Photo: Janna Waldinger, ArtClarity
My book Fruits of Eden: Field Notes Napa Valley 1991-2021 is about to be released, so I contracted with Janna Waldinger of Art & Clarity to take some photos. This is one of my favorites. Each day some of my dear animals walk with me. (Here, Petunia, the goat, and HIjo, the llama.) For almost 30… Read more »
We planted Califonia poppies in our vineyard in 1999 after our Biodynamic consultant prescribed a list of wildflowers to seed between the rows. My son Casey and I mixed the various seed with sand in a wheelbarrow, some, like the poppy seed, as small as a period, some the size of a pearl. After stirring… Read more »
Stories of bay forest
Forest Walk (and dreaming in August of rain) The sound of the breeze in the bay leaves is like water flowing over rocks. The forest is a story of earth becoming water becoming air, (oh, not fire!) earth to spirit; spirit to earth. To listen is to feel these gestures, like this cycle we live each… Read more »
Smoke from the Lake Berryessa fire rises over the eastern ridge of the Napa Valley.
Fire and Farming This morning it is evident that the fire in the eastern most part of Napa County is less contained that it was yesterday morning this time. A large plume of smoke spreads across the sky at first light. The orangish light is alarming and reminds us to think about animals and evacuation… Read more »
Western Poison Oak has turned red, hinting of fall.
The woods are aflame with Toxicodendron diversilobum, Pacific poison oak. Like a fastly spreading fire, its red leaves skip across the forest floor and leap high up our California oaks. For many years we tried to rid the ranch of poison oak, annoyed by its impact on us—red rashes and blisters that lasted weeks. We told ourselves… Read more »
Organic produce at First Light Farm Store
Vote with Your Food Dollars Vote with your food dollars! Support a small farmer, a farmer whose business plan includes building soil and biodiversity. Mix stockholders and corporations into this, and the earth and biodiversity become secondary to profit. We seem to have lost sight of the fact that how we make a living is… Read more »
The hollow of an ancient valley oak used to make barrel compost.
This summer of the fourth year of drought, we are liberally using the Barrel Compost we made on site in December (see post, Making Barrel Compost). Each fruit day (moon in fire signs) we spray the ground under the grapevines and orchard, and each flower day, moon in air signs) we spray the aromatics. The vines looked… Read more »
The Importance of Habitat: Lavender fields sound like inside of a beehive this week, full of all kinds of bees: honey bees, mason bees, bumble & carpenter.
Lavender and Bees Lavender and bees go together! The following is an excerpt from Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation and tells how the bees helped us get started marketing lavender. June 10 is generally the beginning of the lavender harvest for the flowers we dry. The work begins before sunrise, as we try to get… Read more »
Lavender bunches cut and ready to be dried.
The heat of the last days pushed the lavender quickly, and lavender harvest has begun! We cut the longest stems for the dried bouquets, harvesting them just as the bees inform us two or three of the calyxes are open. This way the dried bouquets do not “shatter” or lose too many flowers. This year… Read more »
The wholeness of a mandala around the sun.
We never expected the need to get into Land Activism, and yet, here we are, attending Napa County Board of Supervisor Meetings, Planning Commission meetings, Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee meetings, making public comment, advocating for the health of our environment. One thing that sets Biodynamic farming and certification apart for organic and conventional farming is that… Read more »
© 2024 Patricia Damery.
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