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We have a couple of in-ground yellowjacket nests down in the woods. None of the hardware store sprays would even touch them. I think they just got stronger. So, I employed a technique my dad used back in the 80s. I set up the shop vac down there and propped up the end of the wand by the hole...

rjb222's post in the current Apple Cider thread reminded me of this oldie... It was spring, and Farmer Bill was having trouble with his horses. It sees that the birds were building nests in their manes. He tried all sorts of things to keep them away from the manes, but nothing worked. Finally...

I know there are a lot of posts here about removing labels. Over the weekend, I cleaned 30 bottles for bottling our first kit. Here is an observation that can make removing labels easier, and possibly affect your bottled purchasing decisions. It has mine. If you look through the bottle (clear...

I have yet to make any SP, but as I was mixing a little sports drink last weekend, I got to wondering.... Has anyone tries fermenting Gator Ade? Maybe the electrolytes in it wouldn't be beneficial...

Not mine... This is one of those, "How did I get HERE?" Internet rabbit trails. I was asking my vines rep about appropriate chards for our new little vineyard, and he mentioned a chardonnay musque as a possibility. "The musque would have a very floral nose on it." So I started searching for...

Sunday we racked our first kit wine for the first time. (a chard) I'm concerned that the laundry room counter where it's sitting has too much temperature variation. I could put it under the counter, or I could move it down the hill to our unheated cabin for a cooler, more stable secondary...

James Martin from Copa Di Vino in The Dalles, Oregon will be on Shark Tank this Friday. on ABC. I think it's a rerun of the first appearance. His claim to fame is "bottling the wine right in the glass". We bought a variety pack for tasting as a part of our "29, Let's Drink Some Wine" wedding...

Sunday we started an RJS Cru Select Unoaked NZ chard kit. I set the primary on a counter in the laundry room and by Monday afternoon, it was bubbling away. The fruity odor was a bit much, but I couldn't think of a better place to ferment. I thought about venting the PF out the window, but that...

Does anyone have any thoughts about using gopher cages when planting vines? Pocket gophers are endemic around here, and we usually plant things in chicken wire gopher cages. We even underlaid our postage stamp of a lawn with 1/2" hardware cloth to thwart the lil buggers.

I did a couple of searches and didn't see that this had been posted before. Rob Higgs and his mechanical corkscrew... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSuH9u0kvhU

I've seen enough bad reports about californiarootstock.com to be gunshy of them. Where else in CA can I order some vines?

I'm a newbie here, but I'v seen mention of using vacuum pumps for degassing and such. While placing an order at All Electronics, I saw this 12VDC vacuum/pressure pump for $20. 1/4" hose barbs for vacuum and pressure would seem to be suitable for winemaking, and one reviewer says it'll...

I've been doing a lot of research, and realized that it's probably too late this season to order and plant any wine grapes. In the past, we have grown Vitus Californica 'Roger's Red' native grapes for decoration. A couple of years ago, we got 10 lbs or so of grapes and made jelly with them...

While we scheme and plan our vineyard, I thought we'd get a kit or 2 and start learning the process. My wife loves her chardonnays. What is the best kit for rank beginners? What should we look out for?

As I posted in my intro, I'm interested in dry farming an acre or 2 of zin near the Central California Coast. I understand from the local extension person that it's done by a couple of wineries up in northern San Luis Obispo County, but I haven't been able to make that field trip as yet...

A couple of months ago, we watched my friend Edward at Creekside Farms up in See canyon press fresh cider. 4 boxes of apples makes about 13 gallons, and there's nothing like tasting it right out of the press! The run we watched was almost syrupy, which got me to thinking. I've purchased "apple...

Chris from San Luis Obispo, CA here, aka SLOweather. We live in the heart of the Central Coast Wine Country, on 10 rolling acres. In fact, from our back deck we can see the Edna Valley vineyards ~ 5 miles away. In the past couple of years we've become more active wine tasters and have joined...