You may have seen the press reports regarding our excitement last month here at Fabbioli Cellars.  Mother Nature gave us a severe frost in our vineyard on the morning of 5/10.  It was severe enough to knock out 90% of our primary grape crop for 2010.  It was an interesting process for me to take this bad news and share it with the press in a way that gets the word out without having people think that the world has ended.  There was one day where I had kind of a media circus going on here at the farm.  I had to wonder if it was a good thing.  After seeing the articles and TV story, I realized that these professionals knew how to get a story out with respect to the subject, the readers and the story itself.  If you know the way we work here at Fabbioli, you understand that nothing really slows us down; we just work harder to keep things moving forward.  

I keep thinking of some of our Boy Scout hikes on the Appalachian Trail.  The growers in the area are all hiking down the trail of farming and the trials that nature can throw at us.  When one of us stumbles or slips, there are 6 hands reaching out from other growers to help maintain the progress along the trail of economic viability and quality.  We have a great brotherhood of winegrowers that know how to learn and work with each other.  The rough plan for our recovery at this point is to purchase some grapes from a few of my fellow growers and make a special brotherhood Bordeaux style blend.  This would have to supplement for the 2010 Tre Sorelle because that is the wine that will be unavailable.  I will be learning and adjusting the work in the vineyard this season to make sure we are doing the best we can for the vines and the future harvests.  Farming is never easy and we will never give up.

Speaking of farming, I have been working as chairman of the Loudoun County Rural Economic Development Council for a couple of years now.  We are working hard to develop and promote the plan to feed ourselves off our own land with local foods and potentially with our own energy.  We think of ourselves as rather intelligent and educated here in Northern Virginia and I feel it is about time that we put our actions where are pride is.  We love to eat good food and we love to protect our green spaces.  I feel we can do both and pay ourselves to do it.  Cooperation of citizens, businesses and governments is very important to succeed with this as well as planning and recognition of the long tem goals of stable economies and land conservations.  If we do things smarter, we can do a lot of things better.

What can you do?  If you eat, buy locally grown foods as much as you can.  If you own land, talk with your local extension agent about conservation practices and possible business plans to develop your own farming operation.  Consider agriculture as a career for yourself or the kids.  Even if you do not own land, land can be leased for farm operations that are based on higher value crops that can support a business plan.  Land owners are always looking to make their land productive even if they cannot farm it.  Look into using alternative energies in all aspects.  I will be exploring this even further over the next few months to take advantage of the grant created to encourage us to do the right thing. Visit the farms once in a while to clear you lungs and your head.  I truly believe that the more the people are in tune with the land, the better we think and make decisions.  I think of that line in one of my favorite movies, “Field of Dreams.”  Kevin Costner says to the Shoeless Joe, the baseball player, “I built this for you.”  

There has been so much growth in the area that we need to value and use our farms in order to keep them.  Each of us is a promoter of the fine land we live in and a protector of it.  We are the new natives and we plan to be here for generations to come.  The more we think in those terms, the better our decisions will be for the long term.  Thanks to all for your support and keep buying local.

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