Grow Your Own Grapes

Grow Your Own Grapes

by Green Acres Nursery & Supply

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About This Episode

31:28 minutes

published 1 month ago

American English

© 2024 Green Acres Garden Podcast

Speaker 20s - 15.34s

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of Kevin Jordan PERSON or his guests. These gardening tips and suggestions may work for you, as well as those from alternative sources. When using any garden products or tools, read and follow all label directions.

Speaker 119.76s - 73.24s

The Green Acres Garden Podcast ORG is the podcast dedicated to helping gardeners hone their growing skills while we celebrate our love of plants. So whether you're new to growing or a seed and gardener, you're sure to learn something new. Join the fun as we have conversations with world-class growers, passionate green thumps, and professional garden experts from Green Acres ORG nursery and supply. Listen every week. We'll answer questions you didn't know you had. And away we go. This is the introduction to the show of the greenest podcast around the Green Acres Garden Podcast. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.I am your host, Kevin Jordan PERSON, and I love plants, love gardening, love growing, and I appreciate the people who appreciate it. So thank you, one and all for being here back in studio to talk plants. We have a great topic this week. We're talking growing grapes from a true professional herself, Jennifer Thompson, a fourth generation wine grower out of Napa Valley, California. But before we get into that, let's say hi to our ace of the audio. Austin PERSON Blank, how's it going there, Austin?

Speaker 273.38s - 89.26s

Hey, Kevin, and hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. And yes, I agree. Meeting Jennifer PERSON was such a treat. And, you know, it was also pretty awesome that this has never happened. This was a podcast first that we sit down for our interview and then she pours us wine from her grapes.

Speaker 189.5s - 91.98s

I think we need to make it a standard issue kind of thing now.

Speaker 292.1s - 131.4s

Every interview starts with a little bit of wine. It was pretty awesome. Yeah, so we actually, those were grown. That wine was made from the grapes that she grew in her 100-acre farm. Pretty incredible. It was interesting to taste something that, you know,somebody had grown. They're like, here, try this. Yeah. You know, it's just really cool. Great interview. This was a huge find for us.It's kind of fun for us gardeners to kind of play farmer sometimes. And it's really interesting to kind of get some insight on, you know, tips from the pros. Like, what are the professionals, people who are actually doing this for a living? How do they cultivate their plants? And what's kind of cool with grapes is there are some people who want to grow some grapes at home, table grapes, ones you can just plunk off and eat.

Speaker 0131.7s - 136.58s

I had like daydreams of just me laying back, Austin PERSON, and you just in the heat, just feeding

Speaker 1136.58s - 140.2s

them to me, just like a Roman NORP emperor. Oh, we can arrange that.

Speaker 2140.2s - 153.34s

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's going to cost you, buddy. But no, I just love that idea, or people, you know, making their own wine or just kind of just having them for ornamental value. Yeah. There's, there's, grapes are pretty cool. I kind of forgot you could even grow grapes.I thought that was something that happened.

Speaker 1153.42s - 160.68s

It's possible, you know, at the farm or whatever, you know, but you can do it at home. That's so cool. And so it's kind of fun to kind of delve into the mind of a pro.

Speaker 2160.78s - 163.94s

We're going to get some tips and hopefully give you something to think about. All right.

Speaker 1163.94s - 164.64s

A great time.

Speaker 2164.7s - 173.96s

I love it. So we met up with Jennifer at the Green Acres in Al Grove GPE. Thank you for coming out there. Jennifer PERSON, let's go ahead and jump into that interview now. Here we go.

Speaker 1178s - 182.96s

Jennifer Thompson, how are you doing? Doing well. Beautiful day to be in Sacramento, California.

Speaker 0183.22s - 185.78s

It truly is, you know, it's a beautiful day to be coming out of Napa GPE.

Speaker 1185.9s - 203.32s

So I want to thank you for making the drive out. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Actually, you've become really highly recommended to us by our producers as an expert. Someone we could actually really glean some information and some knowledge from. And hearing about your background kind of got me intrigued. So could you give us a little bit?

Speaker 0203.48s - 232.42s

Sure. Thank you for having me on today. I drove over from Napa. It's true, specifically the Carneros region of Napa Valley GPE. That's an American viticultural area. There are many throughout the United States GPE, but it specifies kind of your area that you live and grow grapes in related to soil type, microclimates, various other water quality, and where varietals truly thrive. I'm a fourth generation California farmer. My great-grandmother purchased land in the

Speaker 1232.42s - 237.82s

Carnaris region in 1938. Good job, grandma. Yeah, thank goodness. She picked the right town.

