In organic farming, chemical herbicides must not be used to remove weeds (adventive plants) that compete with the vines. Therefore, I eliminate weeds using a plow and a horse.
Léa and her horses, Hippi and Hermes, carried out several plowing tasks in the vineyard at Saint Ennemond.
During the season, there are three types of work. A first pass takes place at the end of the year for hilling (or earthing up): the soil is moved from the inter-row toward the base of the vine. Hilling must be performed at least twice a year: once in the spring and again before the first frosts.
Following the hilling comes the decavaillonnage (un-hilling): this consists of removing the weeds around the vine stock and pushing the soil back to the center of the row. The work took an entire afternoon with two horses, a plowman, and a plowwoman (Léa). The difficulty lies in maneuvering the plow between each vine to access the “inter-cep” area. This requires intense concentration from both the plow operator and the horse.
At the end of the season and before the harvest, we proceed with leveling, also known as griffage (harrowing): this allows for the removal of bindweed and other remaining weeds. The plow used for harrowing is:
