Harvest Crisis!!

Goats watching pickers in vines (small white specks!)               Harvest Crisis!! Donald says that this always happens: a crisis in harvest!  You need to get the grapes out quickly: the winemaker wants them up by noon. Ramon gets a call at 5:00 am from the foreman of the crew…. Read more »

The Chicks of ’66

“Chicks” of ’66 Graduating Class     We were the largest baby boomer class to go through our school, around 60 in our high school graduating class, and most of us had been together since first grade. Many of our fathers farmed as we began first grade; very few did by the time we were… Read more »

Harvest!

Harvest! Very warm last night, the crickets still singing at 3:30 am!  But the harvest began at dawn with a ton and a half for a small Biodynamic winemaker, Eric Hays of Chateau Davell Boutique Winery of Camino, California. Eric Hays and family Tomorrow is the big day of harvest of the rest of the… Read more »

Countdown

Countdown Every two or three days we check the brix on the grapes.      Yesterday they were “23” on both samples. Harvest will be within the week.

Home After a Week Away

Petunia and Boey awaiting walk.                 Home After a Week Away Home after a week away: The carrots finally sprouted, the cauliflower doubled in size, and the goats danced sideways down the road on the morning walk. The grapes brix: 20, some, 22: not time yet, but across… Read more »

Picking Countdown

Harms chardonnay grapes awaiting harvest.                 Picking Countdown I have seen only one set of picking lights this year, and that was in the Carneros as we were on our way home from San Francisco one evening last week. Usually by now we are awakened in the night… Read more »

Line Up

Line Up Someone’s eating the grapes!  Who could it be? Line up of possible grape-eating culprits: Could it be the goats??? Oh, surely not Dasher! Or Mr. Coyote. Grape skins have been found in his scat.   She looks innocent, but any rose (or grape!) grower knows the truth!   Then there is  Leo who… Read more »

Verasion

Verasion   This time of year the grapes are developing their sugars, color, and flavors, a process called verasion. This is a fact not lost on the birds! We tie streamers to the vines to discourage them from eating the grapes. One side of these metallic streamers is red; the other, silver. They sparkle like Christmas… Read more »

Certification Inspection

Certification Inspection The inspector for the certifier Demeter (Biodynamic®) and Stellar Certification Services (organic) arrived Friday to inspect our ranch and records. This is a time we always pull everything together: the scraps of paper that have notes that have not yet been incorporated into the records, the work area for the lavender processing straightened… Read more »

August: Lavender Pruning and Weeding

Pruning lavender mounds as goats weed. August: Lavender Pruning and Weeding This month we prune the lavender down into the even mounds it spends most of the year in. We then give the mounds a good watering, thank the lavender for a good year, and give it a couple of months to green up and… Read more »