Fall’s Brilliance The forest floor is red these days from the poison oak, which has changed color. The air is decidedly cooler on our morning walks. What joy!
Fall’s Brilliance
Fall's Brilliance
Category: Harms Vineyards: Passed Lives
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.
The Mystery of the Helichrysum
The Mystery of the Helichrysum
Inspecting the bloom situation. The Mystery of the Helichrysum Farming has many mysteries. Why did each helichrysum plant bloom a little in late June, some now, with most buds still unopened? At any one time, there are not enough blooms to harvest and distill. These mysteries call us up short, make us look more carefully,… Read more »
Blue Moon Report
Blue Moon Report
Blue Moon Report Walking the labyrinth, offering our prayers, until the orange moon rises over the eastern ridge. Then, earth warming our backs as stories are exchanged, accounts of spirals and dancing stars while oaks nod overhead. For 60,000 years people have lived here, she says. I imagine them also feeling the sun’s heat in… Read more »
Grape Harvest Update
Although delicious, these grapes have at least a couple of weeks of ripening for winemaking. The grapes are within a couple of weeks from harvest now, and we have started checking the sugars every few days. Hot weather pushes them quickly; cool weather slows them down. There is so much not in our control! Cool nights… Read more »
Seven Generations
My son Casey and his son Wesley picking Asian pears, first fruiting of this young tree. More than anything else we plant and tend on the ranch, planting the orchard reminds me of my seven generations. Planting a tree is a long term process. Fruition takes years, not weeks or months. Each tree is a… Read more »
Messages Left in the Dark
Driveway at sunrise. One of the (few!) benefits of the thick dust on our driveway is that it allows us to see who passed this way in the night. This morning it was the signature of a small snake; yesterday a much larger one left a hard, large, swirly track as if being pursued or… Read more »
The Fifth Season
Summer dormancy. Judith Larner speaks of this time as being the Fifth Season in the Mediterranean climate of California, a period of summer dormancy that I also write about in Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation. On our ranch, it is a time of doing projects we normally do not have time for: building a… Read more »
Update: First Light Farm Stand
Chica Bloom Bouquets The Grand Opening was successful! This is a great place to get certified organic produce, and at very good prices! Consider including the stand on your errand route and pick up a week’s worth of seasonal produce fresh from the field, Wednesdays through Sundays. 4855 Bodega Ave., Petaluma, CA. Customers in the… Read more »
Checking Sugars!
The grapes are ripening and are sweet enough to eat! Our grandson Wesley can attest to that! Wesley likes to carry handfuls of grapes as wewalk through the vines. The dogs like to follow andclean up any “droppage”! Soon Ramon will be gathering small bags to test every few days. Harvest is perhaps three weeks… Read more »
Equisetum Tea
Preparing to steep the equisetum tea which we will then ferment for ten days before use. It will keep for some time. Although we no longer spray sulfur to protect against mildew as the grapes are in veraison, we do protect the vines by continuing to spray fermented equisetum tea, or Biodynamic prep 508, at… Read more »
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