Speaker 0237.98s - 244.06s

Incredible. She was a true oaky, came from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl EVENT era,

Speaker 1244.06s - 246.52s

and bought this parcel in a property

Speaker 0246.52s - 305.62s

land auction. And so, four generations later, I'm super proud to be a woman owner of these vineyards and truly carry on our family legacy that spanned four generations. My dad is 75 years old, and he saw sort of the fall of the economic decline of California pear growing. We were longtime pear growers in the region, and that's what Napa GPE was known for before it became known as the wine grape capital of California and potentially the United States GPE,really. And so today I prune with my crew. I order chemicals and supplies and fertilizers in order to make sure that we're growing healthy vines. I drive the tractor and I do mowing when I need to or when we're short on labor supply issues. And I have a guarantee to anyone who buys Thompson Vineyards ORG grapes that if they would like me to, I will deliver their grapes with a ponytail and a smile on the back of a flatbed. It goes over pretty well.

Speaker 1305.62s - 319.88s

Well, well worth it. That is incredible. You are a grape grower, farmer, extraordinary. I think there's all this is the perfect time to have you on. Spring is kind of sprung. All of our plants are waking up.How are things on the farm right now? It's gotta be a busy time.

Speaker 0319.88s - 394.04s

Yeah, very busy. So spring pruning starts in about December. It can start as early as November, and it can go as late as March. I grow very cool climate varietals, which are Chardonnay, Pina Noir, and Pinoa, and Pino Blanc PRODUCT. And so generally, when you only have so much available labor across California, or even again, within your area of Napa Valley or Sonoma County GPE,California or even again within your area of Napa Valley or Sonoma County GPE, you need to dedicate your labor towards the vineyards which are likely to push or to begin the growing season first and then work your way through varietals that come on much later. So having those young, early varietals like Chardonnay, we started about two weeks ago pruning about 100, and we just completed that activity this most recent Saturday. And so ultimately, now our crews will move on to other varietals like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon PRODUCT. And beyond pruning, there's another specific action that occurs in the vineyards, which is called tying. And that relates to whether you are a cordon-style prune or a cane-style prune. And most of ourvineyards are cane-styled. We can get a little more into that if you're interested. Yeah,

Speaker 1394.12s - 399.96s

what's the difference? So cordon is where you set up and train the vine initially from,

Speaker 0400.18s - 481.12s

you know, year one, two, and three to achieve a certain height, and then you train arms out laterally to create the infrastructure of the vine. And then year after year, you would come along with those same arms, that same wood and positioning, and just cut at each bud position on the arm. And so that then creates a shoot and a cane, and then the following year you would come back and cut that shooter cane back down to two bud position. And you would still maintain what I refer to as the arms of the vine year over year over year.Whereas cane pruning, you would select a new arm to go out and be the arm on the fruiting wire every single year. arm to go out and be the arm on the fruiting wire every single year. So what that does is it causes our pruning crews to have to think a little more technically about which canes they're selecting for fruitfulness, for vigor, for total health of the vine, as well as even distribution of the fruit across the arms, if you will. But it also adds to the longevity of the vine. And the reason why it does that by selecting new wood every single year to put down as an arm is that you're ensuring yourself or your vine against potential for wood and trunkdiseases.

Speaker 1481.12s - 483.12s

Using that fresher growth?

Speaker 0483.12s - 484.62s

Fresh, exactly.

Speaker 1484.62s - 488s

Is that new wood? Was that a shoot from the season the year before?

Speaker 0488s - 529.14s

It was, yes. And so you've either selected that intentionally, so when the crew goes through and they're looking at a vine, it's not just what's going to take me through September of that year and harvest, it's also what's going to take me through September and what's going to be the next piece of wood that I select for the year following to put out. And so we'll leave renewal spurs or additional positions at the head of the vine that then will allow the crew more options. As we like to say it, you can always take fruitoff, but you can't put fruit back on. And so that's why pruning is so critical during the season right now. That sounds incredible. God, there's so much going on with grapes.

Speaker 1529.42s - 551.06s

Now we have to look through the lens of the gardener. We have a lot of listeners. They maybe want to grow some grapes as well. Might be for some table grapes. Could be maybe for some winemaking. I know I see them out there. It's possible. What are your thoughts for the home gardener and kind of taking the best principles and practices that you've discovered, but kind of shrinking it down for us normies?

