A grand don't come for free...

Greetings and salutations! So still no pictures cause I still haven't figured out a way to upload them (and have been too lazy to find the local internet cafe). Anyhow, I'll respond to Sarah's (question is which Sarah?) little request. What does Van do to make a living.

Primarily, I'm looking for a rich "girlfriend" to finance my travels. When I'm at the vineyard and unable to do that, I primarily do one of three things: tuck, pluck, and rub (which unfortunately doesn't start with an 'f'). Tucking is making sure the vines are growing fairly straight and within the row's wire trellis. This is done every few weeks during the growing season to keep up with the rapid growth of the plants.

Plucking is a much slower process and involves the removal of leaves, laterals and other excess growth from the fruit zones. Laterals are secondary non-fruitbearing shoots that grow on fruitbearing shoots and would take nutrients away from the all-important grapes. The removal of leaves and laterals allows the sun, wind, and pesticides to reach the fruit.

Rubbing is done to remove excess buds that are growing on the main trunk of the vine. These buds are below the optimal fruit zone, so are removed to make sure the grapes are able to get enough nutrients. Most of the bud rubbing is done at the start of the season when there are extra buds everywhere. As the season progresses it gets done while performing the tucking and plucking as there are fewer new buds.

So that's about it at the vineyards. Sorry it isn't more exciting, but maybe some pictures will help if I ever get around to taking and uploading them :)