More “Inconvenient Truths” —About Our Wine and Food

More “Inconvenient Truths” —About Our Wine and Food by Donald Harms As you may well expect these days, this is yet another inconvenient truth: My wife and I are grape and lavender growers in the Napa Valley. Some may think wine and lavender are not food but we think of them as ‘food for the… Read more »

The Ride Down

The Ride Down Perhaps one of the most important moments during the Napa County Board of Supervisor’s hearing for a neighbor’s proposed hillside vineyard happened just as the meeting adjourned. Presentations had been given by both parties, piles of copies of opposing hydrology reports thick as War and Peace circulated. Frustrations were expressed. Members of… Read more »

Ordinances Fail to Adequately Protect Environment

In the next weeks, we will address some of the issues that are confronting many of us and concern our relationship to the earth: land use issues, property rights, stewardship, and pesticide use. The following is a letter to the editor that appeared in the Napa Valley Register on Friday, February 18, 2011.  Letter to… Read more »

Snakes and ” The Light of Nature”

Snakes and ” The Light of Nature” Where we live in northern California, late March into April is the time large gopher snakes come out of hibernation. This year, with the cold, wet spring, they are late. We have yet to find them laying in the sun in the gravel or in the mowed grass… Read more »

On Boundaries: Good Will Fences

              On Boundaries: Good Will Fences Each year when our certifier asks about the buffer zone between our vines and a southern portion of our boundary shared with two neighboring properties, we say we have a “good will buffer.” This means that we have the good fortune to have… Read more »

BC Prep and Radiation: Bring Balance in Hard Times

Photo Art by Bill Fulton               BC Prep and Radiation: Bring Balance in Hard Times In consulting with the Josephine Porter Institute this morning, I learned that calcium will help mitigate harm from any possible radiation coming our way. One way to get this is through the barrel compost,… Read more »

Spraying

Using evergreen branch to “spray.” There are several ways to spray the biodynamic preps, depending on the quantity of spraying that you have to do. In the garden we simply take an evergreen branch or a clean paintbrush to swish the stirred prep onto the ground or into the air around the plants.  In the vineyard… Read more »

Stirring

Stirring to create vortex.  Stirring Stirring  affords an intimacy with the land.  When we stir, as many of us as possible  participate. We each are unique in the way we stir, so it is important to have the imprint of each of our energies in the stirred preps. When we stir, we throw the water… Read more »

Stirring Equipment

Stirring “510” in 12 gallon crock  at sunrise. The stirring equipment needed depends on how much you will be spraying. For an acre or less, a 10-12 gallon crock or small wooden barrel or wooden bucket works well. Get one that has never had chemicals in it. We use a wooden dowel or stick to… Read more »

Sequence Sprays

Stirring “preps” for sequence spray. If you do only two practices to begin Biodynamic gardening, do a sequence spray and start a compost pile. As time goes by, you can adapt the use of the sprays to your own land’s needs, but the sequence is the ground work. This week we will explain the “sequence.”… Read more »