Frey Farm & Garden Blog

POSTED SUNDAY, January 8, 2012 – By Molly Frey

Just as the winter solstice came to the Frey Farm, our sheep gave birth in the pasture. We've had three lambs born to date to our herd of Navajo Churros, and all are doing well. Baaaa! For more information about this heritage breed, go to the Navajo Churro Sheep Association website.

POSTED FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011 – By Molly Frey

August 5,6, and 7th in Laytonville, at the Black Oak Ranch, a new celebration, the Gaia Festival will feature wonderful music and sustainable technologies for three days and nights of summer fun. Daniel Frey, part of the Frey vineyards biodynamics team, will be giving a talk on Saturday at the festival from 11:45-1pm titled, "Biodynamics: Life Force Agriculture."

In short, this workshop will cover the philosophy and fundamental practices of Biodynamics, based on the nature wisdom put forth by Rudolph Steiner in 1924. Working with stellar and planetary rhythms will be introduced, enabling the farmer or gardener to achieve marked improvements in crop storage, vigor, germination, etc. Use of the (potentized-homeopathic-herbal) compost preparations will also be described, which elevate the bio-energetic field of the entire farm; this creates produce that nourishes the finer super-sensible parts of the human organism, in addition to the physical body. Other topics will include: cooperation with nature spirits, holistic management of animals, creating a closed, on-farm fertility cycle, associative economics, and developing the soul life.

Daniel's music will also be showcased as "The Freys" (www.thefreysmusic.com) band will be performing several times throughout the festival. Hope to see you there; Gaia looks like a fantastic blend of Northern California music, speakers, and forums.

POSTED MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011 – By Molly Frey

The glory of the summer sun shines down this time of year, illuminating the full palette of colors and flavors in the Frey Vineyards gardens.  Out past one vineyard, beyond a blackberry hedgerow, Jonathan Frei works with the soil.  His experiments began long ago in his childhood garden where kitchen herbs grew around his New Hampshire homestead. 

Jonathan Frei in his garden.

After graduating with a B.S. in soil science from the University of Vermont, Jonathan transplanted himself in the West coast where he’s become an acclaimed master gardener, turning the earth into black gold wherever he tills.  He adds that he is a “proud father to three amazing children,” two of which were in the garden when we arrived.

When entering Jonathan Frei’s garden one can see his gardening roots where culinary herbs surround his cabin in the woods.  Paths lead out from his home between rows of colorful drought-tolerant bushes, many of which were in full-flower when I interviewed him. I brought my four year old son, Osiris, along to visit, and he found bliss in the several patches of Jerusalem sage, sucking sweet nectar from the abundant yellow flowers.

Little Osiris enjoying Jerusalem sage nectar.

Jonathan and I walked to his experimental garden project, where he is cultivating 20 different types of blueberries amidst native perennial trees, shrubs, and poor soils. We grazed on some of the most successful bushes that have provided a taste of fresh fruit for several years now.

Aside from his blueberry adventures in homage to his Northeastern heritage, Jonathan has a history of making gardens come to life along the West coast. He worked at what is now the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, to lead a team of gardeners there years ago.  Later, in Mexico, he started the internationally acclaimed organic garden of Rancho La Puerta in Baja, California. These days, when Jonathan isn’t working at the winery to help produce and promote Frey wines, he’s working with the land, perfecting the art of kitchen garden design, and pairing aromatics with vibrant flowers – all to create a whimsical and functional landscape.

POSTED WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2011 – By Molly Frey

For more food fermentation fun and jollification, join me at the Polcum Springs Ferment Fest in Mendocino County on June 11-12. I'll be there to teach the basics of miso making. Others will also share their skills on how to make kefirs, cheese, live sodas, sourdoughs, and vegan ferments. To register for the weekend camp-out, call 707-972-1364 or go here for more details. Hope to see you there!

POSTED MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011 – By Molly Frey

It's the time of year when the gardens are planted and as we lay out our plans for the beds we try to keep in mind what foods we'll harvest fresh and which foods we'll put by. Besides canning and drying, there are a number of fabulous ways to ferment fresh foods to give them a glimpse of immortality. Our family loves to make sauerkraut, kim chee, and pickled concoctions to keep the bounty of the garden going when the cold months return. These skills of keeping the garden alive help to bring the cycle of the seasons into focus, so that we can sustain ourselves all year long.

Because we're just entering the major growing season, I wanted to spread the word about a wonderful event here in California that will help educate the public about how to make their gardens into food for the larder/cellar: the Freestone Fermentation Festival. It is held in Sonoma County and has everything from classes on how to hone your fermenting techniques, to taste-offs from local fermenters' blends. Held over the weekend of May 20th-21st, the event is a fundraiser for the Ceres Community Project and should not be missed! I'll see you there among the likes of Sandor Katz and Michael Pollan.

