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April 2003 started out quite fierce in Michigan with an ice storm. Our power was out for 4 days and anything electronic (like this newsletter) immediately stopped. Pat was busy playing "pioneer woman" heating our house with wood and hauling water for the bathrooms.  More pictures .....

It came in very handy having a good supply of beeswax candles for lighting at night. It really made you think about how it was before we had electricity. Our Cut Glass Pillar, our Container Candles , our 9 inch Cylinder Pillars, along with our Standard Hand Dipped Candles worked out really good.

 

 

 

Our Candle Catalog

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Ice Storm. Pruning time in the vineyard, MSU course in viticulture, New vines planted, May grape recipe.

The ice storm that we mentioned did no damage to the vines but made for some nice pictures.

Common questions people ask us are:

Do you really have to prune every year?  What do you do - Just "cut them back"?

Yes! Some people think you can plant vines and just let them "grow up the wire". You see this in back yards all the time - A concord vine growing all over the place. To maintain a healthy vine and good crop every year the vines need to be pruned, leaving only a trunk to support the vine and a certain number of "buds" from last years growth.  pruning details .....

 

New vines planted! Approximately 3/4 more acre of vines have been planted. Two new red varieties Chambourcin (a late ripening vine) and Frontenac (mid season), along with a few new rows of concord have been added. More Vignoles for whit wine was also planted. Many of the vines that we planted a few years ago are now in full crop - Baco Noir, St. Peppin, Niagara, Delaware and more DeChaunac. If the weather keeps up this should be a very good year.

 

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MSU course in viticulture - this months posting:
W.C. Paetz / HRT333 / Wine Judging Part IV - "Comparisons & Book Reviews" / October 7, 2002

In the book; Windows On The World Complete Wine Course, Kevin Zraly says, “If you talk to any producers of Burgundy wines, They’ll tell you the most important element in making their quality wines is the soil in which the grapes are grown. This together with the slope of the land and climatic conditions, determines whether a wine is a Village wine, a Premier Cru, or a Grand Cru. This concept of soil, slope, and climatic conditions in French is known as terroir.”   To continue this story ........

 

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May grape recipe - Grape Gumdrops
Sandy Pruden - Michigan

 

This Month in the Vineyard

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Spring colony checks, Package bees, May honey recipe

May is a very important time at the Honey Farm. Now we will go through all of our colonies to check their health. Increases will be made by spliting one large colony into two or more colonies and giving the new part a queen cell that we have raised. Package bees will be installed to replace colonies that have died over the winter.

A lot of pictures were taken when we installed the package bees and we created a pictorial page that might be interesting.

 

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May Honey Recipe
Roast Turkey with Honey Cranberry Relish
The recipe .....

This Month at the Honey Farm

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Please send me your comments ......