AMAZING DRONE PHOTOGRAPHY
work inprogress, come back again for the new article we are writing
“in vino veritas”, is that true?
LEARN HOW TO FLY A DRONE
Marco graduated at the E. Mach Istituto Agrario of San Michele all’Adige after following the study path Environment and Forestry Management Many experience and research opportunities. Among them also the video below, Marco is starring with his class mates, they realized it in oder to promote the use of drones in agriculture. Watch it and tell us what you think about it! We would like to discuss about the opportunities offered by the technological modern devices for a traditional, organic and respectful farming.
PIWI PHILOSOPHY
Why did we decide to grow resistant vines ? What does PIWI means?
First of all we have to understand that resistant vines has nothing to do with genetically modified plants or GMOs. The abbreviated name comes from the German pilzwiderstandfähige, that meansresistant to the fungal deseases and refers tohybrid vines that can spontanously withstand ioidio and downy mildew and therefore need almost no treatments.
Even the organic agricolture the procedure for vineyards allows the use of copper and sulfur treatments in order to contrast fungal deseases. Although copper is a natural element it is an heavy metal that does not degrade and it accumulates over time in the soil. Actually the long time research on the resistant PIWI vines began with the aim to study and find an alternative way. It is a complex and challenging research of hybridization practice, it means fecundation between different genetically similar species in order to obtain the resistance to the fungal diseases of some species and the organoleptic qualities of the vines that spread in Europe in the last centuries. Institutes have been working on this front line for many decades now, nevertheless resistances are still strong enough. In Italy, not so in other European countries, the law is still an obstacle for resistant vines farming. But things are quickly changing and now some PIWI sorts are allowed even for some IGT wines. This is the case of our Solaris wine. On the other hand the environmental impact of PIWI vines is definitely lower than the one of traditional vines. There is still a sort of distrust in farmers who don’t consider them of equal dignity compared to traditional vines. But also chardonnay, for example, is the result of a selection and it established itself only a couple of centuries ago. For which reason should it have more dignity compared to Solaris? The discussion if open and actually an hot theme, if you want to learn more visit the web sites Piwi International e www.piwitrentino.it Sartori Organic Farm member of the latter association.
Love for the historical background
To understand and read a territory means to imagine how our ancestors used to live and what they used to do in the same places that we cultivate and frequent nowadays. The history of the Valle di Ledro, although isolated and suspended between Lake Garda in the East and Lake Idro in the West, dates back to the Middle Stone Age. The mountains, and specially the most comfortable passes provided with water, were seasonally visited probably by hunters and shepherds. We have the evidence of manufactured flint tools in the area of Tremalzo (1770 m. above the sea level. Nevertheless it is the pile dwelling site, a Unesco world heritage, that was discovered on the Lake Ledro shore that can tell us so much about the living of our ancestors during the bronze Age because of the truly rich variety of objects and materials found. For many centuries, roughly between the 22nd and the 13th centuries b.C, a human enterprising community lived on the lake’s shore in stilt houses performing many activities, farming and also commercial exchange in form of barter. There were not so many suitable fertile grounds, but farming was one of the most important activities. Among the many interesting archaeological finds we also have vine seeds. And growing mountain suitable grape sorts is now the mission of our farming activity. The Pile Dwelling Museum on Lake Ledro is for sure worth a visit. May-be you can also join a guided visit or activity. Go to the web site http://www.palafitteledro.it
What a wonderful world!
In these Blog pages we collect some news and curiosities about our business and our land. Your comments and inquiries are welcome. It is often precisely to respond to the curiosity of our visitors that we are stimulated to document ourselves and to look at what surrounds us with new eyes. Maybe those who visit this site do not know, but the place where we live between Lake Garda and the Brenta Dolomites has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2015, according to the Man and Biosphere program. The area where we have our olive trees on Monte Baone, in the Municipality of Arco (TN), is characterized by poor soil but is kissed by an almost Mediterranean climate. Defended by the colder currents these steep slopes have however been cultivated for centuries, with a lot of dedication and manual work. The land is supported by a quantity of precious dry stone walls which are a habitat in their own right and guarantee great biodiversity
