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.
Jesse and Nathan putting up the Grand Opening Sign.First Light Farm’s produce is a Certified Organic. Yesterday my grandson Wesley and I visited during the preparations for the Grand Opening of First Light Farm Farm Stand, 4588 Bodega Avenue, Petaluma, formerly Anderson’s Farm Stand. The stand will be open from 12 to 5 pm today… Read more »
Our son Jesse Pizzitola and his partner Nathan Boone of First Light Farm, Jesse’s wife Lisa Murgatroyd and partner Ariana Reguzzoni of Chica Bloom Flowers, are opening their farmstand for this season tomorrow! If you are in the area, go by, purchase incredible produce (including our lavender), a full and beautiful bouquet of Lisa and… Read more »
Photo compliments of Kathleen Parks-Perry Marketing Lavender Alexandra is helping us promote our products to local markets, including Whole Foods, where we recently were accepted as a vendor. Look for our products in local markets, and if you do not see them, please ask them to stock our Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields Biodynamic organic… Read more »
Night Bloom
Soap root totally bloomed out. I dreamed I picked a soap root blossom and placed it in a vase in a darkened room. Their blossoms open late afternoon or evening and are pollinated by evening or night flying insects, closing by morning. The tiny, white, delicate blossoms do look etheric, another… Read more »
Ramon says the grapes are in veraison, meaning the they are ripening and sugars are forming. He wants me to taste the grapes, but when I do, I spit them out reflexively, tasting no sugars! He thinks the harvest may well be earlier this year than last. He is proud of the full, abundant bunches… Read more »
The vultures circle high above the meadow. There has been a kill. I try not to be sentimental, but still, I wonder: who is left?
First Feel of Fall
First Feel of Fall We felt fall for the first time today. “Is it going to rain?” Donald asks. “No prediction of rain,” I say. In our Mediterranean climate, we hope not. Rain brings dampness and mildew to grape clusters. But the sky is troubled with dark clouds and the winds whine in the tree… Read more »
Stretch of meadow to the south is an important animal corridorOur guard llama protects the goats. Loud, piercing coyote howl in the meadow in the early hours of the morning—then a whole pack of yaps dying off to the south. I hope they were not hunting the fawns of the mother doe I saw browsing… Read more »
Leo and Moka take a dip. The irrigation pond, shared with our neighbor, is about half empty, but there’s still plenty of water for a morning swim! Building the soil over these years has allowed us to irrigate the vines only two or three times a season, at most, and only if needed.
The new lavender (grosso) plants are full and looking very healthy. We continue to feed them every two or three weeks with compost tea. It has been a year now since they were started from cuttings from our own stock.
© 2025 Patricia Damery.
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