New Year Vine Pruning

New Year Pruning

We rang in the New Year at our “new” old house in Lake County with what will likely become a January 1st tradition – pruning the grape vines that ring our property.  This was a first for me, and the work, while quite personally fulfilling and rich in metaphor, is hard.  It certainly deepened the great respect I have for farmers and farm workers around the world, and especially in California vineyards.

I should say that my husband actually did the pruning, and I gathered, carried and discarded the vines.  We now have about three huge bonfires worth of vine clippings piled in our barnyard.  Bill taught me how to make and use a travois from the vine clippings. 

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Guess who played the role of “dog or horse” as indicated above?  Bill also gave me a quick course in Vine Pruning 101, learned from his father who had worked as a California farm laborer in his youth.  Here is the condensed version of what I learned about vine pruning, with corresponding metaphors appropriate for a new year:

Cut off any vines that tangle or cross – they will make a mess and impede fruit growth and harvest.  Let go of tangles and hassles.  Hanging on to them is unproductive.

You don’t want more than a year’s worth of excess growth to accumulate on the vine stock.  More than that wastes the vine’s energy and purpose – which is to produce grapes.  Any big project or plan that takes away from your primary purpose is a counter-productive detractor from core values and work.

Always check for wood borers in clipped vines.  They are insidious creatures that start small, get into bumps or crevices, and eventually take over the vine, destroying it from the inside out.   You need to prune the vine until all evidence of the borer is gone.  Enough said.

Pruning technique, while general, can and should be specialized to accommodate and enhance productivity in specific types of grapes.  While we need to live and work according to general principles, each situation and individual is different and may require additional care and consideration.

So, how does this relate to SFGC? Seems obvious to me, but I fear I often assume too much about others’ understanding of my perspectives.  It’s a new year, and our program resumes this week.  It’s also time to plan the program and budget for next year, and while we don’t anticipate a great deal of pruning, the process is always undertaken with careful consideration, and most importantly, with a renewed commitment to our mission and vision.

Since this is already a fairly long posting, here is the SFGC Mission and Vision Statement, as a New Year refresher for all of us.  I think we’re on track, and our vineyard is in pretty good shape for 2010!

The Mission of the San Francisco Girls Chorus is to create outstanding performances featuring the unique and compelling sound of young women’s voices through an exemplary music education program.

The Vision of the San Francisco Girls Chorus is:
• To produce concert performances of the highest international quality.
• To provide music education for girls and young women from all backgrounds.
• To be a leader in the field by being creative and innovative in all aspects of this choral art form.
• To give the girls and young women who participate in Chorus programs the skills, self-discipline and confidence to succeed in music and in life.
• To instill in the choristers a lifelong love of music.
• To communicate the joy of singing through involvement with and outreach to our community.