Lou's Musings

Smart Energy Conference

On Thursday, March 23 we hosted a gathering of farmers, engineers, tinkerers, and environmentalists to discuss techniques and benefits of energy conservation on the farm. 75 of us spent the day dreaming and tire-kicking, brainstorming petroleum-free solutions to food production.

Preston’s contribution was our organic setting plus examples of solar power generation and veg-oil fueled tractors. Local chef and educator Evelyn Cheatham deliciously catered the event with the help of staff and students of Worth our Weight, her cooking school for at-risk teens.

Stripspray

This is one of my favorite topics, although not one of my favorite practices. Stripspraying  to control weeds in vineyards has all the appeal to me of Darth Vader.

 

...A typical strip spray practice that combines the use of herbicide under the vine row where it is difficult to cultivate with healthy covercrop planted between the rows for soil fertility. In this case about 2 feet out of 8 are actually sprayed. This is a reasonable compromise between efficiency and quality...but it is a compromise....

Since becoming organic I have developed an entirely different perspective of the vineyard farmscape. When I was in my early 30s and a new farm property owner, I watched with fascination as my neighbors, who also became my mentors, saddled up the ol' tractor whenever a few blades of grass poked out of the soil. Cultivating was an art and the aggression it inculcated seemed a bit like war. But there really was more to it than just annihilating weeds. It was also about conserving moisture by "fluffing up" the topsoil to prevent wicking action and the subsequent evaporation of the precious water needed to sustain the vines in the absence of regular irrigation.

The F Word

Susan and I went to an intriguing gathering last night that may help to coalesce my random thoughts on farming. On the surface it was a meeting of foodies, a small kernel of men and women passionate about what they eat and eager to learn and share information about natural foods. We met at a tiny bakery in Santa Rosa--The Grindstone Bakery--that has a brick oven like mine but that fresh-grinds all its grains and bakes loaves that are incredibly nutrient-dense. Yep, heavy too; don't drop it on your foot!

I'm getting to the F part. Very quickly the discussion turned to Fermentation--not just of bread dough but of milk and cabbage and random vegetables. The buzz word was lacto-fermentation and how the resulting biotic organisms are the generation-missing link in our food.

This will be an ongoing posting for me as the subject is seminal to the further development of our farming project. Meanwhile, think F for Farming, Fermentation, Sally Fallon, the Weston A. Price Foundation.  And of course Food Fun.

To be continued....

Straight Vegetable Oil vs Biodiesel

A recent post touched on my presentation at the recent Eco Farm Conference on straight vegetable oil (SVO) as a contribution to the biofuels dance. I expected to be received as an amalgam of irreverent hippie, drop-out reprobate, alchemist vendor of snakeoil. In fact there was a lot of serious interest and rapt attention despite all my slides being in the projector backwards. I came away from the workshop with the following understanding:

Getting Organic

Those who have followed our progress know that we have been pursuing the golden fleece of organic certification for the past 4 years. The fleece part is appropriate because we have arrived at a different destination than we intended; a wolf in sheep's clothing, sort of. It's also a bit prescient because there could be a sheep in our future--or a cow or pig or chickens. The direction of this posting and follow-ups is to explore and explain our fascination and commitment to the organic world.

Eco-Farm Conference

Susan and I are recharging our organic batteries at this incredible conference, the annual convergence of supporters, participants and chroniclers of the organic food movement. Actually, it's so much more than that. We as a people have strayed so far in the last two generations, turning our backs on the wisdom of our forebears, eschewing common sense, allowing ourselves to be swept up in the maelstrom of modern fast-paced living. But if you've lost hope that we can ever come to our senses about living and eating, you've gotta come here to see and feel the fervor of today's youth and yesterday's youthful thinkers. People are here to talk about change!

Terroir

We hosted a tasting and panel discussion at our winery today organized by the Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley, a promotional and educational group representing growers and wineries in the valley. Guests were various members of the 4th estate, participants were local vintners of Zinfandel, the subject was terroir as it applies to Zinfandel. Is there such a thing? If so, how does it impact Zins in Dry Creek Valley? What are the components of it?

Vegetable Oil Fuel

As we plunge deeper into the vernal pool of organic concept and practice we butt heads with some uncomfortable realities. Farming naturally takes a whole lot more tractor time than was our custom. Just think how easy it used to be to take care of weeds chemically: under the vine row one pass mabye two in the spring with a sprayer filled with Monsanto's

Why Whey?

I have been quizzed by believers and skeptics alike about the use of whey for mildew control in grapes. I can't say I have the answer yet except that it seems to work and that I am just crazy enough to push the envelope with organic techniques. The purpose of this posting is to assemble ammunition for my arguement.

Whey to Go

In the pursuit of better and more natural ways to do things on the farm I stumbled across information on farmers that use milk in various forms to control microorganisms in their crops. We have been using compost tea as a vineyard mildew control for 3 years now with very good (although not perfect) results. The goal here is to avoid or delay as long