3/30/2011 Cabernet Sauvignon? Check.Just picked up some new juice, Festa Juice Cabernet Sauvignon from Magnotta Winery Ontario, Canada. I can't wait to get into it this weekend and start the fermentation. We also have some Californian Chardonnay to bottle that just hit the 6 month mark. Looks like we are shaping up for a good weekend. It is day four the batches average temp is 62 deg. and I have been stirring twice a day. Fermentation is looking good and we are one third of the way threw the conversion to alcohol ( Specific Gravity 1.055 ). It is time for the yeast nutrients and as you can see in the last pic we have much happier yeast. The nutrients will help the yeast healthy and not die off before the finish the job. Nine days and we will rack the wine and get a good look at it. July 1st, today I add some additional French Oak to the Wine. We keep a single bottle with a little french oak in it off the the side for topping off the main batch and testing. This helps determine if the batch would benefit from have additional oaking without disturbing or over oaking the main batch of wine. The wine is progressing very nicely but it will be November before we can even handle on a bottle date.
Lots of business to attend to this weekend, seeing that we are officially "The Grassy Knoll Farm"! We received our tax ID number, so per the government, we are official! And, off and running... So, let's see. Hmm... we bottled some 2010 Shiraz, blended our Chardonnay, played with the chicks (they needed some extra attention- they are starting to freak out that our cat, Charlotte is watching them through the clear plastic container that is their home) and thinned our seedlings- some looked so wonderful that we replanted them for selling at the farm stand come May! We also debated on moving the ducks to their summer home, but from the looks of the weather report, we are looking at a wintery mix of snow and rain all week long, so we decided to leave the ducks in the warm shed and deal with moving them in a few weeks. They are all dying for a bath, alas, it is still just too cold for them at night, so dusty, dirty and dry they must stay! 3/21/2011 6 New ChicksI went out to get spark plugs and ended up at the register with 6 chicks. Teresa informed me that they were not OEM VW Parts, and I was not to allowed to see if they would fit. At a second look I notice their part numbers didn't even match each others. I had left the store with a Bantam not a Bosh so I found my receipt to take another look.
The large chicks are not that big, the Bantams are just that amazingly small!
3/21/2011 A end of winter flockingWe ran across a flock of turkeys on their way to raid a bird feeder. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
The sight of seedling trays full of our tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, broccoli and flowers is exciting, while the lingering glacier like snow fall we had this year is less so. The seedlings have put out their first set of real leaves. Above are some broccoli and tomato seedlings, slower to grow are the peppers...
Friday morning at watering time, no seedlings. Saturday morning watering with Anna and David- seedlings have emerged! Seedlings of the broccoli and some of the flowering herbs have sprouted. Sunday morning? More seedlings have emerged. You can practically watch them shoot out of the soil! Broccoli is now over an inch tall, other tomatoes have sprouted, all of the kale, and the marigolds are rapidly approaching the height of the broccoli. It makes me thing of spring! Can't wait for winter to be over! Stay tuned...
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Teresa Fuller
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