POSTED WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2011 – By Molly Frey

Spring is in the air, in the barn, and in the fields! All the animals are enjoying the lush pasture from the rains, and have been steadily munching for months. Our goat herd has grown, and the goats that kidded in March now have attentive young following them on the goat walks through the vineyards. Because of the "bud break" (when the grapevines begin to sprout new shoots for this year's growth), the goats, cows, horses, and sheep are moving out of the vineyards to find forage instead in the meadows and grasslands. The chicken flock has also matured, making eggs for Easter omelets. The free-range eggs reflect the nutritious green grass of the pastures, as the chickens who graze on it have the beta-carotene needed to produce really rich and orange egg yolks. One of our hens went broody and hatched out her first nest of little chicks this week. And we have several "teens" strutting around the barnyard too, enjoying the bugs and grasses that this season brings.

Fresh farm eggs.

POSTED TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2011 – By Molly Frey

Six kids joined the barnyard scene this week. They came every other day, twins for each of our three mama goats. Everybody is nursing well and looking very adorable in their warm little goat coats. The baby goat below was born just this afternoon and the pictures taken during its first hour. It's being licked clean by its very caring mother while it tries out its legs for the first time on fresh hay.

POSTED FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2011 – By Molly Frey

While we were waiting for the goats to give birth, one of our sheep surprised us with twin lambs!

POSTED WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2011 – By Molly Frey

Our goats are ripe and ready to give birth, all of them are full term. On our goat walks through the vineyards I see the kids moving around from inside their mother's bellies. Goat gestation is about 5 months, and last fall we bred our does to a Nubian buck, which should make them all excellent milking kids. For now, we're keeping the barn stocked with fresh hay, and checking on the mothers all day long. This is the other part of animal husbandry: animal midwifery!

POSTED SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011 – By Molly Frey

January on the farm has the taste of fresh grass for all our hoofed friends. The cows, horses, and goats are pasture feeding in the vineyards again, in-between rows of cultivated wheat and oat. Our herds have the dual purpose of fertilizing the vineyards and keeping the grass populations in check, like live-powered mowers. Our daily goat walks take us through the vineyards to favorite oak trees where acorn browsing gives the goats rich, luscious coats for the winter weather. And, while they munch on the wild blackberry hedgerows, the pregnant ones get a dose of herbal medicine to help tone their reproductive tract before the Spring kidding. We're expecting several births in the next few months, which makes this time of year extra exciting.

Our chicken program has also taken to the vineyards, where egg layers are happily scratching up grubs and weeds along the edges of the cultivated vines. All these animals make the land seem more like a farm, where a walk along the rows now has the sound of moos, neighs, and clucks! For biodynamic agriculture the element of having the animals on the land is especially important because the animals impart a special quality to the land. Additionally, the farm animals help us maintain the land as a sustainable system, which feeds us while we feed it with "black gold" manures.

In the gardens our family members are ordering seeds and getting out old saved seeds from the previous year to grow cabbages, peas, kale, broccoli, and other early crops. I just pruned the raspberries in our garden last week, and the fruit trees are next.

Our biodynamic farmer friend Hugh Williams of Threshold Farm was here for the past two weeks, teaching workshops on apple orchards and pruning our trees using his unique method. We also just hosted the Winter meeting of the Biodynamic Association of Northern California here at Frey Vineyards; it was a wonderful success and inspiring to have all the farmers come together to discuss truly sustainable agriculture amidst the backdrop of the vineyards. Frey Vineyards, which has become a model for biodynamics, was the first BD certified winery in the United States. Also, Katrina Frey is now a member of the Demeter board, spreading the conscious farming movement in the hopes that more farms will join.

For now, it's time to get back out into the fields, making flat mixes to sow our seeds in for the first crops of the year!

POSTED WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010 – By Molly Frey

After a long pregnant winter our farm is showing the first signs of spring. Among our new farm friends are six baby goats (kids), a flock of lambs, and three growing calves. All of our animals are happily grazing in the vineyards, eating fresh green, biodynamic spring grasses. Cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and horses are all delighted to go to pasture on the spring bounty before the grape buds break open. The draft horses have been in training to work the land for the hay season to come, and the chickens we raised from our own eggs are now beginning to enter their first laying season. Additionally, on the homestead, we've added some angora rabbits and piglets to our family.

If you would like to visit our farm, we are hosting a farm day once a month, (geared to the interests of young children, especially). This month we'll be making our rounds on the property, visiting all the animals on March 13th. We will meet at the Winery at 2pm, and explore the ranch life, rain or shine. Come join us!

