There is always lots to do in the winter... this year we are widening the road into the bog... it is amazing how fast the trees grow back in... nature is resilient... To get tractor-trailers into the farm during harvest it needs to be wide and dry...
We also must keep the snow off the fields and the dikes. We have not had much snow this year. If the field has more than 30 cm of snow we must blow it off onto the dikes. The ring dikes must be clear of snow so we can get around the bog. We flood the fields too. When the temperature falls and the ground starts to freeze, we flood the fields. The water freezes and forms a layer of ice on the fields. We deflood after a week as longer would damage the plants. The ice settles on the vine protecting it from the cold and desiccation.
We also welcome visitors at the bog... of course we see customers at the store.... but we see wildlife too. Lots of birds are in the uplands around the bog. Sometimes we have bigger visitors... over the weekend we had Moose on the bog. They walked all over... even between buildings... from the tracks there were four moose. We often see their tracks but rarely see them... during the 2006 harvest, staff doing flooding at night saw two under a light at a pumphouse.
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