Approaching Our Mike Tyson Moment on The Farm

We try to get better at planning ahead every year. We are so thankful some of the main Farm tasks are a “repeat”. Experience makes us better at juggling all the balls, but regardless, the Mike Tyson moment will happen.

by Chad Steiner

At our farm and winery spring quickly gets busy… and then before we know it – we’re just past the Mike Tyson Moment, usually June (“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”). It’s March eve, temperatures are warming, the snow is just melting, the ground is starting to thaw, the buds on the trees and vines show so much promise and the sheep are ready for fresh grass. The intention with this blog is to share how we’ve been planning for spring. It may follow that path… we’ll see. Jeana and I have been getting more ahead of things, but still constantly struggle to keep all the balls in the air. We’ve been better at planning, and as a good friend taught me – some things have the shampoo affect (your hair usually lathers easier on the 2^nd washing, try it, it’s true, i.e. rinse and repeat). In other words, we’re grateful for the rhythm that comes with the “repeat”. So, I’m going to share a bit about what we have been planning for and what’s in front of us. I hope you find some of it useful – like, how are you planning your garden, what things will you repeat, what things will you try new or make better? We’re excited to repeat many things – grape pruning was a family affair last year, spring bottling will bring many we love to connect with together and of course mother nature repeats spring, but it’s different every year.

For each area of The Farm I’ll kind of describe what we’ve got in the works. One thing that’s worked really well for Jeana and I lately is our weekly meeting.

Grapes (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc). Imagine what state they’re in. If they could speak to us… what would they say? I think it would go like this – “the winter at Chelan Valley Farms has been different than the past two. We really enjoyed staying above 0 degrees F. As the temperatures are warming and the rays of sun hit our buds with the longer days, we’re ready to burst forth into another vintage. Our roots are wiggling their little toes, ready to explore the wonderful soil and feel the sap flow through our veins (xylyem and phloem).

• Family prune the vineyard again, worked well in 2025. It’ll naturally mostly be Chad.
• Repair work first. Any vines needing some attention or training, this gets done first. It’s too hard doing more than one “activity” at a time.
• Pre-pruning. We’re going to try out our hedge trimmer this year to pre-prune. Want to see how the pro’s pre-prune, check out this video – Clemens pre-pruner.
• Pruning. Our goal is to be done by the end of March.
• Irrigation turns on in April – this is a hard one to plan for. Sometimes there’s not many leaks, sometimes there’s a lot.
• Pre-bud break, a dormant spray.

Wine. What would our wines say this time of year. Maybe it’s more of a conversation between them in the cellar…?? Lol. “Estate Chardonnay says to Fumé. Hey, Fumé, is that your name? Fumé…? You about ready to get out of these barrels. It’s kind of boring in here being all neutral and used, you know. I can’t wait until we move into that beautiful glass with a cork and help people create memories. Yo Rosé’s – there’s two of you right…? Does life suck just hanging out in a tank? Rosé says – well no, not at all, we feel like it keeps us consistent – and, shucks, we get a matte black screw cap – we certainly think we look good in black.”

• Our first 2024’s go into bottle on March 14^th. Get excited!!! This is our 4^th vintage of the Estate Chardonnay and Fumé!
• Glass, label’s, cork, bottling truck all lined up – check.
• Cross flow filtering lined up – check.
• Wine’s ready – well you heard them, sounds like it.
• 2024 reds being topped and tasted.

Pumpkins. Remnants of those pumpkins not making it to someone’s home remain in the field. Some have completely disintegrated; others have a shell still standing… the soil filling up with wonderful pumpkin ooze. It’s a rotation year. Yep, can’t keep growing in the same spot (oooh, that’s a metaphor). Let’s see if we can trick the squash beetle into not finding us.

• Get seed ordered. I’m sure we’ll find some exciting new varieties for you all.
• Measure out new pumpkin growing spot.
• Get supplies ordered for planting equipment. Irrigation, plastic mulch, etc.

Flowers. Some of the flowers have been tucked in under the snow all winter. The tulips will be one of the first green things we see poke through the soil. Lot’s of beauty just waiting to come forth. Seeds into trays, tubers divided – hard not to imagine all the beautiful color they bring.

• Soil and trays delivered.
• First trays planted in the succession.
• Grow room cleaned up and ready – in progress.
• Prepare to divide dahlias.
• Planting beds prepped.

Apples. So much energy waiting to burst into production. The amount of pounds of food the apples produce compared to other crops like grapes is unbelievable. If we get 4-5 tons from an acre of grapes, we’re happy, if we get 62 tons from an acre of apples we’re stoked. Now, juice ratio, totally different math. Either way, the apples have stored up so much energy, are patiently waiting spring to show off their glorious blooms.

• Order graft wood. Yep, putting more new varieties in.
• Order tree’s to fill in open spots.
• Pruning. Papa is lined up to prune our orchard again this year.
• Begin dormant applications.
• Irrigation. Same as in the grapes… we’ll see.

Animals. The sheep are anxious to get into the fresh grass – all 16 of them. The chickens are happy to see warmer weather and we’re hoping this means more eggs. The ducks, well, oh man we’ve got too many boy ducks and they just keep making more… but they’re great at eating bugs.

• Mid March – prepare the mobile fencing for the sheep’s migration to grazing.
• Clean out all animal housing.
• Build more nesting boxes.
• Finishing touches on the outside of the sheep condo and chicken castle.
• Mid-End March, wean the baby’s from Mom’s.
• End of March. Baby chicks arrive. We replace chickens annually. Their peak egg laying cycle is about 18 months… production starts to go down from there.

Bee’s. Well, the boys kind of talked about it last week. But things are definitely busier with bee’s in the spring. Stay tuned for updates from the Steiner boys. See the picture below of the “cookie’s” they made and put in the hives for them.

Caption: cookies the boys made with special ingredients for the bee’s.

Lots on the plate for the farm and winery. Tennis starts next week, soccer will be starting plus flag football and some cool wine events. We can’t wait to share all this with you all. We’ve got some fun events in the works. Forward this to a friend if you think they’d like to stay up to date on all that’s going on.

Cheers,