Max never expected to make his living from the soil. It's just offering a little different product than typically grown around here. The father and son have also taken a different approach to their farming - they don't use pesticides. Max explained the muscadine grapes are grown because they are a Florida native grape and resistant to the diseases that plague many of the imported varieties. Tiny Baby Doll sheep roam the vineyard, feeding and keeping the weeds down with the assistance of the geese that also freely waddle the property.
Ducks are there as well to scarf up the bugs.
Throughout the vineyard there are rose bushes that serve a similar role to canaries in the mines. When the roses start looking puny, Max and Rob pull out the ladybugs to devour the aphids in the affected portion of the vineyard. Search the University and Main archives for previously run articles. In the vineyard, there are 35 varieties of muscadine, some ripen and turn bronze, others a dark purple. They can swell to the size of ping-pong balls.