Speaker 0551.36s - 565.6s

Sure. I think you've pointed out right there, you know, what's most important is decide, what do you want to use grapes for? Do you want to use them just for like an added benefit in beauty to, you know, maybe grow up in arbor. They do look cool. They do.

Speaker 1565.6s - 566.9s

Do you want to eat them?

Speaker 0566.9s - 589.5s

Do you want to pack them in your kids' lunches? Do you want to have your own hand at, you know, maybe making a five-gallon jug of wine at the end? So first selecting, you know, what do you want to do with the grape in the end of this? And for that, I would even go one step deeper. And if you've chosen, you know, I love to eat frozen grapes, I love to put them on platters for appetizers. I love to put them in kids' lunches. You need to select whether you want

Speaker 1589.5s - 617.5s

a seedless variety or you're okay with seeds. And so that would be your table grape varieties. Then you need to go a little bit deeper. Do you love the crunchy green grape, the Thompson seedless? Or do you want something that, you know, you're okay with that seed and they're a Fresno flame or a globe might have a seed to them? We have, you know, you're okay with that seed, and they're a Fresno GPE flame or a globe might have a seed to them? We have, you know, I actually, as I was driving over here, wanted to come and report, as I sort of already have, you know, whoa, we've prone to 100 acres. We're done.That's wild to think about.

Speaker 0618s - 635.12s

Well, we didn't even get into you. I need to tie all those arms down. So there's the added labor cost and action of tying arms down in order to get your trellising set up for success or your vine working with your trellising to be set up for success. And that's what I would say about gardeners.

Speaker 1635.12s - 636.2s

Do the same thing?

Speaker 0636.2s - 652.56s

Pick a trellis. A lot of people say, oh, I love this grape, but then they go and they put it in the ground and maybe they don't actually get any structure underneath it. It's flopping over. It's growing. It is very difficult to kill a grapevine. So you can do a lot of things.

Speaker 1652.68s - 672s

It is. I've seen one actually growing up through three inches of asphalt on Los Carneros Avenue FAC. We call them tractor blight when one of the tractor drivers accidentally hits one with a tire. But that thing, if you straighten it up, put it back up in its position and give it some water, maybe a little fertilizer, that vine will keep on going.

Speaker 0672.26s - 722.34s

And so I just really encourage home gardeners that you do need to support your vine in a trellis format. So whether that is a T-post steak or whether that's, you know, some wooden beams that you've selected or an arbor is really great. Just remember that if you're growing a grapevine for many, many years, they can last 30 years or more when taking care of properly that you may not want to put it on a redwood arbor because that will ultimately eat away and deteriorate. Because the next phasein grape growing outside of, you know, you've picked your varietal and now you've gotten it trained, you've got a trellis system underneath it, you've planted it, is that you do need to care for it. And what that means is the powdery mildew that comes along with grape growing is a battle for every gardener,

Speaker 1722.42s - 730.58s

right? Yeah, for sure. It makes me think of at the end of the summer, like squash and zucchini or, you know, my crepe myrtles or whatever, some roses, like powdery mildew.

Speaker 0730.72s - 743.46s

There's an old folklore and legend that planting roses alongside grapevines or grapevine rose and commercial vineyards will give a farmer the first notice that powdery mildew is evident.

Speaker 1743.54s - 744.52s

Does they get him first, maybe?

Speaker 0744.6s - 756.44s

It does, but there's some nuances. There's a very scientific things that go into what type of spore it is, what type of mildew it is. So I wouldn't use that as, that would be painting a very wide brush stroke.

Speaker 1756.56s - 778.36s

It's fun, though. It makes your garden look beautiful, have some roses, have some grapes. But it is important to do something that you feel comfortable with that's going to protect that grape and get it to the finish line to be able to be packed in lunches or be able to be made into wine. The last thing you want is a mildew infested grapevine in the middle of your beautiful garden. Does it usually come on towards the end of the summer?

Speaker 0778.64s - 801.92s

Like other stuff? Right now. Really? All pesque. Right now. So growers win the powdery mildew war, and it is a war. They win it in March, April, and May. And that means starting early. It means that even I actually had a neighbor down the road the other day that said, Jennifer, I saw someone spraying already, and they had just maybe a quarter inch of growth out there.

