With the beautiful rains falling the last two weeks in Calitzdorp I start looking for something more sweet and warming to drink. Well Withoek just released a 375ml of Muscadel. Not too strong - alcohol of 15,5%. Very rewarding in the cooler evenings. And with the summer coming along you can certainly have it with ice as a sundowner.
The Muscadel as you will see is called The Kairos Muscadel. This is in recognition of the Kairos Skills programme which was run earlier this year with Withoek. A weekend course in making fortified wines. You will also see the names of the participants of this first project between the Withoek and Kairos. Watch out for our Cape Vintage also to be released early next year. This will also be in the 375ml bottle which makes it a very pratical packaging and an extremely nice present.
The rain measured on the farm was 22mm last night and yesterday together. I am informed that the rain measured above the Calitzdorp Irrigation dam was 25mm. The water is running down strongly and most of the bridges is overflown. So go and have a look, you will find most of us there. It more practical terms it does mean that we will have an irrigation run in November, December and nearly a full one in January. From this you can gather that the drought still has a grip on us. So pray for more rain.
A wonderful thing about rain is the effect on plants and especially people. Isn't everybody more friendly and the Monday less blue. For the plants you will notice more vigorous growth because of the nitrogen which dissolves in the rain water. Makes a fertilizer and irrigation.
Well enjoy the rain and do have a small Muscadel with it.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
And it rained...
Funny how quickly the weather changes. In Afrikaans we have a saying 'so onvoorspelbaar soos die weer'. Well last week it felt like it. With the drought making every person stressing, I usually look at the forecast often. Like daily two or three different forecast websites. Not one was predicting much happening except a light fall on Thursday. It changed very quickly into a warning for heavy falls on Wednesday. Well they were exaggerating. They measured 26mm up in the encatchment area and 14mm in town. Good enough.
A representative of the Calitzdorp Water Board told me we had 1 official full irrigation run left in the dam and then there will still be enough water to keep the town going for 8 months. That is if the usage stay as the averages were the last few months.
Well as a farmer on just judging from where the water were last night at the dam it seems we will have definately one extra maybe two irrigation runs. That will take us up to January. Not bad. Then we must just hope for rain in the next two / three months.
Well if you have a look at the growth of the plants it is just always a surprise how much better rain is in comparison to irrigation. The orchards and vineyards look so much more in vigorous growth phase after the rain on Thursday. Even the birds seem to sing a lot more.
The vineyards will get there third spray as do the peaches. The apricots because of the time of harvest nearing now I stopped the spray program. Maybe later just run a fruit fly spray. The weather which leads to a more humid climate will enhance fungi growth and thus more spraying will be needed.
For the concerned under you. Withoek will be audited for SA-Gap (South Africa - Good Agricultural Practice) which is an program to audit the whole approach to agricultural practice. As the concern for the Climate Change movement take on the consumer their fears and demands must more and more be met by the producers of food. The SA - Gap is an South African Auditing program which is based on EuroGap. Why two? The cost. EuroGap cost a lot of money. Also the laws of our country makes that we sometimes can't meet the spesific requirements of the EuroGap. For instance they want us to burn the containers of the different spays. The SA law forbids us to do it.
Withoek still have to put a lot of things into plays to meet all the necessary requirements but we are on our way.
This week we will finish the thinning of the peaches and plums. After that the Plastic in the newly planted vineyards and after that the suckering or the vineyards follow. Lots to be done and not much time. Seems like harvest is coming a long?
A representative of the Calitzdorp Water Board told me we had 1 official full irrigation run left in the dam and then there will still be enough water to keep the town going for 8 months. That is if the usage stay as the averages were the last few months.
Well as a farmer on just judging from where the water were last night at the dam it seems we will have definately one extra maybe two irrigation runs. That will take us up to January. Not bad. Then we must just hope for rain in the next two / three months.
Well if you have a look at the growth of the plants it is just always a surprise how much better rain is in comparison to irrigation. The orchards and vineyards look so much more in vigorous growth phase after the rain on Thursday. Even the birds seem to sing a lot more.
The vineyards will get there third spray as do the peaches. The apricots because of the time of harvest nearing now I stopped the spray program. Maybe later just run a fruit fly spray. The weather which leads to a more humid climate will enhance fungi growth and thus more spraying will be needed.
