The Next Stage: General Confusion

Hello Blog Followers!

After a harrowing night upon which our poor Zorack, Jr. (of the canine variety) found himself miserably sick every hour, I sit in mild delirium hoping to write a fabulous blog entry (he's much better today. Oh the mysteries of the canine tummy).

I am sad to say however, that today's post title "General Confusion" applies not only to my sleepless state, but to Ol' Miss Bella's Little Farm as well.

In the previous post I described the unfortunate structural disintegration of the wood planks between the posts on the grape arbor. Zorack, Sr. (of the human variety), cleverly repaired those issues yesterday evening and we are back in grape-growing business...or are we? According to the Eichorn-Lorenz Stages in Shoot Development, the majority of our grapes have passed through Stage 23: Full Flowering (50% of flowerhoods fallen) and are now in stage 25: Late Flowering (80% of flowerhoods fallen). Um...what? Here's a link to the stages, http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/em/em8413-e/stages.html

Ergo, just a few of the grape bunches look like this:

While the rest look like this:

And so the question remains; are the grape bunches really in Stage 25, or are they simply dying a slow, miserable death? Also of interest, are the little bugs I just noticed on the grapes while I was taking these pictures, symbiotic or parasitic?

Speaking of bugs, what else is growing at the Farm? Garlic, strawberries, broccoli, tomatoes, and apparently veggie bugs. Out came the can of garden dust yesterday in the hopes of saving the broccoli from further damage.

Finally Bloggity Bloggers, if you're interested in Hollywood's version of wine enjoyment, Zorack and Bella recommend the movies Bottleshock and Sideways. Both to be viewed with a glass of Pinot Noir in hand, of course.

Until next post, Happy Wining.