update...And Tales of Last Year

We left our post last July saying that we would post again in August. Well, there was a pretty good reason why that post never happened. Unfortunately, our cabin foundation decided to shift - and rather abruptly place our home on a 15 degree slope. Long story short, we had to leave and find another place to stay. Just "down the street," but a lot different from what we were used to. Suffice it to say, we were busy trying to move in, get power and internet set up, and then bring in 5 cords of wood - which cost us the same as heating our home for 4 winters, yes 4 winters! The silver lining to all of this has been that it removed distractions and allowed us to really consider what is important in life now. While we aren't that far away, with a road that is under about 4 ft (1.25 m) of snow, it has been a challenge to visit more than just occasionally this past winter. And a very long cold winter hasn't helped. The farm spent 149 consecutive days below freezing, with a winter minimum in the -27F to -29F (~-33C) range - we haven't been able to check the vineyard thermometer yet this spring. Most of that time, the farm was under enough snow to insulate some of the more tender plants, but we won't know how much damage was done until the snow melts away.

Speaking of plants - specifically the vineyard, we had some great results last year at the end of the season regarding vines hardening off and preparing for winter. Summer was pretty dry through early August (as usual), and so we were watering the vines every week. However, we decided to cut all water (to all but the most struggling vines) after July 4th. That gave the soil a month to dry out and start to cause some water stress (which is known to encourage early dormancy) in the vines. Then, the "monsoons" arrived and we received several inches in just a couple of weeks - all typical. This was likely the last straw for the cabin foundation, as well, as the soil here has little strength when it is wet and part of the foundation had failed earlier in the summer. We saw a number of grape varieties start to form periderm (the woody part that is needed to overwinter) by early August. One of the standouts last fall was ES 10-18-30 (pictured above), a vine bred by Elmer Swenson (hence the "ES") decades ago with Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay as grandparents. This vine is notoriously hardy (well below -40) and makes a decent wine. Chances of it ripening here are pretty slim, though. Yet, it was interesting to see that it hardened off 70% of its shoot last fall to a very nice brown color (granted, the shoot wasn't all that tall, but typically the percentage doesn't change as the canes grow longer). That is the highest percentage of any vine in the vineyard to date - even Arthur, which usually does pretty well. We also saw quite a show from Gewürztraminer in winter prep. While most say it is barely hardy to -10F (-23C) in the best years, it has adapted well to the farm, beginning dormancy prep earlier and earlier each year (out of 5 yrs total). It is truly (along with Müller Thurgau - and now - Pinot Meunier & Pinot Gris) one of our "kicks & giggles" vines - not one we expect any grapes from, but it is interesting to test if we can grow the hardier Vitis vinifera grapevines reliably in the most favorable microclimates here in Interior Alaska - everyone says you can't.

Unfortunately, last summer and fall weren't all rainbows and unicorns in the vineyard. Hares devastated the vines starting in mid-August. They came in (remember, we don't have Chica - a Rottweiler-lab mix - around anymore to chase them off) and chewed all the leaves off of as many vines as they could reach. We ended up putting wire mesh tubes around them, but the damage had already been done. Then in early September, Mr. Porcupine came around and decided that Skujins-675 should not be 6ft (2m) tall anymore. He bit it off about 18 inches (0.5 m) above the ground. Then the hares came in and ate all the leaves off below that. It was a pretty pathetic looking vine going into winter. Undeterred, Skujins-675 actually might have hardened off better last fall than it ever has. Only time (and melted snow) will tell.

Speaking of snow, right now we are in the middle of trying to melt enough to water the vineyard until the road is passable. With so much snow on the road now (we didn't remove it during the winter like we normally would have), it may take longer to dry out. And, with the cabin shifted downhill, our tank that usually captures 600 gallons of water from the roof during snow melt each spring will be bone dry. As we have realized in the last two years, grapevines want A LOT of water here - 6 gallons per vine per week (our limited rainfall doesn't even come close). And with the road becoming passable sometime around mid-June, that doesn't leave much time for us to get them the water they need.

We are also looking at having to prune live wood for pretty much the first time ever! (We usually end up cutting off dead wood and leaving just a stub behind.) That is truly exciting - eventually a lot of work (as more vines go in), but exciting none the less. When we are able to prune out live wood, that means there are buds left behind that potentially have flower clusters in them. Yes, we have seen flower clusters emerge before (on RA-66-5 the last three years - but it is male and so does not produce fruit), but not on vines that have the potential to produce fruit. We also have to assess the diameter of the wood we are cutting off. It needs to be a certain diameter or it won't flower - let's not even discuss that the soil has to reach a certain temperature, as well. We have two vines that are of the right diameter this spring - Arthur and Skujins-675. Both are self-pollinating, so we won't have to hand pollinate. ES 10-18-30 and Gewürztraminer are too small to have developed flower clusters, but maybe next summer.

And then there is trellising. This was something else we never thought we'd need in the vineyard. True, we sunk posts in the ground, along with anchors for the wires. But, from the previous 17 years of experience, they never got tall enough to require trellising. That changed last summer (now that the ground was warm enough and we watered them A LOT). Most will need to be trained near the ground (unfortunately where hares, porcupines, and voles have ready access to leaves, shoots, and berries), because we are so limited in the amount of heat we receive over the summer, but some will be trained up higher since they won't ripen fruit anyway - and that will test their true winter hardiness. We're looking at you Arthur!

So, pruning, fencing, and trellising...in that order...are the tasks that will be tackled first this summer. We also hope to clear two additional terraces and prep them for planting about 80 more vines. 

We hope to record a short video while pruning that documents how well the most promising varieties survived the winter. Be sure to check back in a month or so for the update!

A Late-Summer Vineyard Update...And Things Are Exciting!

 

We've stopped watering the grapevines, but they keep growing. Now that the bulk of the summer heat has passed, growth will slow considerably. But, we have the rainy season ahead (and lots of browsing pressure from snowshoe hares!) and will be experimenting with ways to keep the vine roots a bit drier than in years past. Grapevines want water at the beginning of the season - lots of water. Way more than we typically receive from rainfall, it appears. However, as they go into fall, they want drier conditions, but that is when we receive the majority of our "summer" rain.

