This years program includes over 70 performances at 20 participating wineries:

Schedule of Events for Long Island Jazz on the Vine during Winterfest

Saturday, February 25:
1:30 – Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard – Tessa Souter
3:00 – Martha Clara- Mike Pride’s FROM BACTERIA TO BOYS
3:00 – Palmer Vineyards – Will Sellenraad
3:00 – Sherwood House – 58th & Ninth
4:30 – Peconic Bay Winery – John Davis Quartet
4:30 – Raphael – New Mo Swing
- presented by Tanger Outlets

Sunday, February 26:
2:00 – Clovis Point – Eri Yamamoto Trio
2:00 – Jamesport Vineyards – Mark Gatz Trio
2:00 – Pellegrini Vineyards – Danny Kean & Friends
3:30 – Laurel Lake Vineyards – Randy Napoleon
3:30 – Bedell Cellars – Rory Stuart Quartet
- presented by Hampton Jitney

Saturday, March 3:
3:00 – Martha Clara Vineyards – Sazon Mix
3:00 – Palmer Vineyards – Amy Cervini Quartet
3:00 – Sherwood House – Bryan Campbell
4:30 – Macari Vineyards – Nelson Riveros Ensemble
4:30 – Pellegrini Vineyards – In The Moment
4:30 – Duck Walk Vineyards North – Amy London

Sunday, March 4:
12:30 – Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard – Paula Atherton
- presented by Long Island Rail Road
2:00 – Waters Crest – East End Jazz
2:00 – Sparkling Pointe – Holli Ross
- presented by Elegant B&Bs of the North Fork
3:30 – Peconic Bay Winery – Alex Sipiagin Quartet
3:30 – Bedell Cellars – Chiemi Nakai/Afronaughtica
- presented by Hamptons.com
4:00 – Raphael – All That Jazz! All Star Super Band

Saturday, March 10:
2:00 – Sannino’s Bella Vita Vineyard – Dennis Raffelock
3:00 – Laurel Lake Vineyards – Monday Michiru
3:00 – Palmer Vineyards – Dan Aran Trio
4:30 – Duck Walk Vineyards North – Ojoyo
4:30 – Ospreys’ Dominion – Rare Groove Band
4:30 – Raphael – Shenole Latimer Quartet
- presented by Next Stop Magazine

Sunday, March 11:
12:30 – Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard – Dara Tucker
1:00 – Wolffer Estate – Jarrett Cherner
2:00 – Macari Vineyards – The Curtis Brothers
2:00 – Martha Clara Vineyards – Roosevelt Dime
3:30 – Pellegrini Vineyards – Ray Anderson
4:00 – Bedell Cellars – Lauren Kinhan

Saturday, March 17:
1:30 – Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard – Oscar Peñas Ethereal Ensemble
3:00 – Clovis Point – Dwayne Kerr
3:00 – Duck Walk North – The Avengers
4:30 – Pellegrini Vineyards – Shan Kenner
4:30 – Jamesport Vineyards – Jack Morelli Trio
4:30 – Bedell Cellars – Heather Hardy

Sunday, March 18:
2:00 – Martha Clara Vineyards – Philip Dizack Quartet
2:00 – Sherwood House – Ahmad Ali
2:00 – Sannino’s Bella Vita – Lobenstein/Salerno Duo
3:30 – Raphael – Mambo Loco
3:30 – Sparkling Pointe – Bakithi Kumalo Band

The Buff Orpington breed is a great choice for a backyard chicken – beautiful with a nice personality and winter hardiness.  The breed originated in Orpington, Kent, United Kingdom in the late 1800′s. There are Black Orpingtons, White Orpingtons, Blue Orpingtons (somewhat rare), and Buff Orpingtons – the Buff color being the most prevalent. They are raised for the purposes of both meat and egg production (a “dual purpose” breed).  They will lay Brown Eggs for our guests at The Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast

As a proud new parents of 16, we couldn’t wait to share our chick photos.  You can check The Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast blog for new updates and photos, www.thefarmhousebedandbreakfast.com

Baby Buff Orpingtons fresh from the post office.

By the Bluff B&B opened up their home for three nights during the last week of October, 2011 in honor of Veterans Day.  This is the second year By The Bluff took part in this program.

We had a great turn out this year, as we did last year.    On one of the three nights, we actually had the same 4 couples who stayed the previous year.   They are like old friends now.  They went to Skippers for Dinner and were served free desserts as the owner is a veteran, himself.

It’s an amazing experience to sit and listen to these Veterans’ stories – some who just got back from Iraq and Afghanistan.   Two of our Viet Nam vets were surprised to discover that they served in the same years.  One was in Airborne and the other a Medic.  These two went into our living room, sat down, pulled out their wallets and started comparing pictures.  They knew some of the same men in the pictures.   Amazing.

One Marine had a hip injury he and his wife stayed in the suite on the main floor of By The Bluff B&B.

The Veterans sit around the breakfast table in the morning telling their stories, sometimes laughing, sometimes not.  3 hours would pass by and they would still be talking and laughing.

They couldn’t thank Maurice and I enough for doing this for them.  WE are the ones who felt thankful and honored for doing what they did for US.

With the new year we also begin a new growing season for our vines. We have removed netting at this time and are getting ready to prune the vines, or give them all a major haircut. Pruning really does begin the growing season even though the vines are dormant. At this time we are making critical decisions and selections of what parts of the vine we want to keep in order for the plant to be most productive. The three photos are the same plant starting with the vine unpruned and leafless vine, last years canes still intact.

This next photo shows how most of the canes are removed and only four centrally located canes remain. All of the canes from this past growing season have buds on them that contain the energy that will produce the shoots, leaves and grapes for the 2011 harvest. We select the inner most canes because they will leave the least amount of space between the trunks when folded down. We really only need two of the four but we always try to have spare ones should one or more crack as we fold and lie them down to the wire.

The photo below now shows how the canes are  laying on the wire and tied to it. One is run to the left and the other to the right. I did have a little space still left over between the trunks so I folded part of a third cane across the space. The balance of that one was cut off. At this time our canes also change their name. They are now called cordons. Along the now horizontal cordons are those buds I mentioned, spaced apart from 4 to 8 inches. As they swell and start to grow in spring they are what we call shoots.Sometimes from one bud several shoots will emerge, and we will then remove all but the largest and healthiest.These shoots will then become canes. Each cane will have one to three clusters of grapes closer to the cordon and will continue  growing vertically. You can now jump your eyes from photo 3 to photo 1 to imagine our newly pruned vine at the end of 2011 growing season.

This type of pruning method is called Cane pruning, This is one of two most common methods on The North Fork. The other method is called Spur pruning. The two methods can be used in the same field but only one would be selected as the average for the given variety or field.