Birds wiped out my Malbec crop.
Skip this post if you come for the politics, not the agriculture."Monday morning (bah da, bah da-day da)
It was all l hoped it would be
But Monday morning, Monday morning couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me. . . .John Phillips, "Monday, Monday" sung by the Mamas and the Papas, 1966
Malbecs normally ripen behind Pinot Noirs. The sweetness report I had two weeks ago indicated that the Pinot Noirs were ready to harvest and that we might wait a week for the Malbecs.
We picked the Pinot Noirs on October 6. There was no bird loss at all. My Malbecs looked fine on Sunday. We were waiting for a break in the rain and an available picking crew. It turns out that that wait was a fatal mistake.
Yesterday this. Sometimes picked clean:
Sometimes half-picked:
The bees were going crazy with the free sugar on the grapes the birds hadn't gotten to yet:
The grapes that are left aren't worth picking.
This third year in the vineyard was intended to be a grow-healthy-vines year not a marketable-harvest year. This harvest was going to be a bonus. I chalk this up as a valuable lesson. In the future possibly I have a window of a few days after picking the Pinot Noirs when the Malbecs are ripe and pickable, but before the birds discover the vineyard. I probably could have picked the Malbecs on Saturday had a crew been available. Or maybe, by chance, the birds would have discovered the Malbecs a week earlier and the real solution is stringing up nets to protect the Malbecs and Cabernet Sauvignons. It will take work and money, but I can do that.
We will live and learn. And try to have a happy heart.
The first popular song that came into my teenage consciousness back in 1962 was a rock instrumental by the Surfaris. It began with a three seconds of laughter and then a drum solo. It was my first glimpse into teen culture and music as a member of that generation. The title is "Wipe Out." If you are lucky enough to have been young in 1962, you will remember it. In surfing, if you are wiped out, you laugh about it and get back onto the board and try again.
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7 comments:
Farming is a crapshoot with rain, lack of rain, temperatures, and various animals to include birds. I suggest nets, but a few birds will still get in as what happened to my neighbor’s blueberry bushes.
I tried to grow eating grapes for a few years, and every year the birds ate my crop. After 4 years, I removed the grape vines. It wasn't worth the trouble.
That sucks! We are red wine drinkers, and frequented the many wineries in Oregon near the Portland Metro area.
I think it is possible to protect from birds and bees, but that netting is rather expensive and labor intensive to install and remove.
I have a friend near Hillsboro who only grows grapes to sell to the various wineries. I'll see what he is doing to discourage the birds and the bees.
I tried corn one year, but the squirrels ate them all in one night. Luckily, nothing touches my tomato crop. Doing farming for a living has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world. Weather, pests, and critters will drive you crazy. Ground hogs were my worst varmints. I had to trap them, then drop the trap into my fishpond. I didn't mind because they are really ugly. Grrr
I worked on my grandparents farm many times of my early years. They had about 35 acres on the Ontario Niagara Peninsula, in Welland.
While I loved working on that farm, cleaning the animal much from the pigs, cows, and steers, I also worked the fields.
I eventually learned the value of farming, but also learned I did not was to be a farmer. Simllarly, during my working years, I only gardened a little bit. I learned what was easy, and I learned even better the value of those committed to farming.
Early in my youth, I recall the day learning that bacon id not just come out of the smokehouse. It actually came from the pigs I had been feeding. It was then, I also learned to NOT name an animal that would eventually be on my breakfast or dinner plate. That visit to the slaughter house was very eye-opening!
The abundance of grapes draws animals that eat them. When food is plentiful, they multiply in numbers. Driving back from Palm Springs, we stopped to eat dinner in Lodi, California. Using our GPS, I missed a turn and had to turn around. I found a truck stop next to a warehouse, which allowed me to make a safe U-turn. In the gathering dark, our headlights picked up a broad stretch of open asphalt large enough to park dozens of semitrucks. Heading into the lot to make my turn, I noticed something moving on the ground; the entire parking lot was MOVING. As we watched, the "surface" took flight. Starlings! The menace of vineyards that surround Lodi, California. A flock of that size could clean out an entire vineyard quickly.
I guess the gods of agriculture flipped you the bird.
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