Reflections on 2022 at UGF

This year was Union Grove Farm’s biggest yet. Our muscadines were commercially available for the third year (thank you Weaver Street Market!), our silo was painted by an incredible team of local artists, and we premiered our vermicomposting lab. We welcomed new team members, hosted agriculture experts from across the country, and were invited to speak at multiple conferences. We learned so much from our community, from the land, and from each other. Check out our 2022 highlight video on Instagram!

We’re looking forward to the year to come but want to pause and reflect on what 2022 taught us and the moments we shared together as a team.

When asked about their favorite moments of 2022, our team shared the following:

·      “Being invited onto the boards of NC Muscadine Growers Association  and NC Wine and Grape Council.”

·      “Proving out the Opti-Harvest Opti-Gro chambers in field, to showcase how they significantly accelerate the healthy growth of our fledgling vines.”

·      “I think maybe my favorite moment was finally learning to drive the windrow turner… love seeing those tidy windrows out in the field knowing there are billions of microbes working away to make a great compost for our vines next year.”

When asked what their greatest lessons learned this year, team members said:

·      “I did DNA sequencing this year of soils and compost and was in awe of the natural world and continued to learned more about how amazing soil microbes are and how much these tiny creatures we can't see affect our lives.”

·      “That it takes a village to raise a grape child.”

·      “I learned more about the potential of being successful with regenerative farming and using plants themselves to fight insect populations.    

·      “ I learned how to build a lot of items that needed to run the vermicompost to get treatments out on the vines, both big and small.”

And finally, what our team is most excited about in 2023 is:

·      “Getting the new seedless vines in the ground in April, then applying all the regenerative farming knowledge and expertise - internally and externally - we now have to driving these through to profitable fruition.”

·      “To develop the Center of Regnerative Agriculture”

·      “I am very excited to plant our new 50 acres of vines and stat using all the things I build last year to create an amazing vineyard.”

Thank you everyone who was a part of our mission this year!