In today's video, we look at each of the varieties we have planted out on our terraces and a few that are still in pots (but sunk into the dirt on the terraces). We ponder the once unlikely scenario that we would actually have to string wire on the trellis posts we installed. And, we fantasize about growing Vitis vinifera (specifically Gewürztraminer and Müller-Thurgau), at least for pollen to be used in grape breeding. Speaking of breeding, we crossed Rondo and our RA-66-5 (a wild Vitis riparia from eastern Montana) about a week ago and are watching to see if any berries set. The goal is to add a bit of hardiness and perhaps a bit earlier ripening time to Rondo.

Enjoy the video. We'll be back with another video update sometime in August.

Summer is here and the grapes are Taking Off!!!!

This summer is turning out to be quite exciting in terms of progress in the vineyard. Three years ago, we moved all of our grapevines (close to 100, but now we probably have twice that many) to some terraces that I had put in about a decade ago. Over the last 14 years (at that point), I had come to realize that grapes need four things: Heat, heat, more heat, and water. The air needs to be consistently warm, the soil needs to be consistently warm, and they do enjoy heat waves. Their previous location in a field on a 30 degree slope provided warm air, but cold soil. I had one vine that did pretty well (far from perfect, though) out in the field. When I "dug a little deeper" into this 'miracle,' I found a column of rocks in the ground next to the vine that was conducting heat downward. It wasn't very efficient, but it kind of worked. I knew I couldn't do that for the other vines - and it turns out the ground still was not warm enough to trigger flower bud formation. So, i looked around and found the terraces were substantially warmer. That triggered the idea to move them.

We pulled out the peonies that had been planted there and popped in 40 grapevines of different varieties. The following year, they struggled a lot. I thought I was watering them enough, but they still didn't grow. That was the "sleep" year for perennials. Last summer, as most of you know, was a tough one. We didn't arrive back in town until early July. I knew that I would not be able to water them then, because that would encourage growth well into the fall. That can kill a vine here (and it has, that's how I know). So, in most respects, last year saw no new development in the vineyard.

Enter 2025 - the year things would turn around. The summer has started out (as it usually does) quite dry. We've been literally pouring water (6 gallons (22 l) per week) on them (now at abut 68 vines, because we tightened up the spacing from 6 ft (~2m) to 3 ft (~1m). No sense in wasting valuable terrace space. The vines got off to a late start following a rather cool spring. Finally, in mid-June several started to grow at a pace of about 1-1.5 inches (2.5-4 cm) per day. And this wasn't in just a single "unique" vine, but rather several different varieties. So, now we have two vines (Arthur and Skujins-675) that are about 30 inches (about 75 cm) tall. Both of these vines have shown the ability to harden off a little before cold sets in. However, we have a theory that the rains that come in August actually delay hardening off, so we are developing a plan to keep their roots a bit drier this August and see if they will harden off better. And...looking at the shoot thickness right now (and we still have 2 months of growing season to go), we could see a flower cluster or two next spring. That would be exciting! Then we can start worrying about actually ripening grapes. It has taken 17 years to get to the point we are at now and it may take a couple more to figure out how to get grapes to ripen. After that, it is onto winemaking. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

But, you may be asking "17 years is a long time to put effort into something that doesn't appear to be working. Why do that?" Good question. First (and foremost), I like (certain) challenges and one of those is doing things (mostly in the agricultural sector - like overwintering Zone 7 blackberries in Zone 3b) that others say is "impossible." I prefer "improbable, but not impossible." There is a larger picture here, though. I have dreamed for years of having an estate winery (that means you make wine only from grapes grown on your property - no California or Washington state juice). Not very difficult in most regions of the world. A different story here. Second, about a decade ago, I got the idea for a bed and breakfast. So, why not a vineyard/winery-themed bed and breakfast. Hence the idea for the "Alaskan Vineyard Retreat." And, throw in the possibility of it being the northernmost outdoor vineyard in the world and now it's as unique as you can get. I have never spoken about the AVR on social media before, so you are the first to know. To my far-northern grape grower followers, it has been a long time in the making, but I think you can agree that all the effort is worth it when you succeed.

Here's the link to our recent (short) video we posted about the vineyard: 

Stay tuned for a full farm update soon. Lots of other fruit and flowers to accompany a stroll through the vineyard this time of year.

When you lose sight of your why

 

Vineyard Sentinels in Late Winter

Over the last few years I’ve lost the why to the farm. For over a decade, the farm has been an ever-present source of motivation, but recent experiences have dulled that. With 2024 now behind me, I must find the discipline and drive to again push the farm in the direction I originally intended. Many people have asked for advice on doing what I set out to prove with the farm. Almost all of them have gone by the wayside. I however am still on that quest.

 

As many of you know, in 2023 & 2024 I was called upon to help my mom as she was suffering from ALS. That took most of my focus. And, not knowing when the situation would change, I decided it was best to tell myself not to think about the farm and its future. It was tough, but I managed to do that for all of 2024 – even after I returned to the farm. Recent events have pulled me back to my goals for the farm. A few days ago, I received a package from the National Germplasm Repository in Geneva, NY. You guessed it, cuttings from grapevine varieties that I don’t have. Nine carefully researched varieties and wild selections that exhibit a very early start to veraison. While I may already have a vine that (at some point in the future) will work, it never hurts to expand your potential sources. I suspect at least one of the nine will be a nice addition to our current holdings. 

