New Addition

Just a quick post to show off our new addition to the Canine Club here on the farm.  Friday, we adopted "Duke", a Beagle-Lab mix (with some Husky, as well).  Chica is not sure what to think of him.  He loves to play and is quite a bit faster at running.  They complement each other well with his nose and her eyes and ears.  The picture below shows them 24 hours after meeting.  Not bad.

Soon I hope to have some pics up from my trip to Germany and Poland.

Germany and Poland - We made it!

What a conference!  So much new information.  I met people from Estonia, Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Kazakhstan, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and the Lower 48 (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota) that are breeding new varieties of grapes and other plants suitable to northern climates.  I also brought back several ideas to use in the vineyard that will increase my chances of ripening grapes here on the farm.  It was loads of fun, too.  Besides seeing Neubrandenburg, Germany, we visited Szczecin (think 'chechin'), Poland and two vineyards in between.  It is beautiful country - part of the Pomeranian Region.  And, yes people thought I was a little crazy thinking I could grow grapes in Interior Alaska, but they were very supportive and I received many offers to send breeding material to help me make it happen.  In addition to grapes, I gathered quite a bit of useful information on growing currants, sea buckthorn, aronia, and other berries in the far north.  I hope to put it to good use and I'm even planning on conducting some rigorous scientific experiments that I hope will add to the research already being done on grape growing in northern climates.

VitiNord 2012 or Bust! - 2nd Edition

Well, I'm getting ready to leave in the morning.  I put up a makeshift fence around the area I have my trees and bushes in (in their pots) that will hopefully deter momma moose and her new calf from browsing the new growth.  With all the trees I cut down this fall, it's not like there isn't anything else to eat.  Chica chased them off last night and they were back this afternoon working on the downed trees.  They were probably watching me put up the fence and (quietly) laughing to themselves.

Chica appears to have settled into her new routine fairly well - as long as no other dogs are vying for attention she feels she should be receiving. I hope everything goes okay.

Up to this point we in the hills have endured about 9 days of high winds (20+ mph).  With the newly expanded clearing, I am seeing significant wind sculpting of snow.  Kind of pretty, but I worry about the potential for drifting snow, which up to this point hasn't been an issue.  The good news so far is that temps have been relatively mild (only to -9F, -22C) here at the farm, while some outlying areas have already seen near -40F/C.  We still don't have much of a snowpack, just 7 inches (18cm).  It is enough to cover all of the trailing blackberry vines and the Triple Crowns.  I'm hoping for a good crop of blackberries next year!

I'll leave you with a few recent pictures.

Early winter snowcover on the bramblery

Sunshine has been so plentiful I haven't had to run the generator yet.

Chica enjoying a game of "stick" - her version of fetch, the longer the stick the better!

I'm already starting to miss her!

VitiNord 2012 or Bust!

I have decided to take the plunge (actually a flight in my case) and go to the VitiNord 2012 conference in Germany and Poland.  The lineup looks so exciting I can hardly wait!  Hopefully I can meet people from around the world that can help make my viticultural wish come true - harvesting ripe grapes in Interior Alaska!  So far for the winter, the grapevines are looking good. I just have to keep mama moose away from them. Chica has been helping me out with that task.  She barks at them whenever she hears them.  Oh well for the neighbors.
  In preparation for the trip, I am rounding up things I can sell to get some extra money together.  Tonight Chica helped me clean out my 1988 Honda.  Actually, she sat in the back seat the entire time like she was waiting for a ride.
  I have been trying to harvest highbush cranberries (Viburnum edule) to make some wine out of.  I need about three pounds.  It is really slow picking, especially since the birds have already picked over the shrubs and they don't produce that much to begin with.  I found a patch of them amongst the stumps  of poplar trees that I cut down three years ago.  They really like full sun and plenty of moisture.  Since they are native here, I am going to try to encourage that patch to grow more.  Maybe thin some out and apply plenty of mulch.  I probably have 1/2 a pound of berries right now.  I know where there are other patches in the hills around town, but it could be very time consuming and the sun already is setting at 5:30pm.  I might try just around the subdivision here.  If I can harvest enough cranberries, I can make the first official batch of wine at "Crest View Winery".  I thought that was a fitting name considering the view I have.  Here's the banner for the webpage when I get around to it:

Snowfall has been sparse, with only about 3 inches on the ground now.  Temperatures haven't gone below 0F however, so I think most of the balckberries are okay for now.  Hopefully, we will get some soon - before the -20s hit around Thanksgiving.