For the concerned under you. Withoek will be audited for SA-Gap (South Africa - Good Agricultural Practice) which is an program to audit the whole approach to agricultural practice. As the concern for the Climate Change movement take on the consumer their fears and demands must more and more be met by the producers of food. The SA - Gap is an South African Auditing program which is based on EuroGap. Why two? The cost. EuroGap cost a lot of money. Also the laws of our country makes that we sometimes can't meet the spesific requirements of the EuroGap. For instance they want us to burn the containers of the different spays. The SA law forbids us to do it.
Withoek still have to put a lot of things into plays to meet all the necessary requirements but we are on our way.
This week we will finish the thinning of the peaches and plums. After that the Plastic in the newly planted vineyards and after that the suckering or the vineyards follow. Lots to be done and not much time. Seems like harvest is coming a long?
Monday, October 11, 2010
The fruit business
With our currency making muscle all over the world makes all the hi-tech stuff prices drop like over ripe apricots and unfortunately the export prices also. A friend of mine who runs a business in office equipment talks of all the specials running. DVD's, printers, laptops / notebooks, scanners, CD players, external harddrives, etc. Unfortunately with the luxury the apricot / peach canning industry prices all are going down. Like a cliff.
Maybe my trees knows what is going on and they just didn't flower and the few that did, didn't do it with passion. A flower here and there. Real sort of lazy stuff. Why? I am not sure. They got a real good punch of fertilizer at the end of last season - not overdoing it - just enough. The peaches which is in total overproduction are carrying fruit as if it is the last season. A lot of thinning is done. Not a great site for a farmer driving past a orchard with most of its fruit on the orchard floor.
The vines never looked better. Good growth with lots of possible bunches. I allready sprayed twice and will have the third spray on next week. Also have to cover the peaches this week. Maybe even start with fruit fly control. I just hope the gardeners in town - if you only have one type of fruit tree - please do fruit fly control. It doesn't cost much but makes a huge difference to the surrounding farmers. They, the fruit flys, will allready be very active and with the amount of small gardens with fruit trees there will allready be a over populated fruit fly colony inside the town.
We still busy planting the last poles and hopefully will be finished by the end of this week.
The green fig season also starts and I will be picking my green figs. It must sort of be big without having a hole in the centre. If you have any, I am interested in buying.
The irrigation is also running smoothly and the orchards and vineyards really looks healthy and strong. Hopefully we do get rain to continue this excellent start to the 2010 season.
Maybe my trees knows what is going on and they just didn't flower and the few that did, didn't do it with passion. A flower here and there. Real sort of lazy stuff. Why? I am not sure. They got a real good punch of fertilizer at the end of last season - not overdoing it - just enough. The peaches which is in total overproduction are carrying fruit as if it is the last season. A lot of thinning is done. Not a great site for a farmer driving past a orchard with most of its fruit on the orchard floor.
The vines never looked better. Good growth with lots of possible bunches. I allready sprayed twice and will have the third spray on next week. Also have to cover the peaches this week. Maybe even start with fruit fly control. I just hope the gardeners in town - if you only have one type of fruit tree - please do fruit fly control. It doesn't cost much but makes a huge difference to the surrounding farmers. They, the fruit flys, will allready be very active and with the amount of small gardens with fruit trees there will allready be a over populated fruit fly colony inside the town.
We still busy planting the last poles and hopefully will be finished by the end of this week.
The green fig season also starts and I will be picking my green figs. It must sort of be big without having a hole in the centre. If you have any, I am interested in buying.
The irrigation is also running smoothly and the orchards and vineyards really looks healthy and strong. Hopefully we do get rain to continue this excellent start to the 2010 season.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
First fruit visible
Here at Withoek we are busy finishing up the new plantings. The finishing touches sometimes takes longer than the actual job. Poles being planted must be done as well as the plastic mulch covers. The covers in the case of the drip irrigation will go over the drip lines. This makes the dripper doing his / her job under cover literally. With the huge loss to evaporation of the water then sort of more controlable. The micro irrigation is more of a problem. The micro easily blocks so it must be cleaned regurally.
The first leaves on the apricot plantings allready shows and even the Chenin blanc allready shows buds swelling. Very promising.
The apricot harvest looks smaller than the previous season due to a frost in mid August. The peaches funny enough which is higher up in the valley were not affected as much. The peaches is allready nice sizes and we will have to start to do the thinning very soon. The idea is to do it before the pip inside the peach hardens. When that happens most of the division of cells stopped and the only way the peach can grow is by enlarging the individual cells. You thus have a limitation on size because of less cells. This also is the case for the other stone fruit - apricots and plums. We will also thin the plums and the apricots designated for the fresh market.