 

Then this morning I received a call from someone visiting the area from Connecticut asking if I did wine tastings at the winery. Well, umm…not really? Way back in 2009 or so, when I set up the farm on Google My Business, I chose to categorize it as a farm store. A few years later, Google suggested that it be classified as a winery. Not thinking that anyone would take that seriously here in the far north, I just accepted the recommendation. Actually, I tried to change it back, but apparently never saved the change. Bottom line is that to this day, it is still advertised as a winery. I do get calls. Some people come out for a visit (when the road is passable in the summer). To be honest, I’ve felt a bit disingenuous at times about the category, but overall most are actually just interested in the fact that I make wine from berries (as you know, no grapes yet) that actually grow here. Still, there are some that think wineries should only carry grape wine (and for the snootiest ones, only grapes that grow in Europe or California). While I am still waiting for the day I make wine from Gewürztraminer (off-dry and spicy as all get-out), I question whether estate wine (wine made only from grapes that grow on the farm) will come from European cultivars during my lifetime. And before you laugh, remember that I have a 5-or-so year old Gewürztraminer vine that has overwintered outside in a pot (dug into the ground, of course) for the entire time. The one and only Vitis vinifera to survive that long here. It is not grafted (no need, as I don’t think phylloxera will survive here – I’ve certainly brought in vines that could have had it) and I hope to propagate it this year.

 

As anyone whose followed this blog for some time knows, challenges to grape growing abound here in Interior Alaska. But, I remain undeterred in my efforts to find a cultivar that will produce grapes (with a high preference for wine grapes) in these conditions. It may be Baltica or ES 9-7-48 or ??? While not Vitis vinifera, the wine would still allow me to position the farm as the farthest north outdoor commercial vineyard in the world. Anyone can grow them in a greenhouse, but it takes all the stars aligning to actually accomplish that outdoors where they are unprotected at 65 degrees north latitude.

 

And finally, I used to listen to the gurus that said to follow your passion. You’ll be happy (and in most cases broke). My passion is quite expensive, it turns out. So, the new chapter in my life will be rebuilding my why, so I can focus on earning the money and becoming the person who is blessed with the task of following the passion that I’ve developed. The real challenge is breaking out of my comfort zone – a dirty job but someone has to do it. And that someone is me.

That said, I also need to get this out: I’ve actually been working on a podcast (“Frontier Vino”) off and on for a few years now and 2025 will be the year of its launch. Keep an eye out here for updates (or better yet, become a subscriber to the blog). Or visit the farm website to find our other social links: https://solitudespringsfarm.com

Changes coming in 2025!

 

December 29th: Denali after sunset

With 2024 almost a distant memory, we consider all of the changes that took place…and continue to take place on the farm.

2024 started off with Duke and I away from the farm, taking care of my mother, who had been diagnosed with ALS. Thanks to my ability to work pretty much anywhere, I was able to spend her last 7 month with her. It was a challenging time to say the least, but resulted in significant personal growth. I was able to make a couple of trips back to check on everything – and everything seemed to take my absence just fine. Mom passed away in late May and Duke and I returned to the farm in mid-July. While that meant we missed spring, the annual plant sale, and the opportunity to plant sunflowers for our summer bouquet customers, the slower pace allowed me to reassess my current physical and financial status. Both were in dire need of improvement! Suffice it to say, there won’t be any more annual plant sales. Although Chica and I enjoyed the opportunity to connect with fellow gardeners, the amount of time that was required to tend to the seedlings, move plants outside and then back inside while hardening them off, advertise, and then run the plant sale was never really economical. We will also be downsizing the flower production this year, to allow our focus to shift for the time being. Last summer, we saw bumper crops of delphinium and campanula. We had successfully overwintered sweet William, feverfew, and rudbeckia, as well – right through the -43F/-41C mid-winter low. That gave us hope for not having to plant everything in the spring, like we have in years past. Elsewhere on the farm, alder and willow are taking over. There will be much time spent on mowing this next summer to reclaim productive land.

2024 was also a year of major change in financial planning. Mom and I spent time talking about concerns, and one thing that bothered me in her final days was that we couldn’t fulfill her last wishes, because of time and financial limitations. On that final day in May, I made a promise to change all that as quickly as possible. Significant changes took place at the end of 2024 that promise great things to come in 2025. Stay tuned.

No blog entry would be complete without at least a word on the vineyard. The vineyard presented a very different picture in 2024 than ever before. The summer was cool and rainy (a good thing, since we weren’t here to melt snow for water storage). Many varieties and wild selections that had done well in warmer years really struggled in 2024. We still had a few standouts, though! Baltica was not among them, unfortunately. We will try manipulating its physical environment some in 2025, but it may turn out that the earliest grape in the world is not fond of life at 65N. To our surprise, one of the best performing vines was Gewürztraminer – I know, right? It was the most vigorous and it even survived the cold of mid-winter (at least the part that was near the ground). We won’t know how well it or the other 7 well-performing vines did until buds start appearing in May. Fingers crossed.

2025 promises to be a challenging year in many respects – including a new career. We are hopeful that there will be enough time in the day (even here where summer days never end) to run the farm and build the career. We will be documenting through social media, so keep an eye out. Aaron Stierle on FB. @aaronstierle on IG, Solitude Springs Farm & Vineyard on FB and YT, and a new (well not new, but never really used in the past) YT channel focusing more on personal development.

The summer that was...sort of

 

Vineyard terraces bask in the alpenglow of mid-day

After a rather cold spell in February, we were not exactly sure what to expect this past summer. We suspected that a low of -43F would cause some damage, either to above ground growth (in the case of blueberries, blackberries, and aronia) or to roots that didn't have sufficient snow to insulate. The results were somewhere in the middle. As for fruiting bushes and trees, there seemed to be little damage. Our North Star cherries flowered and produced some fruit. Blackberries and blueberries produced fruit, as well. Our aronia bushes tended not to fare so well. No flowers appeared on Nero or Viking. Our seedling aronia (unselected wild seedlings) leafed out above the snowlike, albeit rather late, and never flowered from those buds. We did get a small crop from flowers that emerged down low. The fact that we did not lose the growth above the snow was surprising. Less than a decade ago, the farm dropped to near -40F/-40C and that killed all growth above the snowline on the seedling aronia. They are definitely not -40 hardy, but they are so much more vigorous and productive than Nero and Viking that they easily make up for any tenderness.

