Patchwork

Humpday. Always a big hot mess. Woke up and whacked the alarm a few dozen times only to roll out of bed disheveled and still exhausted. No coffee either. Drats! The ptetradactyl was picking up a morning shift and the french press was already luke warm by the time I began to poke about the kitchen, harvesting the crush out from the corners of my eyes.

Instead of lending a hand with harvest I headed out to Bennet Valley for a beautiful sunrise to put some water down on a few Pinot Noir blocks that looked like they were on the verge of throwing in the white flag and shriveling into high end raisons. Well maybe not. I'm not so sure that anyone is ready to drop $4000 a ton for raisons. Now that might be a new luxory good. Any one want to test the waters on that market?

Drip irrigation for those out East, where there is normally plenty of summer rain, is commonly used to efficiently and strategically water grapevines in much of the New World (Australia, NZ, Argentina, South Africa). Tiny emitters are placed along a drip line and let out a specifc amount of water per hour, normally 2 to 4 litres. Ingenous and energy conserving no doubt, but never quite leak proof as I found out earlier this summer as I have routinely sprayed myself in the face and soaked my work clothes patching up drip line.

Much of the afternoon was spent battling traffic delays on River Road this afternoon and prepping for our night pick at San Remo. Pull a tractor here, schlep a light tower up a hill and pull a picking trailer out of storage.

Time to get some sleep. Five hours 'til the pick!