Winter at Ripplebrook

Welcome to Ripple Brook Farm and Vineyard!  

Although it is winter, we are still keeping busy preparing ourselves for the coming growing season!  We recently attended the 2019 Mid Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA. We sat in on grape sessions about Fruit Zone Leaf Removal, Integrated Weed Management Strategies, using NEWA with our IPM, the Spotted Lantern Fly, and grape disease management.  

As most vignerons will tell you, the winter trimming season can be brutal at time.  Here at Ripple Brook, we try and wait for the nicest weather possible and get outside. Pictured below, we show Adelaide and Rachel trimming in the Concord rows during the February heat wave.  It was 64 degree that day!

We are currently only about 20 percent done with our winter trimming.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that the ground hog was correct earlier this month so we have some nice weather as we finish up our winter work in the vineyard.  Our goal is to have the entire vineyards first trimming done by mid-April.