Ushering in Old Man Winter

Well, it is "official".  Winter has arrived.  We have a snowpack of 4 inches (10 cm) and temperatures consistently below freezing here at the farm.  That is enough snow to cover some of the trailing-type blackberries (Silvan and Boysenberry) - and right on time as the lowest temperature so far has been 14F (-10C).  We will see how the blackberries and new raspberries fare next spring.

A few stats from this summer:
The growing season was a little shorter than usual at 115 days (May 15 thru Sept. 8).  About 12 days shorter than we typically see.  We accumulated 716 growing degree days (base 50F; 398 - base 10C) and 1823 growing degree days using a base of 41F  (1013 - base 5C).  May and June were typical, while July and August were a little cooler than normal.  Summer was fairly dry, but here in the hills we pretty much caught up on rainfall in September.

I was hoping to go to VitiNord 2012 in November, but it looks like I won't be able to go after all.  It is an international conference on grape growing in regions with cool summers and cold winters and brings together researchers numerous countries.  It is much more pertinent to my efforts here at Solitude Springs Farm & Vineyard than any other including the cold climate conference in Minnesota in February.  VitiNord occurs every three years, so maybe next time.  Perhaps by then I will have produced some grapes (I am hopeful for next summer!)

I'll leave you with a picture or two.

Snow flurries in mid-September. 

Fall picture from the top of the driveway looking southwest.

Snowflakes are flying!

Snow on Montmorenci chery

The first accumulation of snow this season brings an end to the warm weather we were enjoying.  It looks like Old Man Winter is right on time this year.  That said, we had a very unusual thunderstorm come through on the 23rd.  One hour after the picture below was taken, the cloud moved over the farm and dropped nearly a quarter of an inch of rain (note the lack of leaves on the trees - it was that late in the fall).

I finished planting the last of my blackberry bushes in the bramblery this last week.  What a job.  I have a few more things I'd like to plant, but when depends on the weather.  It all has to be done by mid-October when the ground starts to freeze.

 

I'll leave you with a picture of Chica (still the little trouble-maker), fall-blooming Asiatic Lilies and the silhouette of Denali from the bramblery:

Leaves are falling and so are the trees

It is a typical late August in the Interior.  A third of the trees have begun showing fall colors.  My V. Amurensis grapevine is preparing to sleep (above), and Baltica is not far behind.  Raspberry production has also decreased.
  However, while the farm is getting ready for bed, I am frantically trying to clear a few acres for fall and spring plantings.  I tried to arrange for a professional company to clear my lot, but they said "it is not feasible" for them.  Back to the tried and true Alaskan moto - if you want something done, plan on doing it yourself.  So far I have doubled the size of the cleared area on my property, but that is still a small "hole in the forest".  And even then, "cleared" means the trees are cut down.  I still have to move them and remove the stumps.  It will happen, I am certain.
  Cutting down trees has dramatically improved my view of the Alaska Range!  I can now see as far east as Mt. Hayes from my window (shown below).  I just purchased a digital camera and am quite impressed with the image quality!  One of these days, this will be the backdrop of my vineyard.  Can't wait!

  It has been relatively dry recently, but we are now in the midst of catching up.  The last four days brought over 1.5 inches and storm clouds are rolling in as I type for another round.  Rain last night and wind tonight kept me from working to clear more trees.  But, this weekend . . . watch out.
  I managed to overwinter blackberry bushes (in pots) last winter and one has produced four canes, each 3 to 4 feet long.  This is quite impressive, considering that it was mowed almost to the ground by voles and suffered root damage from dehydration.  I will fence all of my blackberries with hardware cloth this winter and should get some very tasty, "grown in Alaska" blackberries next summer.  I doubt there will be enough to sell, since I am quite fond of them.  I am hoping to trial about 35 to 40 blackberry varieties over the next two years to see if I can find some that are reliably productive given the microclimate we enjoy here on the farm.
  The raspberries produced on the farm were quite good this summer.  I have about 15 varieties including reds, yellows, and blacks.  Most produced at least a few berries this year and I quickly decided which varieties I would be putting in a larger bramblery for commercial production.
  And yet another surprise has come from domesticated blueberries.  The story I have always heard about growing non-native blueberries in the Interior has been "don't even try".  Well, I just tasted one Polaris blueberry (below, just right of center) and two Earliblue blueberries (all were damaged by either winds or excessive rain) that overwintered in pots.  While they were not quite ripe, they were tasty (if a little tart) nonetheless.

  My currants are not quite ripe yet, but I have some very nice looking (about 1/2" diameter) red currants that I'll be enjoying soon.
  I'll address some of the beautiful flowers that bloomed here this summer in a later post.  For now, I'll leave you with a couple of nice pics (Avis Varner peony, apricot-colored Asian lily, unkonwn peony).