Speaker 1802.12s - 803.96s

They're like, nope, I don't want that mildew.

Speaker 0804.16s - 825.34s

You have to, as the tissue is forming and as the bud is coming out of hibernation from the winter, we do dormant sprays when necessary. It also depends on your varietal, so chardonnay and white grapes are much more susceptible to powdery mildew. We are in a cool climate growing area of Carneros where I can see the San Pablo Bay LOC from our reservoir.

Speaker 1826.02s - 841.46s

So if you just think about that coastal influence and heavy fog layer until 2 p.m. And then that really nice temperature of 64 degrees to 72 where you sort of still need a light jacket, but you're like, oh, it's not quite burning off the moisture.

Speaker 0841.9s - 846.06s

That is all the best case scenario for a mess of mildew.

Speaker 1846.22s - 847.68s

So you guys spraying fungicide?

Speaker 0847.88s - 906.18s

Yep. So we spray, we use organic dusting sulfur is one of my favorites because it's been shown out of all of the various different chemicals and products to use in a commercial setting. It's been shown to be the least disease-resistant over 13,000 years. And so we use organic dusting sulfur, which ultimately puts a very fine mist and powder out into, and it gets in every single little crevice. So as that green material,as that shoot begins to grow, you are assuring that that dust has touched every single piece of the green leaf area, which is the host for powdery mildew. And beyond that, stylet oil, very common used in vineyards, a half percent or a 1% solution, which is also utilized in your garden centers to keep roses

Speaker 1906.18s - 911.02s

clean. A lot of our other plants, our bedding plants, some of the vegetables that we grow,

Speaker 0911.6s - 930.72s

they really require heavy amendments to the soil for them to be successful. But is that the case with grapes? I know they kind of have a more rugged background. Like what's going on with grapes? Yeah. So I guess one thing important to note is that grapes generally will come on a root stock, just like your fruit trees.

Speaker 1930.94s - 931.68s

Where it's been grafted?

Speaker 0931.68s - 970.88s

Yep, where it's been grafted. And so any of those, you know, local varieties that you might pick at your local nursery center have generally been grafted. So most important, I think, you know, is you don't have to go crazy with amendments. It is, like I said, it's really hard to kill a grapevine. You do want to set it up for success. I usually put a little, I actually do have a table grape, a Thompson PERSON seedless, and a FresnoGlobe. And the Thompson PERSON seedless has yet to be planted. So you're reminding me of how I'm going to get this prepared. And ultimately, you know, just a little organic fertilizer. You know, we use a lot of worm castings,

Speaker 1970.88s - 1007.3s

fish emulsion. All the good stuff. Yeah, just to like get it started. There's a little micro risa packets which have like a long release that I recommend. And I usually throw one of those in. It looks like a small tea bag with some fine granules, and what that does is it starts to, as you start drip irrigating, you'll start to break down the tea bag that it's held into, and then it'll start to break down those fertilizers, and it's just a slow release, because it's very easy to plant a grapevine and then nevercome back to it. As with most garden plants, right? Yeah, right. Absolutely. And so I would then just water it.

Speaker 01007.96s - 1031.52s

You know, grapes do require water. And then, again, training and pruning are very important. Training it to a stake, getting it set up into the position, just like you would a fruit tree, you know, some supporting branches with your then bud or fruitful positions will really set you up for success, then opening it up and not allowing it to get fungus and pest and disease.

Speaker 11032s - 1036.84s

As things heat up, how often are you watering? Is it a deep watering? Do you let it dry out in between?

Speaker 01036.96s - 1057.6s

Does it need to stay consistently moist? I tend to like to water deep waterings once a week, you know, seven gallons or so. Now, when you're trying to produce commercial wine grapes, you're also trying to concentrate flavors. And so there's a little bit of theory and that you want to back off on some watering. Just force them a little bit. Stress amount.

Speaker 11057.6s - 1063.84s

Give them some stress. It makes the best wines. But, you know, we're talking with home

Speaker 01063.84s - 1065.98s

gardeners who have made an investment. Maybe they've

Speaker 11065.98s - 1083.86s

paid $20 to $30 for a plant. And that plant has a lifetime expectancy of 30 years, 100 years. There's still commercially producing vineyards. A historical vineyard society has been established that can look at vineyards that are 100 years old here in California. Living roots?

