I'm bored. 

Maybe even bored enough to exercise.

Guessing crop season is over? Enjoy your down time I know you farmers rarely get rest

Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

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Guessing crop season is over? Enjoy your down time I know you farmers rarely get rest

Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

Yea my brother in law just came home from California was doing line work for the union outside Sacramento last three years. He said the smoke was just constant out there.

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Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

Yea my brother in law just came home from California was doing line work for the union outside Sacramento last three years. He said the smoke was just constant out there.

Pretty nasty but I guess at this rate our forest will be clear of brush for the next quarter century.

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Guess who has two thumbs and a log splitter!

Did the neighbors complain that you were splitting logs at 10PM like every good lumberjack should?

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Guess who has two thumbs and a log splitter!

Did the neighbors complain that you were splitting logs at 10PM like every good lumberjack should?

There’s a bit of confusion as to whether it was the time of night or because I was using their trees.  Hey, that reminds me. I need to pressure wash my house next weekend.  I hope my hose reaches their spigot.

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Yea my brother in law just came home from California was doing line work for the union outside Sacramento last three years. He said the smoke was just constant out there.

Pretty nasty but I guess at this rate our forest will be clear of brush for the next quarter century.

Yeah, but in California one disaster begets another. Massive wildfires brings mudslides next year.

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New Space Force dress and PT uniforms. I like them. 

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Pretty nasty but I guess at this rate our forest will be clear of brush for the next quarter century.

Yeah, but in California one disaster begets another. Massive wildfires brings mudslides next year.

It has to rain for that. 

Besides, if some rich folks get their vacation homes a little muddy, not sure it's gonna move the needle much for me.

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New Space Force dress and PT uniforms. I like them. 

Call me crazy, but shouldn't there actually be a space force before they have uniforms.

Hey, job applications are open.

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How can we keep sane without laughing at ourselves once in a while. I had quite an embarrassing moment today. A real, “what the [BLEEP] did I just do” moment. If you remember me talking about the suspected swinger couple that asked to borrow my pool… we’ll, here lately she’s been giving us the salutation “Love you”. Yep, really creeping me out this year. The problem, is that my social skills have diminished significantly since doing a job I rarely talk to people. I’m used to talking to my wife and daughter. Both of which I tell them that I love them before leaving or if they leave before me. Both my parents always say it when I get off the phone. The first few times this client said it, I was like “alright, glad we can help, see ya next week”. Today, she said that and instinctively I said it back. After the guys laughed at me, one said that I probably made her day and she probably rushed in to tell her husband. I can’t believe I did that. The guys tried to make me feel better, but it didn’t work.

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Just saw it was someone’s Bday. HBD Rico!

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Just saw it was someone’s Bday.  HBD Rico!

I wonder how long ago his odometer rolled over.

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I'm bored. 

Maybe even bored enough to exercise.

Blanket of smoke outside, AQI in the hundreds. 

City wide internet outage. 

What to do, what to do.

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I'm bored. 

Maybe even bored enough to exercise.

Blanket of smoke outside, AQI in the hundreds. 

City wide internet outage. 

What to do, what to do.

Move to Texas?

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Blanket of smoke outside, AQI in the hundreds. 

City wide internet outage. 

What to do, what to do.

Move to Texas?

My profession kinda ties me here or I'd have left years ago.

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Guessing crop season is over? Enjoy your down time I know you farmers rarely get rest

Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

Didn’t you take a loss on smokey raisins a few years ago?

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Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

Didn’t you take a loss on smokey raisins a few years ago?

sounds like a craft brewer's wet dream

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Thanks Eric. Not quite finished yet. Crop is on the ground drying, just a two week period filled with no work and a boatload of worry. 

I can only watch the smoke pouring into the valley so much lol.

Didn’t you take a loss on smokey raisins a few years ago?

Last year, almost the same situation - large fire directly east flooding the valley with smoke. 

I didn't take a loss outright, but definitely lost some crop between what was on the vine and what made it to the packing house. Maybe like 20% of my net?
Kinda heartbreaking for me really. Also why I'm obsessed with transitioning to a DOV style vineyard.  

The combination of record days of 100+ temps, water cutbacks, and smoke filled September's is really really making me rethink what I can grow here. Maybe agave lol.

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Didn’t you take a loss on smokey raisins a few years ago?

Last year, almost the same situation - large fire directly east flooding the valley with smoke. 

I didn't take a loss outright, but definitely lost some crop between what was on the vine and what made it to the packing house. Maybe like 20% of my net?
Kinda heartbreaking for me really. Also why I'm obsessed with transitioning to a DOV style vineyard.  

The combination of record days of 100+ temps, water cutbacks, and smoke filled September's is really really making me rethink what I can grow here. Maybe agave lol.

What is a "DOV style" vineyard?  Also do you only do grapes (raisins) or do you double-crop anything?

Our homestead is not quite complete, but I am considering a small portion of beauty-berries along with my planned orchard at this point.  They are abundant and wild out here and make a great jelly, juice or even wine.  Of course, I won't be growing/harvesting for a living, more of a "hobby farm" kind of deal.  Perhaps when I retire from my "real" job I might venture into more, but right now my focus is on trees and cattle (I have a few head grazing a portion of the property).

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Last year, almost the same situation - large fire directly east flooding the valley with smoke. 

I didn't take a loss outright, but definitely lost some crop between what was on the vine and what made it to the packing house. Maybe like 20% of my net?
Kinda heartbreaking for me really. Also why I'm obsessed with transitioning to a DOV style vineyard.  

The combination of record days of 100+ temps, water cutbacks, and smoke filled September's is really really making me rethink what I can grow here. Maybe agave lol.

What is a "DOV style" vineyard?  Also do you only do grapes (raisins) or do you double-crop anything?

Our homestead is not quite complete, but I am considering a small portion of beauty-berries along with my planned orchard at this point.  They are abundant and wild out here and make a great jelly, juice or even wine.  Of course, I won't be growing/harvesting for a living, more of a "hobby farm" kind of deal.  Perhaps when I retire from my "real" job I might venture into more, but right now my focus is on trees and cattle (I have a few head grazing a portion of the property).

DOV is Dried-On-Vine. There's different styles but it looks like this:

https://twitter.com/julioepb/status/6978...25696?s=19

Normally, when the crop ripens you pick the fruit and lay them down on paper trays to dry in the sun. Like this (all though that field is oriented wrong)

https://twitter.com/BiolaRaisin/status/1...12611?s=19

Traditional raisins are a little unique in that you grow the crop, but then at harvest instead of just picking it off and sending it in, you have to dry the crop, and the grower takes in all the risk in that process. When they're on the trays, ANY moisture introduced will induce mold, sometimes insects get into them, or lately the smoke stops the solar radiation from being able to dry them and they might start to ferment. Quite a lot can go wrong. But if you get it right, you'll make more. 

DOV takes a lot of that out of the equation by allowing the fruit to dry suspended in air - the moisture problem especially. In the Tweet above, they cut the fruiting canes to stop water flow to the fruit. You can see the dead leaves already and the fruit is yellowing. The tradeoff is it takes a very dangerous 3 week and substitutes it for a longer 8-10 week period and the problem then becomes can you get it done before the temps start dipping into the low 80s. 

All in all though, much less risky, and that style of vine and trellis will produce a heavier crop to boot. Then to top that off it's more easy to mechanize the harvest process. Pretty win-win. 

And no not only grapes. I actually have more almonds than grapes now but my heart's much closer to the vineyard. My brothers grow different things too, mandarins, pistachios, cherries. A little wheat. I'm the only one dumb/stubborn enough to stick with raisins lol.

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