Barreca Vineyards

Barreca Vineyards

From Vine to Wine since 1986

Biochar

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0 Responses to Biochar

  1. Met you at the farmers market a couple weeks ago and appreciate the information in your catalog and on your web site! Thanks!

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  2. I would love to order a case of your 2012 French Rocks Red. Is that possible?

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  3. Thanks for posting pics of our Christmas fun.

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  4. Dear Mr. Barreca,

    I am inquiring if you have any dormant canes for sale, particularily the Baco Noir. I wish to start a personal vineyard just north of you for future home made wine. I would require around 150 dormant canes if possible. Would this be a problem? I have yet to research the other varieties you have as I am not too familiar with northern climate grapes but may consider them also. I have a few acres of land doing nothing… 🙂

    Thank you,

    Danial Koochin
    danial_koochin@hotmail.com

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    • Danial: Good to hear of others interested in growing grapes. Come on by when you can and I am sure we can get you started.

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  5. I’m interested in purchasing some of your wine to serve at a hunger colation fund raiser on the 13th and possibly another fund raiser in April. If you get this before the 10th please email me or call me @ 509-738-7382
    Thank you,
    Andrea Hedrick

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    • Adrea:

      Thanks for your purchase. Several people commented on how much they enjoyed the wine at the dinner.

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  6. rightOn Bro…sproing is happing here in Good Ol Gifford too. Couldit be>>> No i don’t trust it either, but the poor aramaris nubbins seem to…looking forward to some tasting.

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  7. I agree. I need more time for weaving, basketry, painting the living room and I just don’t trust this weather. The last week of February or first week of March just like it did in 2003, 2009, and very late April Fools joke–2008!

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  8. O. K. so, how do I purchase wine from you guys?

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    • John:

      I am able to ship wine in units of 3 or 6 bottles at a time. Costs vary by distance. It is best to call, 598-738-6155 or email: Joe.Barreca@gmail.com.

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  9. Plus his name sounds communist.

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  10. I think Alinsky can still teach us a lot about being good citizens. Unfortunately, he gets categorized as a liberal wacko which prevents a broader and more complex view of his idea. I think your response to your relatives could help others see some of the broad humanism that was so much a part of Alinsky’s approach.

    Post Script: A new generation of extremists are going to law school, wearing three-piece suits, fighting for their ideologies in the court room, and getting elected to public office. The battle grounds have shifted from the more visible forums of the sixties to smaller, indoor settings where relatively few people make huge decisions that can ruin lives for generations to come. This means the strategies of their opposition have to change too.

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  11. Thanks to everyone who emailed approving comments to me about this blog. That is a good way to keep your name out of it. I waded into this pool in the hope of sparking some helpful dialogue. So if you are willing to join the conversation, I appreciate posts into the comment part of the blog. (I know the part where you have to interpret a phase in a picture is annoying but it saves me from dealing with literally hundreds of spam comments.)

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  12. Karen:

    My email is joe.barreca@gmail.com.

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  13. Jesus!!!

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  14. This blog brings back lots of memories. Thanks Joe!

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    • Thanks Dale. Actually it took some research just to figure out what year things happened in. Bringing back memories is not that easy, but worth it.

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  15. Great synopsis! Best I’ve read…it was a summer to remember and we hope never to see the like again!

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  16. […] readers may remember the video in the first part of the blog on “Critters”.  It shows a swarm of white flies over our apple tree. Leaf hoppers have traditionally been the […]

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  17. Joe,

    Let me know what grapes you have available in 2016.

    Tks, Bill

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  18. as always I enjoyed this blog … keep em coming

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    • Thanks Sara. I’ll keep writing.

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  19. Great blog, Joe.

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  20. WOW! Great seeing you, no talk so thanks! <3

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  21. Good One Joe~ I enjoyed the journey vicariously, hey we’re talking more music around the end of the month?? My grapes are looking really good, I was ruthless with the pruning, no more nice girl!

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  22. good one Joe even though you “plagiarized” a bit of … I am sure Big Bird and Bert and Ernie would be okay with the imitating

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  23. You two are living a bountiful life! I am glad you got in some travel, because it looks like you are going to have one Hooooot summer! I assume no bottles of wine were lost in the shelf misshap? You can certainly tout your wine as being in the old country tradition!

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    • Actually we lost 4 bottles but learned our lesson (I hope).