Speaker 01083.86s - 1106.86s

Living roots. Wow. We have some 60-year-old vines, so that are still years old here in California. Living roots? Living roots. We have some 60-year-old vines so that are still a commercially produced pina noir, and it's just important to maintain the water cycle so that you are giving yourself insurance of your investment over the lifetime of the plant. And in this case, for your gardeners, you know, they've invested their $30, and they've spent all this time setting it up

Speaker 11106.86s - 1138.56s

on a trellis system, and they spent time, you know, getting it just positioned so, and they wanna take advantage of the fruits of their labor at the end of the season for many seasons to come. And that's why it'd be important to keep up your watering. Well, and so that kind of leads back to where we started,how you're getting things pruned up right now to get the year started. They grow so much. You threw it throughout summer. How when someone has one growing at home for their home garden, how much are they actually going to prune back at the end of the summer? Do they wait until, you said, December you start pruning?

Speaker 01138.76s - 1142s

So a couple things. One is, I think you mentioned, you liked hedge shears.

Speaker 11143s - 1191.74s

Yes. Hedging is an important facet of grape growing. It is commercially. It also has an application in the home gardener space. And that is once you've reached about four to five foot of cane length in your shoots, then you would want to go ahead and top or hedge. You'll see small tendrils coming out from the vine.And ultimately, as long as those keep growing, you know that the vine is still producing energy. But essentially, I would estimate in this region of, you know, Northern California, the Pacific Northwest LOC, you want to start hedging around June, July, in order to basically stop the growth of the vegetative foliage and start driving some of the energy into your fruit.

Speaker 01191.74s - 1194.76s

And by that I mean accumulation of bricks, which are sugar.

Speaker 21194.76s - 1195.76s

Yeah.

Speaker 01195.76s - 1200s

Accumulation of color, you know, really making that really beautiful color if it's a darker

Speaker 21200s - 1203.54s

of variety, maybe even filling out the berry size.

Speaker 01203.54s - 1210.56s

So if it's a Thompson PERSON seed list, you're no longer dedicating all that water, energy, and fertilizer to just growing beautiful leaves.

Speaker 11210.56s - 1213.76s

You're actually concentrating the efforts into the fruit.

Speaker 01213.76s - 1254.82s

So hedging is important, and that happens in, you know, again, depending on which varietal and which microclimate we're in, June, July, or August. And then some of your earlier varietals, you're going to start looking at harvesting and picking the clusters starting around in August, September, October, even to the beginning of November. And then when we get our first cold, you know, freezes, then you'll start to see leaves start to drop and we'll start to, the canopy will give way. And you'll no longer,even if the fruit is still sitting there, you will no longer increase your sugar production. And then finally we go back into that cycle of the desiccation of the fruit begins.

Speaker 11255.5s - 1260.4s

Mildew of pest disease and fungus begins. And then it's, you got to get in there and harvest at that point.

Speaker 01260.64s - 1261.46s

Harvesting is important.

Speaker 11261.74s - 1263.72s

I bet you have an amazing refractometer.

Speaker 01264s - 1267.36s

Oh, I love a good refractometer. What's your favorite refractometer?

Speaker 11267.36s - 1273.12s

I have like a cheapo refractometer for my classroom. But can you tell our listeners what Bricks PRODUCT is?

Speaker 01273.24s - 1307.44s

Yeah. So Bricks is basically the measurement of sugar accumulation in the grape pulp. And how you go about doing a data collection or sampling would depend on, you know, for instance, if I'm sampling a six-acre block of a chardonnay, I may choose to take every fifth row in order to get a broad cross-stroke or section of the six acres. And then I would send a sugar sampler down the row, and that's a real person, a real human individual.

Speaker 11307.66s - 1309.36s

Sounds like a job we could do, Austin PERSON.

Speaker 01309.98s - 1312.5s

Austin PERSON, you guys are welcome to come out.

Speaker 11312.66s - 1314.72s

I podcast and I sample sugar.

Speaker 01316.1s - 1329.78s

Actually, the California wine industry, if you look at winejobs.com, they look for interns every single year to come out and work just a season just to be a sugar sampler. It's very labor intensive. You get a lot of steps in.

Speaker 11330.08s - 1337.76s

Your Apple Watch PRODUCT is constantly hitting your garment, whatever's tracking you, your phone. And 20,000 steps a day.

Speaker 01338.06s - 1339.36s

Every single day.