In the garden, we're so pleased that Redwood Valley is getting such an abundance of rain this year. The gardens are lush with fava bean cover crops, and we've sown our first spring crop seeds in the greenhouse in flats (brassicas and greens mostly). On sunny days the bees come out to sip sweet nectars from the flowering manzanitas, and from the dandelions that have just begun their season here. We're off to a fine start of the year, and are looking forward to the grape season to come!

POSTED MONDAY, OCTOMBER 12, 2009 – By Molly Frey

In the last several years we have grazed sheep in the vineyards to give back to the soil, and to help create a biodynamic farm, replete with animals. This October our new flock of sheep await the end of the grape harvest to explore the tastes of the Mendocino terroir.

Also, two draft horses joined our family farm this past season. Ready to pull a plow, they are enjoying eating home-made biodynamic hay, baled on our property. Fueled by a sustainable source of Horsepower, they also hope to graze in the vineyards after the harvest.

POSTED SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2009 – By Molly Frey (Photos by Molly Frey)

Late last night, after all the ranch had gone to sleep, we heard a bellowing coming from the barn. The much anticipated births from our cows had come, and the mother, Gracie, was announcing her first calf. This morning we celebrated the calf's first day!

POSTED TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009 – By Molly Frey (photos by Molly Frey)

Katrina grew up in Michigan, enjoying the blooms of her mother’s flower gardens. She spent summers working with her grandfather at his perennial flower nursery in Vermont, and came to appreciate her family’s floral heritage. When Katrina first came to California in the 1970s, her impetus for the adventure West was to learn organic gardening with the eccentric green thumb, Alan Chadwick. Her love of flowers blossomed there in the cultivating of perennial borders, as well as her love for her future husband, Jonathan Frey, who was also working in the nascent organics movement. Together they moved to the Frey Ranch in Redwood Valley, married, and began to grow their kinder garden of organic California children. In those formative days the winery was forged out of their mutual adoration of organics, and Katrina partnered with another Chadwick gardener, Charlotte Tonge, to give birth to a perennial flower nursery on the winery land in Redwood Valley. At the height of their propagation glory, the ladies had over 100 varieties of flowers producing, and they continued to bloom for 6 years. When the winery and its organic fruits needed more tending than there was staff, the flower women became the backbone of the Frey Vineyards office.

Today, Katrina plants colors on the canvas of her garden landscape, sticking to the tradition of her Eastern relatives, while incorporating organic gardening into the heart of her mission on the Frey Ranch. Additionally, she’s become one of the ranch’s Melissa, forming an intimate bond with the honey bee Bien (the being of the bee hive, including all the flowers that they take pollen from, the environment where they fly, and of course the bees themselves). You can see Katrina in her garden throughout the year, tending her hives and painting with the palette of possibilities as she plants out her garden. She recommends to aspiring perennial borderist the following suggestions:

When arranging your motif, consider the overall appearance of your border as it will look over the course of the seasons. Your aim is to create the illusion that there are always flowers in bloom. To do so, stagger plantings so that each area will have something to show at any given time. Consider placing the shorter blooms in the front of the border, and the taller behind. Besides probable heights, imagine the bloom itself, and mingle different textures together, i.e. plant side by side the umbel heads of valerian with a bush, showcasing the softness of rose petals. Planting in clumps gives a rich thickness that helps create the physicality of the border and intensifies the floral drama of a particular color or form.

In the last few years Katrina has added to her repertoire of flower wisdom, a love for the bees, and the plants that they seek out. For instance, since Katrina started to keep bees, she has included ‘Gaillardia’ in her border, and looks out for flowers to especially please her wee friends. Interviewing Katrina in her late Spring garden is a delight, seeing her revel in the crescendo of culminating blossoms, cheering with the bees (native pollinators and honey bees alike) for the fertile florescence of a sunny day in May.

POSTED FRIDAY, May 22, 2009 – By Molly Frey (Photo by Molly Frey)

"Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing,
comes the summer over the hills.
Over the hills comes the summer,
hahaha, laughing, over the hills."

The sun cometh as we enter the longest days of the year with the approach of the summer solstice. To celebrate the return of the glorious heat, our farmers and gardeners have readied their summer scenes with eggplants, tomatoes, basil, squash, corn. We got out our shovels, prepped beds, and planted our annuals – and had some perennial fun as well! In the weeks ahead, the Frey Farm and Garden Blog will chronicle the gardeners and what they're growing on the Frey ranch.  Stay tuned for Frey folk interviews, delicious recipes, and beautiful shots of our spring and summer landscapes to help you get a feel for the Redwood Valley terroire, where the grapes for your organic wine and biodynamic wine are grown.

LIttle Osiris Frey learning to drive the wheelbarrow.