What about the vineyard, you ask? Well, it certainly was not sayonara to Gewürztraminer and Müller-Thurgau. Both re-emerged this past spring and Gewürztraminer turned out to be the strongest grower of all vines over the summer. Definitely little if any root damage from the mid-winter cold. Another surprise was Rondo. Not particularly hardy, it survived about 10 inches/25 cm above the ground (but covered by at least a few inches of snow). We figured that its "-15F" hardiness rating would not be enough. Otherwise, we only lost a few small vines over the winter. They had struggled last summer and the low temps may have been the final straw.

Our hopes for success with the reportedly "very early ripening" varieties of Baltica, Skujuns 675, and ES 9-7-48 were dashed. Baltica was severely damaged the previous fall when it failed to harden off in time for the first freeze. It was rather late to emerge this spring and made very little growth the entire summer, ending the 2024 season...you guessed it...completely green once again. We will try a few experiments (mentioned below) in hopes of tricking it into early dormancy. S-675 seemed to harden off last fall, but none of that wood survived the winter. Ditto for ES 9-7-48.

Adding to the hardships of last winter, this summer proved to be wet (a good thing, since we didn't store much water) and cool. The farm only accumulated about 595 Growing Degree Days (10C)/1070 Growing Degree Days (50F) Frost-free season was 133 days and the freeze-free period was 145 days. Overall, a bit on the cool and cloudy side, but of an average frost-free season. Keep in mind that the earliest ripening grapes require a 125 day growing season and about 650 Growing Degree Days (10C). Many vines struggled to grow this year, though there were a few standouts. Gewürztraminer, Totmur, Riparia-64, Marechal Foch, and Price displayed the same level of vigor as they have in warmer years.

Similar to fall of 2023, we recorded "periderm videos" every two weeks starting in early August in an attempt to track the hardening off process in each vine. The cool and cloudy fall seemed to delay periderm formation in many vines that had previously done quite well (such as Arthur and Petite Pearl). This year we documented strong periderm formation in 8 selections and those will be the focus of our work going forward, since a lack of fall periderm formation means a useless vine. Those eight included: Alpha, Pilgrim grape, Riparia-64, Totmur, Gewürztraminer, Marechal Foch, Price, and Amur-6 (a V. amurensis seedling with very high potential for the farm). It is interesting to note that our favorite wine is an off-dry Gewürztraminer, though it is highly unlikely we would ever get ripe enough fruit to make wine from this cultivar. Maybe an expensive greenhouse is in order just for that reason???

We will be running trials in the vineyard in 2025 in an attempt to encourage periderm formation on Baltica that will include: (1) covering with a tarp for 12 hours each "night" for two weeks near the end of July/early August, (2) covering the ground with plastic to keep the soil drier (it is often saturated from August 15th through early September), and (3) special pruning techniques that inhibit growth beginning in early August.

We will also be planning to move the vines (yes, one more time) on the terraces from the center of each terrace to the toe of the terrace above. This location puts the vegetation closer to the soil surface (the sloping surface between the flat portions of each terrace) where there is more heat. This area also tends to have less air movement, as the sloping ground forms a pocket. We will be placing weed block on the sloping surface behind the vines to increase heat and rain runoff. All this work will require removing the trellis posts we spent so much time and effort installing, but from what we've seen the trellises won't really be necessary - at least not for several years, if even then. The vines just do not get large enough to require much support.

Our Wild Treasure and Chester blackberries survived well under a thick layer of leaves and leafed out vigorously in the spring. We had been using floating row cover as a form of light protection on Wild Treasure over the last decade, but have come to realize that it simply isn't enough protection against the cold before a thick enough snow cover develops. After two years of severe crown damage on our 12-year-old "mother" Wild Treasure vine, we decided to try piling leaves on top this fall. Last fall we covered a potted Wild Treasure vine with leaves and it produced 6 berries off a very small plant. Of course, they tasted spectacular! Who knew that you could keep a Zone 7 blackberry plant alive in Interior Alaska for more than a decade? While exploring the weedy blackberry patch, we discovered a Marionberry, thornless Loganberry, Black Diamond, a second Wild Treasure, and two Tayberries that had miraculously survived two years of drought and the winter of -43F. I think we are supposed to continue growing blackberries. Serious effort will be needed to discover how to keep the canes alive over winter, so we can provide fresh and local, super tasty blackberries to neighbors - if they make it in from the patch, hmm...that may be even tougher.

In terms of fruit harvest this fall, we harvested blackberries, currants, a few gooseberries, aronia, serviceberries, and about a dozen "seedless" apples. Literally, there were no seeds in any of the apples or apple/crabs. Apparently, the weather was too cool for pollination to occur, but enough hormones were produced to grow "apples" on Shafer and Parkland. And, of course it was a bumper crop on wild raspberries this summer with all the rain. Even grabbed a few Cascade Gold raspberries off of a couple of plants that have spread. This variety has a citrusy taste that is unique, but the canes aren't particularly hardy. It has a tendency to spread, rarely emerging from the same place more than once. Probably a nutrient issue. 

So, what about our hardy annual flower trials? Well, they went spectacularly! We had started sweet William, feverfew, rudbeckia, and campanula (actually 2 yrs old at this time) and covered them with 6 inches of leaves in the fall. This past summer They all grew well and many bloomed. The campanula was massive! The bees were so busy around it - with 2 or 3 in each flower. We also had our staple delphinium and yarrow blooms. A few buckets of flowers went out for sale, even though we weren't able to grow our usual assortment of tender annuals that we've grown in past years. We cut all of them back this past fall and again covered them with leaves. Will be interesting to see how many return next spring.

As we prepare for the new year, our thoughts are on the possibilities of growing buckets of blackberries and aronia, making wine from "estate-grown grapes" (blackberry wine isn't bad either), and gracing the windowsill with a nice bouquet of fresh flowers. Sure beats "visions of sugar-plums"! 

20,000 page views!

 

At the end of October (2024) this blog reached the milestone of 20,000 page views! The 10,000 page view milestone was reached 3 years ago - and that took almost 10 years to accomplish. Thanks to all of you who keep up with our blog, we have seen numbers really start to take off the last two years. We love sharing what is happening on the farm and appreciate your support! We'll leave you with today's image of the "mid-day sun." Though most think this is a sunset picture, it is actually isn't. The sun was up for just 4 hours today and only climbed a few degrees above the horizon (the location shown in the image). The low angle causes the sunshine to take on an "alpenglow" appearance, hence the pink and orange color of the snow in the vineyard area. We won't see "white" sunlight again until around January 15th. One thing that never disappoints, though, is the deep blue of the sky. No filters needed.

