Tasty grapes.

I probably didn't have to get my refractometer out today and perform a sugar sample of the Pinot grigio (PG).  Nope, I really should have known that the PG grapes were very close to maturity, and thus harvest, by simply observing my chickens' behaviour of late.  Yup, my six girls are really enjoying the ripening grapes.  Rather unfortunate, that.
There is a retaining wall at the top of the PG block and Lizzie, Pansy, Maro, Annie, Rosie and Gracie seem quite content to sit there and snack away to their little hearts' content.  The rachis in the photograph is picked clean, absolutely nekkid.  Full clusters on the far side of the vine that they cannot reach are still intact.  And I thought I had problems with the wild bird population.  Hmmph.
I sampled anyway and the PG is at 23.2 °Brix; the grapes taste fabulous and, what's left of them, look great.  Now, if I could train the chickens to poop only in the vineyard I may overlook their thieving of my hard-farmed crop.

Napa nest 8.

This is the second set of chicks this spring for one very busy house finch mother.  Right next to my front door, balanced on the top of a pair of outdoor lights, the nest of the Haemorhous mexicanus is looking a little worse for wear.  The four, fluffy chicks, huddled together in the nest, don't seem to care about the droppings accumulating around the edge of their weed, grass and horsehair-lined penthouse, so I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me either.  Both Vinomaker and I have stopped using the front door, as much as we normally would, so as to not unduly disturb the materfamilias in the raising of her brood.  I just love having baby critters around Vinoland.

The birds and the bees.

The birds and the bees are in busying themselves with reducing Vinoland's Cabernet Sauvignon crop.  It's not that I begrudge my avian and apian friends a little fresh fruit now and again.  It's just that I can't help but feel a little pang of disappointment at the fact that some of my lovingly pruned and farmed grapes will not get the chance to fulfill their destiny by becoming wine.  I already knew that the minute the local animal population becomes this interested in the fruit, the fruit is ripening.  I really should have taken a sugar sample before today, but I've been a bit busy.
The birds and the bees were correct.  The fruit is rather ripe; the sugar is at 25 °Brix and the seeds are mostly brown.  However, Vinomaker thinks the juice tastes just a little green still.  I don't.  I think the juice tastes simply delicious, typically Cab-like.  Apparently, so do the birds.  And the bees.

A trio of chicks.

Just wanted to report that Vinoland's California towhee chicks are doing really well.  All three eggs hatched, the chicks are feathering up nicely and I'm sure that they will fledge this week.  I took this photograph with a long lens, atop a very rickety old chair, whilst mama and papa towhee protested, one Syrah row over, perched beside each other on an irrigation line.  Not wanting to agitate the parent birds too much, I decided that any photo I had already managed to snap of the chicks would have to suffice.  I would feel horrible if the nest was abandoned because I was too nosy.  I carefully climbed down, very carefully, and went about my business in the Pinot grigio vines.  I hope to see these little chaps, or chapesses, eating seed on my deck rail very soon.

Napa nest 7.

I've been working in the vineyard the past few afternoons.  Well, actually, today I got distracted by Vinoland's bountiful blackberry crop. Wow, all that winter rain has paid off.  I'm going to be consuming a lot of vanilla gelato in the next few weeks, just sayin'.  But back to the grapes. Everything is looking good; healthy canopy; nice crop.
On Thursday, a California towhee alerted me to the presence of her nest whilst I was working in the Syrah vines.  Momma towhee's usually mellow, but bright, single-note call was whipped-up into a frenzied chip-chip-chip as I got closer to her nest which was hidden in the top of the canopy. Momma-bird got even further agitated when I got out a step ladder so that I could take a photograph.  Sorry Momma, just had to get a photo of this horse hair-lined, luxury Napa nest.
I am happy to report that Momma and the eggs survived my interloping: the past couple of days she has been dutifully sitting on the nest doing the stuff that birds do best.  So adorable.

Napa nest 6.

I'm so excited.  I have a dark-eyed junco nest in my Pinot grigio vines. With Vinomaker's help, I spent most of  my day putting up the bird netting in the Pinot grigio vines.  Just as I was pulling some unwanted lateral growth from higher up in the canopy I noticed this nest.  As the nest was just above eye level, I had to stand on my tiptoes to see inside - four eggs, wow! Just then I realised I was being harangued by a dark-eyed junco female who wasn't nearly as excited with my find as I was. Sorry momma, let me just get right out of your way.

Napa nest 5.

Veraison is running rampant in Vinoland.  Well maybe not quite rampant, but it is moving right along in the Pinot grigio and the Syrah vines (and probably the Orange muscat vines also, it's just harder to see in white grapes).  So today, I was going to post a photograph of one, or the other, of the vine varieties changing colour except I discovered something more interesting.
Yesterday, whilst working in the Pinot grigio vines, I suddenly became aware that I might be close to a bird's nest.  How did I come to this conclusion?  A pair of California Towhees (Melozone crissalis) decided I was persona non grata in a particular part of the Pinot grigio block and they created quite a ruckus to dissuade me from working around their nest further.  I did have a quick gander and discovered that their wonderfully constructed nest held four, blue-green speckled eggs.  How wonderful.  I then immediately left them alone.
Today, whilst working in the Cabernet sauvignon vines, the same thing happened: another pair of towhees made it abundantly clear that they were not very happy with me performing some vineyard operations in their neighbourhood.  I couldn't help but to take a peek and to my delight I espied one egg and two pinky-grey, fuzzy chicks.  Momma towhee loudly protested my reappearance with a camera, but I just had to get a photo.  And as I snapped away, one baby promptly fell over onto his back.  So cute.  Love all my Vinoland feathered friends.

Catch of the Day.

Today was the day Vinomaker and I decided the local avian population were persona non grata: the birds were having way too good of a time with our Syrah.  At 23.6 degrees Brix (and a TA of 7.65 and a pH of 3.66) our little crop is probably only 2 weeks away from harvesting.  It may look like the grapes are in prison, but the netting is for their own good!