Kicking vines, throwing spiders

work is not all dull.... I finished pruning the Pinot and started on some Tempranillo. This block is still developing, mainly because Dad hasn't had enough water for it in the past few years, but as the more mature vines in other blocks need less water, we are trying to re-establish this block. Some of the vines are growing very well, those near the swamp which as the name suggests is fairly wet. But those on top of the hill are not faring so well. My current job is to prune the established vines, train the struggling vines and remove the dead ones. The ones which have died either did not establish or died after initially shooting. When a vine has died, or a cutting not taken, they are brittle and snap easily. If I think a vine is dead I give it a kick. Live vines have more give and will bend rather than snap. Unless you kick them too hard... I only did that once, but felt very bad. Dead ones fly away.

Young vines are protected from hares, Kangaroos and the like by a plastic sleeve. As I find a dead vine, I throw the sleeve over into the next row so that I can easily collect them all when I finish with the block. Spiders, mostly redbacks love life inside these sleeves, I'm not sure what they think of being thrown, missile-like, across the rows.