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  24. I liked the comparison to playing hookie when mushroom hunting. That is always how I feel. But if I don’t get away from all the physical work that needs to get done my body hurts, so really it is an important mini vacation. I envy your morels. We also burnt our massive pile after the heat and a spit of rain. The wind kept rotating that day and with the tractor to tidy it , we got it all burned before the next heat wave. They have already hayed the Island! Things that bloom in July are done. The warm nights have led to many barbeque potlucks and croquet with friends and neighbors. Also a low tide day wading in warm water at False Bay, and an air matress day on the pond. (I am not a big swimmer)

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  25. Oh Joe, That was so sweet! We built memories this weekend with Bina clan.

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  26. Those morels look yummY!! Hey remember the wine you made from my too low sugar content Foch in 2011? Gifford Ferry Foch. Well cleaning out the root cellar (newspaper shelf lining read 1988!) I took a look at all those bottles and bought one up to try…just to see if… and amazingly it tastes pretty good! I’ll try to bring a bottle by to get a “expert” opinion. Blog on

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  27. Good one!!! I got into a yellowjackets nest cutting burdock!11…youw!!! Yeah into the house clothes off!

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  28. […] on that, this blog will be especially condensed. Follow this link if you want to read more about sweetening cider without sugar. Temperatures are predicted in the low teens this week. Anything laying outside has been […]

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  29. you sound prepared … just in time for the holiday season

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  30. Gray-C’s best side??

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  31. Joe, thanks for the lesson in wine making. But also thanks for the Christmas letter and its counterpart on your website. I hope you and your family have great holidays.

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  32. I think the theme for this posting is SNOW!

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  33. We had 16′ this morning, but glorious sun . Tom bushwhacked up Mt. Dallas with friends yesterday while I hiked White Point. It is supposed to be warmer tonight, maybe snow, which would be nice. Warm wishes for a Great New Year despite nagging political dread. Be thankful you are old enough to get Medicare! Rosalie

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  34. Love your blogs … love your style of writing

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  35. Geez and I thought our broken toilet was exciting!

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  36. always fun to read about ‘life at the winery’ … you have a great way with words … empathy and sympathy with water troubles … been there done that … at least for me it was at a warmer time of year and the accompanying floods dried up quickly

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  37. Hello, I am interested in purchasing 2-3 red wine grape plants, preferably Cabernet Franc. Do you have any for sale at this time?
    Thank you!

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    • Hanna:

      Sorry for the slow reply. We are not selling any more grape plants this year. It is best to request them as soon as the frost has left the ground.

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  38. well glad it is mostly smoke but I sure miss our summers from the past …

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  39. Orange sun in mauve sky here, red moon gives everyone the creeps. Mostly watering and harvesting, some reading when it is too hot out. House remains cool with strategic efforts. I hope you don’t get any fire closeby. Cheers, Rosalie

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  40. Well said Joe, and pretty much how the book impacted me several years ago. We can see it happening before our very eyes, only now it is not just the distruction of the soil, but the air and the water, and the balance that is so essential to our existence. I am glad there are people like you that are clinging to older wiser ways of living. I try to lower my carbon impact, but it isn’t easy. We just saw An Inconvenient SEquel:Truth to Power. Not pleasant but important! In 1983 James Burke did a series on PBS about global warming, and predicted pretty close to exactly what happened, especially about how hard it was to get the nations to cooperate on controling carbon emissions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfE8wBReIxw

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  41. Okaayyeee HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! Yes 70 is worth celebrating and a continuing challenge. Grapes galore here, juicing and giving the Foch to the birds (they looked so disappointed after I beat them to all the Pinots), pear juice sweetened with crystalized ginger turns out to be delicious! Used pulp for pear butter…what a great fruit year!! It was nice seeing Cheryl at the baby shower. Falling into fall – no frost here yet, but this week may be it. Cheers!

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  42. well once again a informative and fun newsletter … I really enjoy your writings and musings

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  43. I was confused about whether you were making traditional charcoal or plain fully burnt ash. I know from Kenya that charcoal is made by building a hot fire, then covering it with fresh wood (branch and split log sizes} Then covering the whole thing with dirt so as to allow only a small amount of smoke to escape thereby insuring a slow conversion of the wood to charcoal. (you know, Chemistry 101, heat a woodchip in a test tube with a cork that allows only a little gas to escape, but not allow enough oxygen into the tube to ignite the wood. The chip will turn to charcoal. Similarly, the roasting of coffee is a process of turning the beans into resinous char but not to the extent of making them charcoal. Most of the available flamable products remain in the charcoal. The example is Mesquite charcoal brickets out of Texas.
    On a similar subject:
    There are techniques available to convert the smoke from fossil fuel burning power plants into bio-oil by running it through algae which consumes the CO2 and converts it. But of course it is much easier and cheaper to just burn the fuel and let the smoke enter the atmosphere. When will we learn? When the polar ice cap disappears? Of course not, the Russians and the oil companies already have great plans to turn the Polar ice cap into a Huge (as Trump would say) oil field. I think that is why Secretary Tillerson wanted the job. He was already plotting to have a contract with Russia to exploit the Cara Sea oil reserved.