Will there be a 2024 vintage???

Well, the mid-winter cold spell broke at the farm on February 3rd, with the mercury rising to about 0F (-18C) by midnight on the 4th. Reminiscent of "Back in the day" cold spells talked about by old-timers, this weather froze pipes, disabled vehicles, and even caused a few fires - not on the farm, though. We won't know the extent of damage to plants on the farm until everything starts to leaf out in May, but there is almost certain to be die back on the more tender shrubs and trees. Unfortunately, we may also see complete loss of canes on our Wild Treasure blackberries and Cascade Gold yellow raspberries, as well. An Alaskan winter certainly isn't for the faint of heart.

And just like that, it felt like spring! A few days ago, a strong Chinook wind made its way over the Alaska range and brought above freezing temperatures to the farm. Not unusual for winter at our location. What a rollercoaster ride it is! We even start to see little insects flying around when the temperature remains above freezing for more than 24 hours in the winter. 

What about that 2024 vintage you ask? Well, Interior Alaska wasn't the only place on the North American continent that experienced a good old-fashioned winter. Parts of Canada and Washington state saw their coldest temperatures in a few decades. Recently, these regions have taken advantage of a string of unseasonably warm winters to expand their foray into winemaking. One particular region chose to "improve" their wine quality by ripping out cold-hardy hybrid vines and replant with vinifera (European) varieties, like Merlot, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the last three years, they have struggled to produce enough of a crop to maintain the recent rise in global wine fame that they have enjoyed. We wonder where they will go next. We've heard that over 30% of the vineyards and wineries in that region are for sale and a large number of the remaining ones will not replant. At the farm, we focus on cold-hardy varieties because we realize that they will see temperatures of -40F/C or colder once every 7 years and temperatures of -30F/(-35C) or colder five times over a decade. Sayonara Gewürztraminer, so long Müller-Thurgau. Why play with fire (or in this case, ice)?

We still have a few years to go before we will get any grapes (still hoping they can ripen in our climate), and even more time before we can make wine from them. In the mean time, we continue to test varieties for suitability and propagate those that have the highest potential. Right now though, a cherry Icee seems a more appropriate beverage considering the current landscape.

Brrrr It's Cold Outside!

 

We are currently sitting at about -40F (-40C)! We have been in a cold snap for almost a week and have about that much longer to go before warmer weather returns. With a few feet of snow on the ground, some of our smaller bushes (and all of the terrace vineyard vines) are protected from the majority of this cold. However, we have a number of taller bushes and small trees that are taking the full brunt of the cold. While we have seen -41F at the farm in the last 10 years and know which of these bushes and trees should make it through the cold with little to no damage, there is always the question of how well prepared they were for winter. Those that suffered from too little water early in the summer or too much water late in the summer, may be more susceptible to winter injury in these temperatures. Other bushes that are not so hardy, such as black currants and our unnamed, seedling aronia bushes, will likely die back to the snow line. That still leaves plenty of wood below the snow to leaf out in the spring and rejuvenate the plant. There will be a good amount of pruning needed on these plants next summer. It is always a gamble with plants that aren’t completely hardy at our location, but -40F only comes about once every 10 years, so in the intervening years we can get quite a nice crop.

 

The vineyard is all nestled in, but there is still a risk from cold periods like our current one if the cold lasts too long. Snow is not a perfect insulator, so it slowly loses heat from the ground over time. The vines that are planted out on the terraces should be fine, but we have a large number of potted vines that are in pretty dry soil at this time. They are more susceptible to damage. We also have a couple of Vitis vinifera (European grapes) in pots that are not very cold tolerant (when compared to others that are hardy to -30F to -40F; -35C to -40C). These varieties include Gewürztraminer and Müller-Thurgau. The roots on these vines will probably suffer some significant damage and the vines may die outright from the cold. This is a big reason why we don’t focus on the grape varieties you would typically associate with wines. On the other hand, great strides have been made in recent years in breeding cold-hardy (still a relative term when growing them in Interior Alaska) grapes that also make quite acceptable wine. Something that a lot of people don’t realize, but can be very important when growing grapevines in the far north is that one of the factors in hardiness is the duration of cold temperatures. Even the hardiest vines will die back if the cold (maybe not even severe cold) lasts too long. This coming spring, we will find out if the vines we have planted on the terraces experienced too many hours below 0F (-18C). Fingers crossed!

 

The cold may also impact our cut-flower trials that we started last August. Two years ago, we planted delphinium (known to be fully hardy in Interior Alaska) and campanula (Canterbury Bells) in a raised bed and they both survived the 2022-2023 winter very well. However, it only dropped to -22F (-30C) in January. This past fall, we planted more campanula, along with several other flower varieties (sweet William, feverfew, rudbeckia, and yarrow. The yarrow will do well, as it is native to Interior Alaska, but the others probably won’t make it. Nevertheless, we won’t know until the snow melts and the beds start to thaw in April. Yet again, fingers crossed.

There are a few benefits to the cold! It usually reduces the bug population for a summer – never a bad thing. It also makes the tourists go home, at least for a few weeks. We then can walk through the stores in relative peace. And while that may sound a little selfish, anyone that lives in a major tourism area can attest that area residents can always use a little respite from the pressures of tourism to reinvigorate them for the upcoming tourist season.

The Summer of 2023 marked the first full growing season of grapevines planted on the terraces. We planted 40 different vines (each a different variety) in the fall of 2022 once we found that the terraces boosted soil temps from the 40s-50s F (5-12C) to the 60s-70s (15-25C) down as deep as 16 inches (40 cm). We hoped that our grapevines would actually develop mature root systems given this newfound warmth. However, 2023 provided mixed results. Baltica (pictured above) exploded in growth in late June and reached a total of 70 inches (178 cm) of new growth by mid-August. It seemed quite happy! Other vines produced a total of 24-30 inches (60-75 cm), and still others barely made it out of the ground. You might be wondering why the difference. Well, it probably didn’t help that we planted in the fall before the vines had dropped their leaves. So, some were quite shocked by the move. Quite a few of these vines also prefer warmer summers than we typically get, as well. We suspect there will always be “laggers” that are just not happy in cool weather. We will know more after this next summer, as more vines stretch their roots out and become better established.

