Waiting for Bud Break

I’m sitting in the dining room of our home writing this. I am facing a corner with windows on either side. For most of the last what seems like forever I have been enshrouded in grey skies and watching pelting rain. But now, and for what should be the next few hours, there is a sun break. I didn’t know this phrase when I lived in New England but if you live in the Pacific Northwest you’re probably shaking your head in acknowledgment. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to be said about warmish wet Winter. For example, the cover crop in the vineyard, which I can also see, is thriving and green. There is green onion and if you walk in the vineyard now that smell follows you. Daffodils are in bloom everywhere a bulb has been planted and our apple and cherry trees are budding. But our vineyard needs more sunshine. When Donna and I walked the vineyard on Sunday, there was just the suggestion of bud break. We usually think of the average bud break being around April 15th. We’ll be late this year. It’s going to be grey and rainy for a while longer. Before long sunny days will prevail and growth in the vineyard will take off. In what will seem like no time at all, we’ll be talking about harvest.  And so we wait. Because we are not in control. More later…