POSTED SUNDAY, May 3, 2009 – By Molly Frey

Rain or shine, the gardens of the Frey Vineyards ranch are thriving as warm Spring weather helps the starts take off. The greenhouse is filled with shoots and sprouts of veggies, flowers, greens, and herbs. As soon as the frosts end the greenhouse flats will be planted to yield homegrown organic food for the community over the Summer months. Already our gardens are holding the promise of future roots with carrot, turnip, parsnip, beet, and radish seeds. The cover crop of fava beans that we planted for the winter is flourishing; they help fix nitrogen into the soil, and we'll be able to use some for green mulch, some for delicious food stuffs, and some of the seed we'll save to make this our 5th year with this particular strain of fava bean on the ranch!

Our small herd of ranch goats are lamenting the loss of their vineyard foraging days since the grape buds opened. Now starts the season of creative goat walks as we shuffle them to different pastures while avoiding the tempting vineyards with their succulent new grape shoots. Fed on wilder fields until the grape harvest next Fall, our ladies are milking twice a day, helping us to experiment with new cheeses (a feta, a goat cheddar, and of course our signature chèvre). On the homestead, the cows are expected to calf soon, and the chickens are lavishing in the Spring sun and producing eggs with a fervor that is unparalleled to other seasons.

POSTED SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2009 – By Molly Frey (Photos by Molly Frey)

After a winter of curing, we have our first batch of homegrown, home-brewed olives, just in time for the Spring Equinox!

We harvested these olives last fall.  The trees were planted several years ago along the edge of our biodynamic Cabernet vineyard.  Most of the fruit hung in shades of green, some with accents of red and black. The olives filled two large 5-gallon glass carboys, along with an assortment of tenacious stems and leaves.

To leech out the bitterness, we rinsed the olives in fresh spring water from last October until the new year.  Then we cured the batches by adding garlic, lemons, and salt. Several brines later, we bottled the olives and delivered them to the community.  They made great table olives.  The year before last we pressed our olives and had our first run of homemade olive oil, which we’ll talk about in a future post.

POSTED SATURDY, MARCH 14, 2009 – By Molly Frey (Photo by Molly Frey)

Since my last post we've welcomed two sets of triplets and one set of twin kids to the goat barnyard.  Over three days our three does took their turns birthing and tripled our population of four into twelve! Their Nubian billy-papa has endowed them all with long, floppy ears, and when they run, they look like they're flying with wings sprouted from their heads.

First "Rosemary," our pacifist Nubian momma, gave birth. Her babies have the longest ears, and are fully Nubian.  Next, the Oberhasli "Sequoia" spent a long, stormy night laboring with her babies. After some help rearranging the presenting triplets from Lily and Luke Frey, she happily delivered triplets with shorter, floppy ears.  Lastly, "Rosemary's" daughter, "Jasmine,” who is part Nubian and part Alpine, squirted out twins almost unbeknownst to us (we were still recovering from the late night midwifery with "Sequoia"). She did start hollering a little louder than usual though, and finally we realized that she'd just given birth to mid-sized floppy eared twins.  All the pregnant goats have their babies now, and we're looking forward to making our first batch of goat cheese since we dried up the herd (or stopped milking them because they were pregnant and ready to deliver soon).

My own child, Osiris, who will turn two in May, delights in playing with the baby goat herd. He fancies himself an honorary goat-human liaison, since he witnessed the births and has established an intimate connection with the kids. If we allowed it, I think Osiris would move in with the goats!

POSTED MONDAY, MARCH 02, 2009 – By Molly Frey

Welcome to our Farm and Garden Blog! We hope you will join us through the seasons as we share with you the joys and pleasures of our biodynamic farm and family gardens – along with our methods and techniques of sustainability.

This spring we are enthusiastic that we'll soon receive a loving bundle of kids and calves. Our goats are due to kid as early as this week! The cows are more mysterious about exactly when they conceived (they were with a bull for a long courtship). Since the births are on the way, we wanted to add information about the herbal indications for new mothers.

As a general uterine tonic during the pregnancy, and especially near the end, it’s recommended to give them whole raspberry leaf to help prepare the mothers-to-be for their successful births.

Once the babies are born, it’s nice to give the mother a restorative tonic: a handful of fresh ivy (a bigger handful for bigger animals) along with a bowl of warmed water mixed with molasses. This helps the new mother by keeping up her energy levels while she cares for the newborns and lets her milk come in.

Being sure that the calves and kids get enough colostrum from their mothers in their first days, it’s also likely that the dairy animals with have extra for humans; this rich "first milk" is full of essential nutrients for man and animal alike.

May the spring be fertile and full of life for one and all, as the sunlight returns to greet the blossoms of red clover in the vineyards.