Brunnenburg Experience

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The art of pruning

A big task that has to be done and will need continual work is pruning the vines. I worked on a group of grapes called Goldmuskateller. These white grapes are part of the older group of plants at Brunnenburg. Unlike the new plants that are fungus resistant, these need more chemical spray throughout the year. To promote new growth one can prune the branches of a perennial plant so that only one strong branch is left. It is important to not damage the eyes of the branch, where new growth will stem from. Damaging the eyes may slow down the growth of new branches. Pruning is essential to growing grape vines. When coming upon a plant you can see all of the growth from the previous year. I carefully cut the new growth away leaving only one branch to remain. Nik did this part while I stayed behind him and cleaned up the area, getting rid of all the other branches. This task will go on until all the vines are pruned and ready for the upcoming season.

Goldmuskateller

The vine after it has been cut

Same as above but zoomed out

View from the vineyard

After all the plants are pruned and cleaned, they are ready for the next step. The areas that have been cut are like opened wounds for the vine and make it easier for bugs or bacteria to enter the vine and potentially kill it. To protect the vines we applied a glue that was mixed with copper. This physically caps off the open wound and gives the vine some extra chemical protection. I carried the tub of glue around and used a simple paintbrush to apply it the vines. I then went up and down the rows hitting up each plant as I went by. This glue does not hurt the plant, as long you do not apply to the top of the one good branch.

The glue

Applying the glue to the vine

Glue dried

The cut vines must also be raked up and disposed of. Although I did not do this directly, you are basically cleaning up the area and making it less cluttered. The vines are put into piles at the end of the rows and then into crates that are taken away and dumped at another part of the property. As of today, all of the Goldmuskatellers are pruned, about half are covered in the glue and the area still needs to be cleaned up.

Vines on the ground

Bunched up

In the crate

Workday this week was simple and I focused on one task, building a fence by the pigs. I worked with Jordan and Robbie on it. Like many of the other fences that are put up here, we started by digging a hole for a post. The holes had to be about 70 centimeters deep and wide enough for a wooden post. The first two gave us some trouble because there was a layer of the old road right underneath the dirt. We had to really break it all up to get through. The rest of the posts went in easier. By the time we got them all in, it was getting close to lunch. We completed one side before we headed off to lunch.

The first attempt at the fence

The side

After lunch we helped Jane out with a different task. She has been working on the vegetable garden for the last couple of weeks. Putting in raised beds and adding soil. It was decided that dirt from Mira's pen, that has been tumbled around and broken up, would be added to the garden. This meant we had to lug wheelbarrows loads of dirt up into the garden and dump it. We worked through this task but it was a hassle because we wanted to make sure no rocks made there way up to the garden. This meant all dirt loads had to be sorted. To make this go faster Jane and Spencer made a screen to filter out the rocks. This made the dirt almost rock free and will benefit the garden.

Jane giving us the low down

Searching for rocks

The day was coming to a close but the fence still had to be built. Robbie and Jordan went back to the task as I helped finish with the dirt. Things were going good until Nik informed us that the fence boards were to far apart and the animals would be able to get through. This meant we had to take off all the boards and start over. We worked on fixing the fence but were not able to finish it before the end of the day. Even though it was frustrating to have to start over, it was better to do a project the right way however, this also means the fence is not complete and still needs to be finished.

Feeding time

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Playing catch up

It has been a little over a week since my last post but things have been pretty busy around here. I finish work exhausted. The weather is getting better and spring is on its way. I am just going to post a few things that I did last week.

