I'm Not Saying Block 7 Is Haunted, But Block 7 Is Haunted

Look, I’m a practical person. I’ve farmed this property for 31 years. I do not believe in ghosts, spirits, energies, or anything you’d have to whisper about. I believe in water, sun, and a properly tensioned trellis wire.

Block 7 is haunted.

I’m not going to try to convince you. I’m just going to lay out what’s happened and you can do with it what you want. Same rootstock as Block 6. Same clone. Same soil per the report I paid $4,000 for. Twelve feet of separation. Block 6 does what I ask it to do. Block 7 does whatever Block 7 wants.

The frost sensor in Block 7 has been replaced four times. Not repaired. Replaced. The dogs will not walk the last three rows and I have never trained them not to and I have tried to make them and they will not.

Am I saying there’s something out there? No. I’m a practical person. I’m saying that in 1974 the property changed hands under circumstances the family does not discuss, that the previous owner planted Block 7 himself, by hand, at an angle that makes no agronomic sense whatsoever, and that I have stopped asking about it.

The fruit from Block 7 is the best fruit on the property. It has been every single year. We make our flagship from it.

So we keep farming it. And every fall I go out there before pick and I say a few words, out loud, alone, because it seems polite. I want to be clear that this is not a ritual. It’s just something I do, every year, at the same time, in the same spot, in a specific order.

I’d rather not get into it further.