Virginia Real : Fresh Off The Vine…

February 24, 2014

Yesterday I found time to prune the grapevine. Since the day was fairly warm, I waited until late in the day to do this. Although the day was warm, the forecast called for the temperature to drop down in the low 30’s last night, so the weather was good for pruning. I like to prune my grapevine and fruit trees on a day when it’s either warm or not unbearably cold and, ideally, that day would be followed up by a cold night and at least a few cold days afterwards. The reason for this is that pruning on a fairly warm day allows me to work without freezing my hands off, while the following cold night and days will be cold enough to stop any sap that might possibly flow out of the vine/trees.

As I pruned the grapevine, I separated the shoots into two piles. One pile, with the longest vines, I would use to make wreaths. The other pile of short vines will be cut up into smaller pieces and added to the compost bins. To make the wreaths, I trimmed the small limbs and twigs from the long vines and then carefully bent the longest one (about ten feet long) to form an “O” shape. I followed that up by adding more vines and tucking the ends between vines within the circle. After about five or six vines were added, the wreath was thick enough to be considered finished. It should be noted that the finished wreath will most likely not be perfectly round. However, it can be shaped into a more perfect circle by gently bending the finished wreath to conform to shape. There were enough of the discarded vines to make two wreaths. I will decorate the wreaths and use them for different holidays throughout the year. I have three or four of these from previous years, so I can verify that they’ll last for years.

On another note…Over the weekend I also made some gluten-free blackberry sorbet that was really tasty. Since it’s fairly hard to find a gluten-free ice cream, I make this sorbet instead. It’s refreshing and, because you’re using berries, you are sneaking some much needed fruit and fiber into your diet. (People who are on a gluten-free diet need to be sure to add enough fiber to their diet. This can be done by incorporating fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, nuts, and beans on a regular basis.) It's also great because it has only three ingredients and is really quick to make. I’ve added the recipe to the “Gluten-Free Recipes” tab shown above…next to the “Home” tab.

Grapevine after pruning. (Note the way the trimmed branches on the right are pointing
towards the sky. I trim off branches that hang "under" the grapevine's canopy
as they would be in the shade where air does not circulate as well.)