At the fruit drying plant we started last week with the washing of the stellations. This is done by hand and is quite labour intensive. With less fruit we hope that quality and size will make up the difference at least in our financial statements.
Withoek also have a clean up project going. We provide all our labour houses with a rubbish bin so that they can clean up around the houses. It really is a process making people acknowledge the need for clean surroundings. A clean enviroment also will sort of lead to a healthier family.
The first leaves on the apricot plantings allready shows and even the Chenin blanc allready shows buds swelling. Very promising.
The apricot harvest looks smaller than the previous season due to a frost in mid August. The peaches funny enough which is higher up in the valley were not affected as much. The peaches is allready nice sizes and we will have to start to do the thinning very soon. The idea is to do it before the pip inside the peach hardens. When that happens most of the division of cells stopped and the only way the peach can grow is by enlarging the individual cells. You thus have a limitation on size because of less cells. This also is the case for the other stone fruit - apricots and plums. We will also thin the plums and the apricots designated for the fresh market.
At the fruit drying plant we started last week with the washing of the stellations. This is done by hand and is quite labour intensive. With less fruit we hope that quality and size will make up the difference at least in our financial statements.
Withoek also have a clean up project going. We provide all our labour houses with a rubbish bin so that they can clean up around the houses. It really is a process making people acknowledge the need for clean surroundings. A clean enviroment also will sort of lead to a healthier family.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Summer kicks in
With the temperatures slowly rising to the early 30's the water usage of the plants with young leafes rises rapidly. This means the water usage grows dramatically and the stress on the new irrigation system rise.
As with most Mondays even those well planned there always turns something out not fitting altogether. A leak here, fertilizer tanks not fitted and worker not turning up after the 'all pay' weekend. All of this contributes to something called 'Blue Monday'. Now what went right. My peaches were sprayed for the necessary insectocides, disease cures and micro element additions. My apricots are getting the same treatment to make sure the smaller harvest provides better quality fruit. Some of my vineyards started to but and I also sprayed them with contact pesticides and a small bit of micro element additions.
The new plantings really keeping me busy and out of the cleaning the orchards / vineyards, I decided to put the old 'skottel ploeg' to work. More mechanics at work less spraying.
The new plantings will come to a halt tomorrow with the finishing of the Indraai block of Colombard. The poles at the Chenin blanc block will also be finished tomorrow and we then can begin with the Colombard. With rain being predicted for Saturday till Monday - about an inch altogether - I want to get most of these things as near as possible to finish. So expect a big forest of poles in the valley. The fertigations systems also being launched this week make this an very eventful and busy week. Hold thumbs everything goes according to plan.
The house of straw project is postponed to October this year. So this make it a big chance of still getting involved in the more sustainable housing projects. Please do contact Selma. The presenters is really good and well informed on other issues concerning the greener lifestyle. Certainly not something to be missed.
The church 'dankseggings basaar' is also this weekend at the station. A definate for most of the Calitzdorpers. Come get good produce at farm prices and support the local church. The Church building will be 100 years old this 17 of December 2010 for those who is counting.
As with most Mondays even those well planned there always turns something out not fitting altogether. A leak here, fertilizer tanks not fitted and worker not turning up after the 'all pay' weekend. All of this contributes to something called 'Blue Monday'. Now what went right. My peaches were sprayed for the necessary insectocides, disease cures and micro element additions. My apricots are getting the same treatment to make sure the smaller harvest provides better quality fruit. Some of my vineyards started to but and I also sprayed them with contact pesticides and a small bit of micro element additions.
The new plantings really keeping me busy and out of the cleaning the orchards / vineyards, I decided to put the old 'skottel ploeg' to work. More mechanics at work less spraying.
The new plantings will come to a halt tomorrow with the finishing of the Indraai block of Colombard. The poles at the Chenin blanc block will also be finished tomorrow and we then can begin with the Colombard. With rain being predicted for Saturday till Monday - about an inch altogether - I want to get most of these things as near as possible to finish. So expect a big forest of poles in the valley. The fertigations systems also being launched this week make this an very eventful and busy week. Hold thumbs everything goes according to plan.
The house of straw project is postponed to October this year. So this make it a big chance of still getting involved in the more sustainable housing projects. Please do contact Selma. The presenters is really good and well informed on other issues concerning the greener lifestyle. Certainly not something to be missed.