First of all, there was another donkey walk. This time almost all of the students came with us. To help keep the donkeys fit, Brigitte and Jane try to take them out at least once a week for a long walk. This walk happened on the 7th, and it was up to Longfall's guest house. The first part of the trail was also a "work out" trail with different bars and post that you can do different exercises on, such as push-ups or pull-ups. We left around 10:30 and made it to the guesthouse around 12:30, donkey speed. We all fit into the guesthouse and began ordering are meals. It was to my knowledge that there was a simple kitchen in the back so we ended up staying at Longfalls for a while but it was well worth the wait. They severed various traditional Tirolian foods, such as Schweinernes, Schweinwurst and Sauerkraut. I ended up eating half of the Schweinernes and half of the Schweinwurst, both were delicious. The overall trip was fun and the food even better. I look forward to going up to Longfalls again but would like to keep hiking.

Lila

Trail Sign

Students and donkeys

Fresh mountain water

Lilas race stripe

Scenic view

The menu

My finished plate

Inside the guest house

A picture from are way down

Tuesday came around and another workday was about to start. I went outside to feel the bitter cold against my face and I knew that it was going to be a long day. I was ready at 8 for Nik to show me my task for the day and what had to be done. One group was to rake rocks down a slope where the sheep and donkeys sometimes stay. The pigs were in this area earlier and dug it all up. This area will be reseeded later, but for now the rocks had to go. This took the whole day but the much-needed work got done.

The other project that I focused more of my attention on was the cutting of the willow trees on the farm. These willows, which Nik called Binding Willows, are cut back each year and are allowed to re-grow. The trees growth is stunted and the trunks only get about 3 feet tall. They shoot out these gold colored branches that are flexible. There were about 20 of these small trees scattered around in one area. The job was to cut all of the branches off and to collect them. They were more widely used to bind the vines until other material became available. This practice of using the willows is not used as much today because farmers use plastic. However, Brunnenburg keeps the practice alive, if only on small scale. The branches were cut, bunched together and tied for storage.

The base of the willow branches

The cut

The bare tree

Bunches of branches

The first knot

Finished product

Storage

For the rest of the week I worked on two projects, digging a trench and putting up a fence. Before I came here one of donkeys killed a small lamb simply by picking it up and thrashing it around. This little incident meant that the donkeys and sheep could no longer graze together. There are a few parts in the vineyard where the sheep can get to the donkeys. It was my task to set up a fence to stop this. It was a simple fence, I dug in a few posts and then attached wood to them. The wood overlapped and I bent it to go with the curve. Hopefully the fence will do the job and keep the sheep away from the donkeys.

Fence posts

Constructed fence

The trench was similar to the trench the students dug on their first work day. These green roofs sometimes leak water down to the structure below, and in this case Mira's pig stall. Eventually this water would erode/rot away the structure and make it unsafe for the pigs and unusable for many other things. I was told to dig down until I hit something solid, which ended up being about 4 feet down. I also gave the trench a bit of a slant to allow water to move in a more natural direction. Eventually a pipe will be put into the trench and it will be filled back up, saving the pig pen.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Ice Music and a trip to Meran

Below Brunnenburg and Dirf Tirol is Meran/Merano. This small bustling city has many stores with a larger variety of items then the stores in Dirf Tirol. It also has a train and bus station that allows people to travel out of the area. Jane and I took the students down on Friday morning to check out the market that happens every Friday. The market has everything from food to rugs to shoes and goes for about five blocks. This market provides for the residents of the area and also the tourist that come to Meran. The food comes form local vendors but many of the other products came form various places. The market is a great opportunity to become submerged into the culture of the area and to even practice your German.

The students walking down to Meran

Jane buying dried fruit

Fresh fish

Good old Wurth

Waiting for the bus to Schnalstal, a ski resort on a glacier. The students were told they were going to see a concert, but did not know what sort of music there would be. I knew that the concert was going take place in an ice dome but I had no idea what kind of music we would be treated to.

Schnalstal

The students bundled up for the concert

The gondela cables going up to 3,000 meters/11,000 ft

The hike down to the ice dome, -24 Celsius/-4 Fahrenheit

Entering the domicile

As I entered the ice dome I was astonished to see what was on the stage, instruments made from ice. They were crafted from the glacier itself. Below is an ice harp. The strings were normal but the frame was made of ice.