The following posts were taken from the website for Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields, which we operated from 2010 until 2019. They offer a window into our lives on the farm and the ways the farm changed us. In 2018 we decided to end our lavender business but we continue to work with our land in ways that bring balance and health. Posts on this website will continue to follow our work.
Harvest! Harvesting grapes at Harms, a Biodynamic organic vineyard.
Harvest! Ramon tells me that the winemaker says, “Good fruit!” He is understandably proud, having nurtured this crop for the last year, beginning with composting, then pruning. By 9 am three tons have been picked. We supply the pickers with water and soda, and they continue. The day is cool and foggy, ideal picking weather…. Read more »
Harvest Prep
Adler Fels Winery, Mayacamas Mountains Harvest Prep Donald picks up the fruit bins from Adler Fels, a small winery at 1500 feet in the Mayacamas Mountains between here and Santa Rosa. We have to hire a bigger truck to make the long, grinding drive back to the winery with the fruit, as our truck simply… Read more »
Still Ripening
2007 Harvest (September 7, 2007) Still Ripening The grapes are on the late side this year, and our cool nights are not helping. The mornings are often 48 degrees, even though the days may reach 80 degrees. Yet when I see our Demeter Crop Production reports over the last… Read more »
Venus and the Cosmos
Venus at first light. Venus and the Cosmos What planet rises at first light this early morning and what constellation of stars dances overhead? What relationship do the cells of our bodies, or the tomatoes in the garden, have to the cosmos? Does an awareness of these celestial bodies make any difference?
Vineyard Visitor
Vineyard Visitor These foggy mornings the vultures wait in the trees until the sun burns off the fog. Then they raise their wings to dry. This vulture rests on a dead branch of a Valley Oak in the small pioneer cemetery in the middle of our ranch. I have heard vultures called Mother of the… Read more »
The Season to Keep Your Car Doors Locked!
The Season to Keep Your Car Doors Locked! My brother says this is the time of year that when you go to town, you better keep your car doors locked. Otherwise you will end up with somebody else’s abundance sitting on your front seat, to add to your own! It is one of the most… Read more »
Napa Valley Life Magazine: Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields
Napa Valley Life Magazine: Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields This month we are honored to be featured in Napa Valley Life Magazine. The issue is a harvest issue with special emphasis on the diversification of agriculture in the Napa Valley. The publisher Kari Ruel and photographer Lowell Downey chose us because of our own work on… Read more »
Ripening There is a tension this time of year: why are the budded-over vines three brix behind the older vines? What about that forecast for showers ? (They missed us.) How did the deer get into the vines—again! The foreman for the picking crew arrives to survey the size of the crop, to estimate the… Read more »
Goats Honoring Gaia
Gaia and the goats. Goats Honoring Gaia Donald’s daughter Genevieve is a ceramicist who had to move recently to a smaller home. She gave us a Gaia figure to put “in the forest”. When the goats discovered Her, they were very curious, even frightened of something so novel. Now everyday when we walk by they… Read more »
Harvest Season Has Begun
Picking lights across the valley. Harvest Season Has Begun Like constellations in the night sky, the picking lights are on in the late hours of the night across the valley. Harvest time has begun. I know Chardonnay grapes are best picked cool, and these days many of the… Read more »
© 2025 Patricia Damery.
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