Not a single thing is going to get done outside as it feels like -5 out there today… So, with that being said Greg is busy working on painting the tractor and I’m waiting for the water to clear so that I can move wine unless you want the earthy characteristic of dirt in there… That’s what happens when you drop a new pump in, stirs up the aquafer and brown water comes pouring out. Going on two hours running every faucet we can find and it’s barely pissing a steam of brown water. That brown stream is a sign of dehydration, better grab a cider to rehydrate and write about useless information.
It was amazing that for 50 years that aquafer kept up with 300+ head of cattle on the property and supplied two houses and an office with all the water that it needed. One steer can drink almost 30 gallons of water on a hot July day, x300 you do the math… F’ that… done with cattle, that was the last blog, and I can vividly remember the last 10 being hauled off the property, BEST DAY EVER! Moving onto bigger and better things! The temperature… -5 degrees with the wind chill. The ambient air temperature is actually what matters to farmers the most, unless you have livestock, then knit them a sweater and give them some hot cocoa, because shits about to go down.
Ambient air temperature is the actual air temperature. Wind chill is a human/animal concept based on heat loss from warm skin. Since our vines & cherry trees do not generate metabolic heat, air temperature is the big concern. For example, when it’s 7 degrees outside like it is today with a wind chill of -5, the plant only feels 7 degrees, yes Dad… Google it, chatgpt it, ask Siri about it… the internet doesn’t lie. We’ve gotten into it before over this topic. For our vines, most of them are Minnesota hybrids and they can withstand ambient air temperature of around -20 degrees. We do have Sauvignon Blanc and Cab Franc, which those go down just below 0 degrees, but they are still young and most of them are underneath the massive amounts of snow that is blowing around on the hill here. So technically under snow is 32 degrees. Technically…
Cherry trees on the other had will go down to around -10 degrees on sweets and -20 degrees on tarts. Since the vines and trees have had time to acclimate to this cold weather, not a drastic drop in temperature, we will sleep fine till this weekend. -2-ish on Thursday and Friday night still will not hurt anything, but if it becomes clear and calm on those nights, watch your face because it will get stupid cold at that point (no school Friday, calling it!). There’s your knowledge from a farmer/winemaker/janitor/weatherman today. If you have a peach tree, sorry to hear, those are one of the least hardy… You might see some damage on those this weekend.
Yes, sometimes we still attend seminars to keep learning about our profession, and you may learn a thing or two if you’re paying attention, not just socially drinking with everyone. But there is plenty of that as well, and that is where some of the best learnins go down! If you remember it…
Till next time!
Rob