Speaker 11339.44s - 1376.74s

Wow, there you go. Now, you brought up pruning, and I think I would be, was it remiss is the word? I think I would be remiss if I didn't bring up that you are a woman of many hats. Not only are you this just hardcore, awesome farmer and grapegrower, but you also sell some pretty cool tools on the side. So can you tell us a little bit about your, I don't know if I want to call it a side hustle or what, but it's like you have, like I said, you have multiple careers, which is pretty interesting. And this is actually something that is kind of cool to me because I love a good pair of pruners. And so can you maybe, can you highlight your little work that you do here?

Speaker 01376.9s - 1399.26s

Sure. So I work for the Falco Tool Company, which is a Swiss made premium pruning shear out of Nusatel, Switzerland GPE. We are the original pruning shear, which has all of the parts replaceable and a lifetime guarantee since 1945. And I would add that, yes, how my side hustle, if you will,

Speaker 11399.5s - 1439.52s

I don't know what to call it either. I mean, I spend a lot of time doing it because I'm passionate about it, and it really does set your gardening, your landscaping, your commercial grape growing. It sets you up for success. If you have the best tool for the right application, you know, it's so much more enjoyable to spend time out there, either doing your work as a landscaper or a grape grower or a home gardener.But it's also, you know, a really great way to take very good care of your plants. A sharp blade is a safe blade. Not only for you as an individual, but also I've just come from giving a presentation this past week to a bunch of rose enthusiasts.

Speaker 01440.24s - 1456.44s

And, you know, we talked about how if you have a dull blade and you make that cut with a bypass pruning shear and you're using a dull blade, you're basically sort of shredding the green plant material as you're making that cut, which is, again, opening your plants up to pest and disease.

Speaker 11456.44s - 1458.24s

A larger, rougher wound.

Speaker 01458.24s - 1462.24s

Exactly. You want a clean cut. And so, yeah.

Speaker 11462.24s - 1470.98s

And it's just harder when you're doing, when you're pruning all day with something that's kind of like stiff or just doesn't cutting smoothly. Right. The fatigue in your hand.

Speaker 01470.98s - 1528.84s

Yeah, the fatigue in your hand is real. And particularly for those that, you know, again, have large, luscious gardens, they're doing a quarter acre or more. It doesn't even necessarily matter the size garden you have. If you're an enthusiast and you love being out there, you're having a tool in your hand for so many hours, it makes it in a more enjoyable experience when you're not constantly meeting that resistance of a lesser or inferior tool. And so, yeah, the Felco Tool Company ORG uses very premium, high grade aluminum, which is very lightweight. And so you get that better ergonomics,less fatigue in your wrist and your arm. We use a proprietary mix of carbon steel with a higher content of nickel in it, which ultimately allows for your blade edge to be retained three times longer. And we really put a lot of thought into the design of the tool.

Speaker 11529.02s - 1540.9s

So we offer a small, medium, and a large tool. We've become known for making specialty applications. We make a left and a right-handed tool. So all the lefties out there listening. There we go.

Speaker 01541.74s - 1542.66s

All you left-handers.

Speaker 11542.82s - 1543.32s

Exactly.

Speaker 01543.46s - 1550.4s

We've got a tool for you. But we also make interesting tools like a cut-and-hold rose shield. There we go. Are you left-handers? Exactly. We've got a tool for you. But we also make interesting tools like a cut and hold rose shear.

Speaker 11552.62s - 1555.94s

And what that means is, I'll let me hand this to you. Oh, is that like a New Age anvil one? That's a little different.

Speaker 01556.1s - 1561.24s

So what that does is I see a lot of home gardeners using this, but it is used in the commercial

Speaker 11561.24s - 1578.02s

flower world. And that allows you to get into the interior depths of a rose. And yes, exactly, make your cut of your stock and pull it out and set it on your cart to go into the production line of roses. That's pretty sweet. Actually, it has like a little

Speaker 01578.02s - 1583.54s

bird beak on there to grab it. Yep. Oh, that looks like a little raven's. Yep. Ravens beak.

Speaker 11583.76s - 1585.94s

That is, that's fun. I love a good pair of tools.

Speaker 01586.02s - 1591.02s

I was going to tell you, I don't want to be a fanboy over Felco ORG's because I'm not getting paid by Felco.

Speaker 11592.16s - 1595.64s

But I used to, I used to work in the nursery a long time ago when I was a young in.