Some standouts (besides Baltica) were Arthur Pinchbeck, Beichun, Pilgrim grape (V. xnovae-angliae), Manitoba V. riparia 64, Louise Swenson, Totmur, ES N-11-1/2, and Skujins-675.

We added a number of new varieties/selections last spring that included a variety of Vitis species. Named selections included Severnyi (Russian cross), Rondo, and Müller Thurgau (V. vinifera). We also replaced varieties that had died while in the field: John Viola, Swenson Red, LaCrosse, and St. Croix. Our request from the USDA germplasm in New York included V. riparia selections RA-66-7, RA-66-8, HP-1 (male partner of HP-2, which is already out on the terraces), SD 62-11-42, L505 (possibly a typo of L50S), and USSR 1502. We were looking for wild selections that were very hardy that would also shut down properly in the fall (an issue on the farm with our very long days). Our search for early senescing V. riparia was spurred on after whitnessing SD 62-8-160 going dormant early in the fall. This is a wild selection from far eastern Montana. Since then, we have found RA-66-5, a male V. riparia also from far eastern Montana, that begins shutting down in late July and has formed periderm over more than 50% of its new growth by the time our first frost occurs.

We played with a few vines that managed to flower after overwintering in pots sunk into holes on the terraces. Around July 4^th, two varieties bloomed and set some tiny berries. Manitoba V. riparia 37 (from Riding Mountain Provincial Park, Manitoba) and Elmer Swenson’s ES 9-7-48 were assisted in pollination by Beichun and RA-66-5, which also flowered around that time. While both R. 37 and ES 9-7-48 were flowering off of secondary buds (buds that did not form at the farm), we were curious as to whether either would get close to ripe before the first freeze around the end of September. And, while neither vine was very big and the resulting berries not representative of what mature vines would produce, our curiosity reigned. By the end of August, berries on both varieties were going through veraison, the time when red and blue grapes turn from green to their final color. That is where the story of V. riparia 37 ends. Apparently, it decided to take the rest of the fall off and never fully changed the color of its berries. Rats! ES 9-7-48, on the other hand, marched on in the face of cool September weather – well right up until the voles thought the berries were ripe enough to pick. On September 4^th, we measured the brix at 9. Far from ripe, but if the voles hadn’t found the other two berries, we suspect they would have been ripe enough to eat by the time of our first frost came on September 23^rd. This variety has some potential at the farm!

We also played with some berries on Rondo, which we had shipped in in late June. It was flowering when we received it, so these berries would not be representative of actual farm conditions. We watched the berries grow and turn color and waited for them to sweeten up. We waited ... and waited … and waited. Finally, we picked the last two berries on September 18^th with the threat of frost looming on the horizon. Only 13 and 15 brix, and if you ask me not much flavor. Well, we’ll try them again if they survive the winter and get planted out on the terraces. This variety is not really hardy in our winter conditions without protection, but it is worth a try if for nothing more than breeding.

We recorded a series of videos between August 17^th and October 16^th to document the formation of periderm on all of our vines. As periderm (bark) formation is critical to winter survival of grapes, this is a vital part of our studies. Most varieties struggle to know when it is time to shut down and prepare for the winter, because of our very long days and short growing season. This year, there were some notable standouts: Arthur Pinchbeck, Louise Swenson, ES 10-18-30, ES N-11-1/2, Skujins-675, Mandan, V. riparia RA-66-5, Petite Pearl, and Skujins-675. You will notice that Baltica did not make that list. From our past experience with Baltica and notes from trials in Scotland where very early fall frosts are a problem, Baltica often goes into the fall bright green, rather than the nice red-brown color grape growers want to see. For us this year, it started to form periderm just days before our first frost and suffered significant damage when the first 23F (-5C) night arrived. We will have to wait and see if anything survived the cold. It is possible that pulling bottom leaves to increase sun exposure starting at the end of July may hasten periderm development on that variety.

As for cut flower production, we had successful harvests of ranunculus, bupleurum, Rubenza cosmos (love this one!), snapdragons, feverfew, and sunflowers. Production spanned from late June through mid-September, when we pulled out the remaining crops to prepare for the winter. In 2022, we trialed fall planting of campanula (Canterbury Bells) and were amazed when 85% of the plants came back this past spring. We ran another trial this past fall with a few more flower varieties, hoping to reduce the pressure of spring planting. Most of them will probably not make it, but at least we know the campanula and yarrow will. They will fill early season bouquets with the delphinium growing beside them.

In terms of other fruits, we harvested about a dozen apples and apple-crabs (Clair 4, Parkland, Prairie Sun, and Shafer), handfuls of Regent serviceberries, and 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg) of aronia berries. Birds got to most everything else before we knew anything was ripe. This included red, white, and black currants, gooseberries, and blueberries.

Right now, we are deep into planning for the upcoming summer. Since we were not able (for health reasons) to plant any grapes out last summer, we are hoping to plant out another three terraces this next summer. We also hope to move dozens of serviceberries and apple trees to the food forest and make room for more grapes on the terraces. There may be a new blackberry variety joining our plot that is a potential pollinizer for Stenulson and we will be propagating Wild Treasure and working on enhancing its winter hardiness. We will be cleaning out two more raised beds to expand our cut flower production, as well. The year is starting off well and our fingers are crossed for another successful year on the farm and in the vineyard!

 

Ranunculus starts that are waiting to get planted outside!

 

There’s still plenty of snow on the vineyard terraces, but the days are getting noticeably warmer! The sun is bright and we’re back on 100% solar power. Seeds are sprouting and grape cuttings are leafing out indoors. It won’t be long before we can start hardening them off outside during the “heat” of the day.

