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.
Chardonnay grapes in evening. Late July is a time that Ramon is particularly vigilant in the vineyard for mildew in the bunches. He says he smells it if it is present as he walks through the vines. We spray fermented equisetum tea (508) at the new and full moon (a ground spray, which encourages the… Read more »
Calyxes opened and sucked dry! When the bees stop visiting the lavender, we know it is time to prune it down into its mounds. We leave a certain percentage for the bees and other pollinators: now it is completely bloomed out. Starting today and over the next month, each plant will get a careful shaping… Read more »
Remember that madrone leaf I photographed in April, the tree I feared was in its last season? Look at it now! The leaves are clear and without the tell-tale spots of Sudden Oak Death. Pacific Madrone’s fresh green leaves. Which begs the question: is it healing? Madrones do grow new leaves in summer, and the… Read more »
Biodynamic Compost Preparation 505: Oak Bark
Oak bark of Valley oak Biodynamic Compost Preparation 505: Oak Bark This is one of the plants our ranch grows in abundance. Rudolf Steiner specified the bark of Quercus robur, the common oak in Europe, whose substance of bark is about 77% calcium. In United States, the White oak is often used. Our native White… Read more »
Chamomile (from wikipedia since it didn’t reseed!) This fall I will seed chamomile in our garden. Although it usually reseeds itself, Peter Proctor describing it as “mercurial” because it tends to “pop up” in different places each year (Grasping the Nettle, 74), it didn’t sprout this season. We had added a lot of compost, probably… Read more »
Stinging nettle flourishes in the Irish cemetery of my ancestors. What does it mean that stinging nettle does not grow on our ranch? Obviously, our hot and dry Mediterranean climate does not invite nettle, but energetically, what are we missing? Rudolf Steiner said it is the one Biodynamic preparation plant (504) for which there is no substitute…. Read more »
Dried Lavender
Lavender drying in shed. The lavender chosen for bouquets is dry at last. We hang it in our shed in the dark. Since most of our plants are used for distillation, we dry only one shed full these days, and do not use heat (energy conserving). Then we clean it by shaking out leaves from… Read more »
Still Distilling!
Lavender from labyrinth awaiting distillation. Still Distilling! It goes on forever, it seems! Each morning at dawn I see Donald careening down the path in the “mule” with our two labs in the back (I am writing in my studio!) Ramon picks, Donald distills. Each load takes about 2 1/2 hours. Donald getting a little… Read more »
Dry, with spicy intensity. (no) It is not true that goats will eat anything! In fact, they have quite discriminating palates when it comes to wild plums. Remember those plum blossoms of last February―flowery memories of prohibition in the Napa Valley, when plum orchards replaced vines? The marauding birds, coyotes, and deer seeded these mountain… Read more »
Early morning harvest of Lot Natalie 12 for distillation. Once a fellow lavender grower told me that when people asked him if he would buy their lavender, he replied, Do you really want me to come and cut it back just when it is its most beautiful? Usually the answer was maybe not! But that… Read more »
© 2025 Patricia Damery.
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