The church 'dankseggings basaar' is also this weekend at the station. A definate for most of the Calitzdorpers. Come get good produce at farm prices and support the local church. The Church building will be 100 years old this 17 of December 2010 for those who is counting.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
HOUSE OF STRAW
Once their was three little piglets. Their names were....
The straw bale house workshop is held on the 27 to 29 of September 2010. The organizer is Zelma Kriek and she can be contacted on 082 576 5855. The cost is R1000 and includes lunch and 'verversings'. This workshop is being done at Zelma's farm on the Besemkop/Groenfontein road. About 1km from The Red Coffee Pot or centre of town on your left hand. The grey house with Blue Gum trees.
Do support this informative and practical workshop. The presenters are from Jo'burg and they are Green. Yes very Green. So give yourself freedom from Kannaland Municipality and go to Zelma's workshop. Unfortunately you still have to pay some taxes and present plans for you project to them but that is all.
Enjoy
The straw bale house workshop is held on the 27 to 29 of September 2010. The organizer is Zelma Kriek and she can be contacted on 082 576 5855. The cost is R1000 and includes lunch and 'verversings'. This workshop is being done at Zelma's farm on the Besemkop/Groenfontein road. About 1km from The Red Coffee Pot or centre of town on your left hand. The grey house with Blue Gum trees.
Do support this informative and practical workshop. The presenters are from Jo'burg and they are Green. Yes very Green. So give yourself freedom from Kannaland Municipality and go to Zelma's workshop. Unfortunately you still have to pay some taxes and present plans for you project to them but that is all.
Enjoy
The birth of a vineyard
Last week the vines were delivered and because I was going to a Festival namely the Geyser 'saamtrek', we decided only to start planting this week. The vines were stored in a cold room at 5 degrees and the roots being watered every half a day. After their stay in the cold room we have to rehidrate it in water for 24hrs before planting. This all come down to that we can only start to plant today.
We started with the Chenin blanc which is situated near the Calitzdorp Country Lodge. This being a bit more elevated above the riverbed which also means more airflow. Chenin is a cultivar prone to have rot in its bunches especially if it is not well aerated. The Chenin blanc is also a cultivar which carries a good yield so the soils must be well drained. Both of these objectives is reached with the specific terrior of the Hoenderboer as we call it. (For the less informed a chicken farmer once owned the piece of land.) We decided to plant 3000 vines / day as we want to water them all and see that we get finished planting before the end of the day. I think we underestimated but that is always better.
The blooming period for the apricots is also finished and the frost a few weeks ago really hit us hard especially in the blocks nearest to the town. Some of the trees only carried one or two flowers which means no harvest. The blocks higher up away from the river aswell as further from town had better flowering. I also took out a hectare of apricots to make place for the new plantings hoping the Herminashof blocks will deliver but you can never trust or predict nature.
The peaches in contrast to the apricots had a brilliant flowering period and we will really have to thin to get the right size. The funny thing is SAD allready let me know they are looking for apricots and not so much peaches likewise Langeberg. That is the agricultural balances for you.
The vineyards are just busy budding and we will soon see how their flowering goes. I expect with no natural intervention that it might be a good year. But only time will tell.
We started with the Chenin blanc which is situated near the Calitzdorp Country Lodge. This being a bit more elevated above the riverbed which also means more airflow. Chenin is a cultivar prone to have rot in its bunches especially if it is not well aerated. The Chenin blanc is also a cultivar which carries a good yield so the soils must be well drained. Both of these objectives is reached with the specific terrior of the Hoenderboer as we call it. (For the less informed a chicken farmer once owned the piece of land.) We decided to plant 3000 vines / day as we want to water them all and see that we get finished planting before the end of the day. I think we underestimated but that is always better.
The blooming period for the apricots is also finished and the frost a few weeks ago really hit us hard especially in the blocks nearest to the town. Some of the trees only carried one or two flowers which means no harvest. The blocks higher up away from the river aswell as further from town had better flowering. I also took out a hectare of apricots to make place for the new plantings hoping the Herminashof blocks will deliver but you can never trust or predict nature.
The peaches in contrast to the apricots had a brilliant flowering period and we will really have to thin to get the right size. The funny thing is SAD allready let me know they are looking for apricots and not so much peaches likewise Langeberg. That is the agricultural balances for you.
The vineyards are just busy budding and we will soon see how their flowering goes. I expect with no natural intervention that it might be a good year. But only time will tell.
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