Barreca Vineyards

Barreca Vineyards

From Vine to Wine since 1986

Posts filed under Regenerative Agriculture

Masses of Grasses

Did you ever notice how once you start looking hard at something and identifying it, you begin to see it everywhere?  I used to cut my own firewood and started seeing dead snags along every forest road.  Then I learned about different kinds of rocks and pretty soon while driving my wife would ask me… (read more)

Laws of Nature

Laws of Nature This year I have a large compost pile.  My wonderful science-teacher daughter gave me a 20 inch long compost pile thermometer to keep track of what is going on in there.  There is lots of advice for making compost on the package.  A little like a recipe they list what activities happen… (read more)

Ramstead Ranch

I finally got a chance to talk with Eileen Napier on the phone. She called with a headset while driving on her hour and a half commute to the Liberty Lake Farmers Market from her home near Ione, Washington.  I had just gotten up and only had one shoe on.  The conversation was not as… (read more)

Staying Small

Every day we become more aware and thankful for essential workers.  None can be any more essential than farmers.  But every year there are fewer of them.  Farmers and ranchers make up just 1.3% of the employed US population, totaling around 2.6 million people. Today, there are about 2 million farms in operation in the US, a steep… (read more)

Gut Wars

This Article appears in the May 2020 issue of the North Columbia Monthly. We all feel like we are in command of our actions.  And sometimes that command includes input from “gut feelings”, “intestinal fortitude” and “having the stomach for it”.  Seldom do we consider that our digestive system is in charge of our actions. … (read more)

Mother Trees

It all started with an account I was reading about a naturalist whose main job was taking care of displaced orangutans near Borneo.  He became curious about small trees that were thriving around a large tree of the same species that was dying.  He wondered if they were related and also why something that was… (read more)