spur pruned divided Scott Henry?? And if yes, does that technically make it a double divided Smart-Dyson? I think I need another class on this. I finished my viticulture class a week ago and have apparently been too fried to write about it. That's not really true - it got me so excited about growing things that I've spent a lot of time outside poking around in the dirt and scheming rather than computing.
Some of the content of the course was way over my head, like the molecular structure of various minerals (quick now, the symbol for potassium anyone? Yup, singled out the gardeners in the readership). It twigged some dusty remnants of knowledge stuck in the back of my brain from bio & chem in high school but it was a slow grind. It felt good though. If it had all been easy and familiar it would have been a waste of time. The highlight of the week was definately the field trip on the last day. We wandered around various vineyards observing trellis styles and grapevine selections while soaking in views and sunlight. After four solid days in a classroom with no windows it was most welcome.
I particularly enjoyed the parts about incorporating the intrinsic qualities of the land into the overall vineyard plan. Seems obvious, but how often do you see farmers bullishly trying to grow something where/when/how it doesn't want to grow naturally? Choose the right crop and methods for your soil, orientation, growing season and market demand. You'll have to do a lot less "managing" and will have a better outcome - basic agricultural theory. I'm referring to for-profit agriculture here, I'm not about to slag someone for trying to grow a personal food crop in near impossible conditions because it's all they have access to.
Ultimately it was fun to learn and get excited about something. I'd like for it to translate into some contract/part time work at some point so I can find out if I want to pursue it further - Vineyard Manager has a nice ring to it. I'll take the rest of the year to make some contacts and have babies and stuff, then by next spring I might be ready to take another step. Or maybe I'll be excited about building model airplanes by then. Who cares as long as it engages me?
5 comments:
Cuz I'm a super nerd, is the symbol "K"? I was never good in Chem but I was a decent memorizer!
Gotta get back to reading your post - yes I did as I was asked and answered super fast literally interrupting my reading of the blog. Oy vey, I need help ;)
And the winner is...Nicole! Very impressive, you now have bragging rights - sorry I didn't plan a prize for that one! If you lived next door I'd drop off a bottle of wine from one of the vineyards. Maybe if you find yourselves out West for a holiday I can make good on that.
Yay! I'm guessing if we lived next door we also wouldn't be dealing with the snow that we got ALL DAY today and yesterday too. Ugh.
Summer needs to come, and fast! I envy you for being out and about enjoying your field trip in such gorgeous weather ... Calgary is supposed to hit 18 on Sunday but then for all we know it could be -20 again on Monday! Gotta love a good Chinook ;)
That does sound challenging but fingers in the dirt I can understand. Talking about cold/snow - it's sunny in Wpg but what a bitterly cold breeze again and snow doesn't quite want to disappear! We have geese & robins returning so there's hope! Happy gardening!
Mom
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