We are excited to see what this summer will bring. With 40 grapevines planted out on the terraces where the ground is much warmer, will they finally look like real grapevines? We hope to plant at least another 40 vines this year of different varieties. While we have a good idea that only a couple of varieties will actually work (read produce edible fruit), we are trialing quite a few varieties to see how they do. Those that don’t produce fruit can still be used for foliage in floral arrangements or installations.

 

Speaking of floral arrangements, we are taking a deep dive into flower farming this year. After selling a few hundred flowers last summer to a couple of local businesses, we decided to ramp up our offerings for this year. We will be focusing on bupleurum, stock, sunflowers and ranunculus. The ranunculus were started in late February and already look really good! We plan on using raised beds for them, but they need some sort of cover, so something will have to be devised to protect them from winds (had 30+mph winds just this afternoon) and rain. And then there are the voles that will need to be kept away. About 200 ranunculus corms will be going in once the raised beds are thawed.

 

We were a bit stressed last summer by the limited growing space that was available. Here the ground is too cold during the summer for most plants to grow very well. The solution is to grow in raised beds, but being on a hillside, the beds would just wash away unless they are contained by permanent structures. Years ago, we made 15 raised beds using birch logs that we harvested from the hundreds of trees on the lot. They have actually survived quite a long time (13 or 14 years now), considering that birch is prone to rotting. Admittedly, the most used beds are showing signs of deterioration and we will need to replace the birch logs with more appropriate treated lumber. You would think that 15 raised beds would offer quite a bit of room. We total it at about 115 linear feet by about 3 feet wide. BUT, most of the beds have been filled with peonies for almost 10 years – tubers we bought and didn’t have time or room to plant out. Now that we have a peony plot down toward the bottom of the lot, we plan on moving all of those peonies (a few hundred still) down with the other peonies and free up the bulk of the raised beds late this summer. While that won’t help us this summer, it should free up even more room for ranunculus next summer.

 

Then we got to thinking about the vineyard terraces…hmmm. If the soil gets warm enough for finicky grapevines, surely other plants will grow, besides the native weeds, willow, alders, and trees. So, we will be interplanting some flowers between the grapevines this summer. That adds about another 350 linear feet (by about 2 feet wide) of growing space. Fencing may have to go up to protect from rabbits, porcupines, and hungry moose. One thing about this plan is that by amending the soil on the terraces for flowers, we will also be making it better for the grapevines. Bring on the compost!

 

Back to the grapes, though. We took a cutting off our only Baltica vine – after digging down through 3 feet of snow. We weren’t sure just how well it had hardened off last fall. Turns out it did really well and there is the possibility that we can get 5 more Baltica vines growing this year. They will be small, but should be ready to plant out next summer. Our goal is to have several thousand Baltica vines planted over the terraces and make some nice rosé wine from them.

We received 9 new-to-us grape varieties and wild selections earlier this year and they have started to leaf out. In less than four weeks, we expect to see roots growing and then it will be time to get them potted up. The vines on the vineyard terraces should start to show life around May 15^th and then it is “go time” for training and installing a few levels of wire for the trellises. We think this summer will be very exciting, so stay tuned!

 

Speaking of fruit, remember those aronia cuttings that we rooted? Well, they finally went dormant in the house and now they are starting to leaf out. Looks like 100% success! Now to figure out where they will be planted…somewhere warm and sunny.

 

Someone told me in 2008, “Good luck, they’ve been trying to grow grapes here for 75 years.” Well, make that 90 years! Check back frequently in the coming months to follow along on our farm & vineyard journey. 

A look at tonight's propagation wood

 

As the growing season approaches, it is time to start multiplying the number of vines we have. This is one way to do it.

We're out looking for propagation wood!

 

We were out uncovering our Beichun and Baltica vines, hoping to get cuttings for propagation (yardstick for scale). Baltica is a bit thin and Beichun is a bit short, but hopefully we'll get a few new plants anyway. We refilled the holes to protect the roots. No more deep cold in the forecast, but you never know. -20F on April 10th anyone? Not I!

2023 Grape Unboxing and Rooting Prep

 Preparations for the upcoming growing season have started. See what we're up to! 

Expanding the berry patch - plans for summer 2023

Ripening serviceberries (top); rooted aronia cuttings (bottom)

For the last 10 years, our intent has been to increase fruit production for fresh product and wine. It has taken most of that time to find what grows well and produces fruit that is in demand. We continue to work with currants, raspberries/blackberries, serviceberries, and honeyberries. Now that the most desirable varieties have been identified, emphasis has shifted to propagation. Some things, like currants, are very easy to propagate. Just stick a dormant cutting into the ground in early spring and keep watered. Others require a more complex approach and even then, they are hard to propagate. However, we have been experimenting with the use of peroxide and water to encourage root formation on cuttings that appears to have some promise. We successfully rooted aronia cuttings last summer using this method and look forward to trying it with honeyberries and serviceberries this coming summer.

We already have enough serviceberry bushes for a decent harvest, however they are not in the best location. Next summer should be an opportune time to move about 12 Northline serviceberries to the food forest and also propagate more. This variety remains relatively small and compact, making it easier to harvest the full crop while standing on the ground. Not to mention its size will make it easier to drape bird netting over to protect the crop from hungry critters. Another variety on the farm is Smoky. This variety can get quite tall and can form a living fence to trap snow before it forms drifts on our road. We are looking forward to its dual purpose!

Our blackberry patch has been neglected for several years while our attention has been focused on developing a vineyard. We desperately need to reinvigorate the blackberry patch! We are somewhat concerned because it was cold for a few weeks with very little snow cover in late October and early November of last year. This could have damaged the crowns on our Wild Treasure, even though they were covered by frost blankets. While it is unlikely that our largest Wild Treasure will be killed outright by the cold, there could be enough crown damage to delay new growth in the spring by several weeks.

