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The weather was against us, but they got it done! With temps topping out in the 105 degree range, harvest was a challenge to say the least. We got an early start to try to beat the heat. Lots of willing volunteers (those who didn't get too lost trying to find us) arrived just before sunrise and got ready to tackle the task at hand. It wasn't long before the heat was on. We picked for an few hours and then broke for breakfast. The harvest kitchen staff did a great job with tasty breakfast casseroles, juices, coffee and other goodies. Soon we were back at the picking, trying to finish up the Cynthiana. In all we brought in about 1.5 tons of Cynthiana grapes, a bit more than we were really expecting. As soon as the crew was done with the Cynthiana, they were off to start on the Chambourcin. There was just no slowing them down. By then, the temperature was climbing fast so we picked for a bit longer and then broke for lunch. Everyone was glad to get into the shade for a while and enjoy some more good food, drink and conversation. It had become just too hot to continue picking for very long after lunch, so the Satuday Chambourcin harvest total came to about 2500 lbs. A great time was had by all despite the warm temperatures. We finished the harvest on Sunday by getting a good early start and brining in about another 1.5 tons of Chambourcin. All in all we harvested: Chambourcin: 5888.6 lbs or 2.94 tons Cynthiana: 2921 lbs. or 1.46 tons Grand Total 8809.6 lbs or 4.40 tons We were very happy with the totals and thrilled with the hard work and effort that all the volunteers put into gathering the grapes. We can't thank everyone enough for their time and energy they expended to join in the harvest. |
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8/22/2009 Finally, harvest day for the Chambourcin! It is what we had been waiting for all year long, and what a day it turned out to be. The sky was clear and bright, and we got a real break in the weather. The high for the day was only in the mid eighties, pretty strange for August in Oklahoma, but we'll take it. We started the day about 6:00 a.m. and the crew of about 75 people worked fast and furious all morning and afternoon long. When all was said and done, we brought in about 7820 lbs. of grapes. |
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8/8/2009 Well, we had a nice day today harvesting the Traminette grapes. All went well and by 1:00 pm. we had brought in about 700 lbs of Traminette. We loaded them up on the trailer and took them to Oak Hills Winery in Chelsea, OK. They were very pleased with the quality and quantity of grapes, since I had only promissed them about 300 lbs. Boy, did I underestimate. I know that 700 lbs of grapes is not even a drop in the bucket (bunch in the harvest bin?) for larger vineyards, but this represents the first sale of quality wine grapes to a winery for Osage Hills. As such, we couldn't be more pleased to see the results of our hard work over the past few years. I anticipate another 2 to 3 weeks will pass before our larger harvest takes place. The Chambourcin grapes are just soaking up the sun and turning that deep blue-black while building their flavors. They will be ready for picking soon. Until then, we will be making sure our equipment is in good order and ready to go. |
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