By Doug Fabbioli

It’s Bud Time!

So the season has begun again! The green leaves that contain the chlorophyll are growing bigger every day, staging themselves to collect another seasons worth of the sun’s energy. That energy will be turned into the sweetness and flavors in the fruit that will make our wines something for many to talk about. That energy will also keep the farmers and gardeners working hard trying to keep their plants healthy and abundant with nutrients, flavor and style.

Even though the growing season last year was a bit depressing through much of the year, every farmer that I speak to is excited about what is ahead of us. The pear blossoms have already set their fruit and that fruit is growing bigger every day. For us at Fabbioli Cellars, we will soon be putting the bottles on the fruit so the pears will grow inside. The grapes will be going through its blossom and pollination stage in a few weeks, setting the stage for a fruitful vintage.

The farmer is an entrepreneur, an investor of time and money whose hard work and commitment to the land and crops can pay off in spades if all things come together. The commitment is great and we have been doing this for thousands of years. Our society has been built upon the idea that if we stay in one place and plant the land, there will be more food for the people than if they just hunted and gathered the foods of the forest. In many ways, the farmer was an inspiration to budding communities because much of the commerce was based on the food that fed the people. To me, the farmer has always been an inspiration. Now it’s those younger folks that are making that commitment to the land and the crops and the flocks that will feed their families and others, those are the ones that inspire me most. There are plenty of easier ways to make a living, especially in this part of the country.

I hope that we can continue to see growth among our youth to be farmers and stewards of the land. We need to push for programs in our schools and communities that inspire young folks to learn the skills and connect with the land. The growing season starts every spring, and one of the most important crops we can grow, is new farmers.