Wild Treasure is one variety that we really need to propagate to get a decent amount of production. Winter cold results in quite a bit of damage, and greatly reduces production. We continue to experiment with different overwintering techniques in hopes of finding one that offers more winter protection. While we were out covering them this fall, we pulled one cane out of the ground that had tip-rooted. It is not uncommon for the canes on Wild Treasure to force themselves into the ground and begin forming a crown. These never survive the winter, as they do not form mature crowns by the end of summer. Out of curiosity, we cut that tip off (with about 12 inches of cane) and potted it up inside. It still has green leaves, so we are hopeful that it will successfully root and form a crown. We have tried rooting green cuttings in the past, but they usually just rot and never form roots. Instead, if we let the plants naturally tip-root, we can let the plant do the difficult work of producing roots on a green cane. Then we can cut off the starts, pot them up, and bring them inside to over winter. This method could yield a large number of new plants in a short period of time.

Several years ago, we received a couple of wild-seedling aronia bushes in the mail. Since that time, one has really stood out as a strong grower and producer – even with our cold soils. This year the berries were quite plump and much sweeter than our named cultivars. Aronia really need to stay on the bush until the first frost to make sure they are ripe. Unfortunately, the birds really like these (just what berries do they not like on the farm?) once they start ripening up. We picked about a cup of aronia berries off this bush and have been snacking on them for a couple of months. Aronia bushes also put on quite a fall display with orange and red leaves that add visual interest around the farm. We experimented, quite successfully, with rooting aronia cuttings in peroxide and water last summer. So, we will repeat the process on more cuttings next summer to increase our stock of aronia bushes.

Next summer looks to be quite busy between expanding the vineyard terraces, growing flowers to sell, and propagating fruit bushes. We will also be focused on removing the thousands of saplings that have taken over a large portion of the lot and establishing a manageable grass cover. So much to do and so little time!

Is it colder above or below the snow? A quick mid-winter update

We were out on the terraces today checking on the the soil temperatures at 8 inches (20 cm) and 16 inches (40 cm) depth. While the air temperature was in the mid 20s Fahrenheit (-3 C), there is concern that another long cold spell could push the soil temperature below what is tolerated by some of our grapevine varieties. Even after piling more snow on the terrace around the soil temperature probes, there hasn't been much of a rise in temperature.

Stay tuned for more winter updates!

The 2022 Season - moving grapevines

 

Another year in the books, as they say. We were very focused this season on relocating the vineyard. After discovering that terraces greatly increase the soil temperature on hillsides here in Interior Alaska, we began planning how to move our 150 or so grapevines from their field location to a series of terraces we had built a number of years ago. Those terraces had been planted with currants, gooseberries, and peonies within the last decade. Since that time, the terraces have begun to slump and we kind of ignored them other than in the fall during currant and gooseberry harvest. The peonies did not like that location from the very beginning. While the soil was much warmer, it was also rockier – and that tended to damage the delicate flower buds peonies are known for. So, why not repurpose the terraces!

 

Starting as soon as the snow melted, we began pulling hundreds of willow, alder, birch, and poplar saplings from the terraces. We targeted the top two terraces for planting this year. We hope to double that number next year, but there are so many saplings that it is slow going. By late summer, we had augered the post holes for the trellises on both terraces and had begun planting vines. We were able to fit 20 vines on each terrace, spaced 6 ft (2 m) apart in the row. The terraces are 7 ft (2.2 m) wide and about 30 inches (0.75 m) tall at the nose. With these dimensions, the terraces intercept quite a bit of sunlight during the early summer, with soil temperatures reaching 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit (25-30 C) by early July at a depth of 8 inches (20 cm). That may not sound unusual, but here in the cold north, the normal temperature at that depth mid-summer is about 50 Fahrenheit (10 C). In fact, as part of our ongoing experiment with grapevines on the terraces, we dug holes for every potted vine and left them in the holes for almost the entire summer. The difference in root growth and plant vigor between the terraces and the field was quite obvious.

 

By the end of September, we had installed the posts and the vines were hardening off quite nicely for winter (see picture above). Our first freeze came on October 9^th, about 2 weeks later than expected. What we discovered next was a bit surprising. We had installed two thermometers on the second terrace the previous summer and noticed over last winter, the temperature at 8 inches (20 cm) never dropped much below 30 F (-1C). However, this year fall was on the dry side, with little snow falling until mid-November. That combined with air temps below freezing for extended periods of time quickly removed any remaining summer heat and the soil temperature at 8 inches (20 cm) dropped to 17F (-8 C) by the end of November. Grapevine roots of some species are rather sensitive to cold, with Vitis vinifera suffering substantial injury or death below about 23F (-5 C). Other vines we have, including pure V. riparia and V. amurensis, have much hardier roots and should not be injured at this temperature. This finding does suggest a limit to the use of terraces on the farm for growing cold tender plants. And we are not out of the woods yet. As of today, the terraces have again dropped below 20 F (-7 C) due to a recent cold spell. We will find out next spring which vines are more susceptible to root damage!

 

Speaking of peonies, we continue to move them from the terraces and other raised beds we have to a larger field location. Currently, we have about 700 planted out in the field with varying degrees of success. To augment the peonies, we upped our production of other flowers this year, selling to a local florist throughout the summer months. Next year we plan to double or triple our flower production as we open up more areas to plant them. The major issue with expansion continues to be the lack of water. Our 2000 gallons (7560 l) of water we capture from melting snow in the spring goes quickly, and it is usually early August before the summer rains arrive. We will likely be hauling water in to supplement.

 

Next year may also be the last year we hold our annual plant sale. This will be our 15^th May plant sale and if the recent trend of decreasing sales holds, it will not be economically feasible going forward. We started the plant sale in 2009 as an early season source of income for the farm, but the timing has always interfered with the completion of other important chores. Moreover, with the increase in flower production, we will need more indoor space for flower seedlings – and there isn’t much space to begin with. So, something has to go. Shifting away from growing seedlings for the plant sale will allow us to focus on flower sales and our ultimate goal of making wine from the vineyard. Somewhere in between, we need to drill a well!

 

The short-term forecast is for a pretty chilly January and early February, but a nice warm up in March and April. Then it will be time to check in on the vineyard terraces to see which vines survived and which ones will need to be replaced. Stay tuned!