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.
Carpet of calendula. The beautiful sunny days bring the wild calendula into full bloom. It is like a carpet of gold. The goats love it! They also have been known to do a little freelance pruning, so we have to be very careful taking them on walks through the vines and move rather quickly! Wild… Read more »
Watering new plantings. We remind ourselves that many years about this time we have a dry spell and worry: is this drought? global warming? or is it the normal ebb and flow of rainfall, year in and year out? We water new helichrysum plantings this week with overhead sprinklers to help consolidate the… Read more »
January 6 is celebrated as the date the Magi arrived with their gifts. On our ranch we do the Three Kings Preparation spray, a gift spray to the land and all who reside there, human and non-human alike. The following is a gift story —that might have happened! Once there was a herd of goats… Read more »
Starting at 11:30 pm on New Year’s Eve we grind frankincense, myrrh, and homeopathic gold in a mortar and pestle for a full hour. This is an aromatic activity, the scent intoxicating us with the change of the year, the past and the future all together in this very moment. It is a time to… Read more »
Spraying the “501” along the boundary line early morning. Inviting solar and cosmic energies This time of year we spray the perimeter of our land, first with “BC prep,” a biodynamic spray that has all the biodynamic compost preps plus the horned manure earth spray, or “500”, (late afternoon), then with the quartz crystal cosmic… Read more »
Field spray being activated with moisture overnight. Biodynamic Field Spray in Forest This evening we are moistening the biodynamic field spray to apply to forest areas in which we have cut dead wood or thinned brush. Tomorrow afternoon we will mix a unit of the field prep (two ounces… Read more »
People have asked… What the goats will be having for Christmas Dinner First Course —will be their wormwood concoction, which is an herbal wormer mixed with molasses. They love it! Once I had mixed it in the refrigerator. I caught my son taking the bowl out preparing to sneak “gingerbread cookie dough”. Needless to say,… Read more »
P.I. enjoying the labors. Cutting Up Wood Donald and Ramon cut up downed wood and dead trees most days, wood that we season a year and burn for heat. This practice is carbon neutral if the wood is seasoned well and then burned hot in an environmentally certified wood stove. Splitting logs, which will then… Read more »
Before: Downed dead wood and brush in dangerous buildup Forest Care After years of fire suppression (80 years in our area), there is heavy buildup of downed wood and underbrush. Part of bringing balance to our ranch involves clearing some of this. After: Forest floor that has had… Read more »
Bobcat hunting south of kitchen last week. Bobcat: Why habitat is important. This is the time of year we see the bobcat hunting. He comes early morning and again late in the day, patiently waiting by gopher holes for his meal. He is seldom disappointed! Photo taken a year ago… Read more »
© 2024 Patricia Damery.
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