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 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 »
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 »
Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery
Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery The following interview of Patricia Damery by Smoky Zeidel is a posting from Smoky Talks Authors. It was my pleasure to have the chance to talk with author Patricia Damery, whose novel, Snakes, is one of my favorite books of the year. (You can read my… Read more »
Using Biodynamic Organic Lavender Essential Oil and Hydrosol Distilling lavender brings many gifts. When you distill, you get the essence of that plant’s healing properties: the constituents. For lavender, that includes constituents that balance the nervous system. If you need to relax and go to sleep, lavender helps. If you are lethargic, lavender acts as… Read more »
Story of the Labyrinth
The eastern range is but an outline against the golden glow of First Light. Soon Ramon will arrive to harvest the labyrinth lavender, trimming the flower heads and packing them in sheet bundles. It is a “flower” day, moon in aquarius, an air or “flower” sign. Whenever possible in Biodynamic farming, we time work with… 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.
Native bumble bee sleeping overnight in lavender, awakening when sun warms them. The Importance of Habitat The lavender fields sound like the inside of a beehive this week, full of all kinds of bees: honey bees and mason bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees. Honey bees get a… Read more »
Distillation Event Sale of Last Season Lavender If you are in the area Saturday, July 16, please consider dropping by between 8:30 am and 11:30 am as Donald is distilling lavender. You can see the process, and also benefit from end of season sales. Prices are good only as supplies last. Biodynamic Organic Large… Read more »
Distillation: Join Us Saturday Morning, July 16, 8:30 am to 11:30 am We started distilling this morning. The bees are buzzing, the sun releasing fragrance, the still going almost full time from now until we have distilled most of our remaining lavender, which seems like forever! This is because our still is small— the good… Read more »
© 2025 Patricia Damery.
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