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And we'd have, we got our own Felco ORG to kind of work with. And I remember we loved it so much. It almost became like Kleenex ORG to us, where the name of the brand became the name of the item where I wouldn't say hand me my pruners. I'd say, where's my Falcos PRODUCT? Can you hand me my falcos? Oh yeah, right there. So it was kind of fun because I think early on I kind of learned, oh, wait, this is like it's nice to have something. It's almost like when someone gives you like a,

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or you get a tool in your life. You're like, wait, this is more than a tool. It's actually, it like means something. And I'm going to take care of it. It'll take care of me. You know, and I don't mean to, like, talk so much about an item, but it is kind of nice when you kind of have a tool that works really well. Is there anything else you want to leave with our listeners today? Like, what do you love most about growing plants, cultivating life, farming, growing grapes? What do you think about that?

Speaker 01642.68s - 1692.48s

growing grapes? What do you think about that? For me, what I enjoy is while I enjoy being with my crew and seeing that beginning, middle, and end of the season and seeing the harvest come to fruition. And my crew loves to guess, how much tonnage do you have? What is it? And it's so spectacular to see them, they who have worked in the field all year long to produce this this and they feel the abundance of the harvest at the end of the season and that's exciting for them. So I really enjoy the camaraderiethat being a grower affords me. But I also, getting back to my fruit trees, I mean, it's nice to have something to give. I think is a really nice way to create community, and that's what gardening can do for all of us, right? It's a great conversation starter, that's for sure. Absolutely.

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Well, thank you so much, Jennifer PERSON. I really appreciate your time, and hopefully we'll get you back on again in the future because you were a lot of fun.

Speaker 01698.62s - 1699.82s

Sure. Would love to be it.

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All right, when we are back, big thank you to Jennifer for coming all the way out from Napa GPE, sharing your wine, sharing your knowledge, and showing us your tools.

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She's just had so much to show us and so much to share. It was a blast. It was rad.

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I ended up getting a carbide sharpener out of it.

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It just says this little tiny tool for sharpening your pruners, and you actually replace the little carbide tip on there. I'm sold. Very cool. I'm easily bought, though. And you've been using Felcos ORG for a long time. Absolutely. It's actually one of those things where you don't want to gush over something. Like, oh, but I truly appreciate the brand. It's quality. I've used them before in the past. The pruners are excellent. And you can replace all. I mean, it's kind of cool.I don't want to make it a commercial.

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But they're fantastic tools to use. I've used them. Like I said, it was, for me, it became more than like, I didn't even call my pruners. I called them my felfos. That's cool. They became something different. So it's kind of fun to have a tool when you're out in the garden working a lot, or whether it's a farm even,when you're working a lot a lot. You rely on that. It's an extension of who you are, your hand at the time, and if it makes your job easier and more efficient,it's worth as weight and gold. So it's kind of fun to learn about grapes and tools.

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Yeah, and the grape stuff, again, it's so cool to think that you could grow grapes at home and even make your own line at home.

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There's so many different people trying a lot of different things.

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I think it's the fun thing about gardening and growing and cultivating. It opens up pathways in your life you never knew existed, and growing grapes is one of those things. And it's kind of fun to hear from a pro what some of those best practices are and some things to consider when growing. Sure. So I loved it. A great lesson, great time.Definitely got to get her back on. Oh, I would love that. Big thank you to Jennifer PERSON for coming out. And I'm going to go ahead and add some links in the episode description so you can find her company and what she does. She is from Thompson Vineyards ORG.And then she also works for Felco ORG. So I'll put links to both of those websites in the episode description. That's all the time we have for this week. Kevin PERSON,

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go ahead and take us out. Awesome. Thank you, Austin PERSON. And also a huge thank you to Jennifer Thompson for making it out for this episode. And thank you to our listeners for tuning in this week. It's always great to have you here. Please come back next week for more garden adventures. We are going to get into it. There's still a lot of shenanigans to be had. I like a good shenanigan.

Speaker 21851.5s - 1866.6s

Yeah, so until then, it's time for us to bud break out of here, Austin PERSON. You ready to bud break out of here? Yeah, I have. All right, we're breaking out. Have a great week, everybody. Get out in that garden if you can. And until next week, happy gardening to you all, and pleasenever stop growing. All right, bud break to you all. And please never stop growing. All right.

Speaker 11866.68s - 1870.08s

Bud break. Bud break. Let's go. Grow grapes and bud break.