    BTW, Merry Winter Solstice, and Happy new year to you and your Kin!
    KLugy

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    • Actually you seem to be thinking that I would want to retain the volatile parts of the wood. If I was using it for fuel, that would be the case as is probable in Kenya. Actually we are shooting for basically “activated charcoal” that is charcoal that has released all of the volatile resins and is almost pure carbon. The advantage is that millions of micropores in the otherwise inert charcoal capture and retain microbes that do the real work of spreading fertility around in the earth. Otherwise they would be leached out in irrigation on rainfall in our very porous soil. Basically it is like our own digestive systems which need to retain active micro organisms even though the bulk of what we eat is passed right through. Biochar is a small element in the effort to increase the amount, activity and health of life in the soil. The majority of the carbon in carbon farming is retained in living organisms which basically are digesting sugars that are exuded from the roots of plants that have leaves.

      I found these three references that are worth reading for an introduction:

      On the archaeology of boichar in National Geographic: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081119-lost-cities-amazon_2.html

      On biochar from the scientific side: https://www.biochar.info/biochar.terra-preta.cfml

      On the permaculture perspective: https://permaculturenews.org/2010/05/25/back-to-the-future-terra-preta-%E2%80%93-ancient-carbon-farming-system-for-earth-healing-in-the-21st-century/

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  44. well said as usual. Happiest of New Years to you and yours

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  45. What a nice posting! And Roger is making biochar and medlar wine these days. He’s reading “Growing a Revolution – bringing our Soil back to Life” by David Montgomery who came to speak on SJI last summer. Looks like you had fun sledding with James.

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  46. Joe, come over this summer (?) and see the system Roger has going.

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  47. well said … well written … nothing like winter to keep one on ones toes

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  48. The only one of those movies that we saw was the Greatest Showman; very enjoyable. We liked Darkest Hour, but I can’t remember what other movies we have seen.

    I can honestly say I don’t miss snow. I will bet you don’t right now either! We are looking forward to tasting some of that wine of yours. We don’t wan to open it until you explain where you got the vines etc.

    Do you and Cheryl like grapefruit? We cannot eat them because of our perscription, but we will have a tree full of grapefruit, and a lot of lemons too.

    The weather report says high temps of 70 F all week but slight chance of sun on Sunday. Still hoping the weather gods will smile on your visit.

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  49. We need 5 Okonagan Riesling grape plants how much are they apiece?
    Thanks?

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    • Wine grapes are usually bought in quantity so I reduce the usual $10/each price to $8.

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  50. I assume you have read about the predatory mites. UC Davis has done a lot of research on them.

    I assume you probably know the following, but I thought I would mention it. creating a mildly acid environment tents to inhibit fungi.

    Old Farmer’s Almanac on powdery mildew: Spray infected plants with fungicides. Effective fungicides for powdery mildew treatments or cures include sulfur, lime-sulfur, neem oil, and potassium bicarbonate. Spray your plants with fungicides according to their directions. If you don’t want to use fungicides, try spraying your plants with a solution of 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 quart of water. Remember to spray your plants thoroughly.

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    • Thanks Klugy. Actually I seldom have a problem with either of these. I do have a folder of mildew solutions. Mites seem to be a dormant spray issue but are not a significant problem right now.

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  51. I think a wine tasting session at ovenell’s is in order!

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  52. I didn’t know we had oak trees here. Very cool blog. Thanks

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  53. “yellow” is my favorite color and I am glad to hear yellow jackets are good for something … we had a major infestion this year … many, many bites … have a good winter my friend

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  54. This is exciting news about your wines being favorably reviewed but I think the accolades are an under-estimation of how truly grand your wines are.

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  55. So how did you get Mark Musick to introduce the wine to Ron Irvine? I missed that part.

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  56. Good to hear you are in touch with Mark Musick. I met him in the mid-’70s at Pike Place Market when he recruited me to do some repairs to a combine at the farm he worked at. Pragtree Farm?

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    • Yes. Mark and I have mutual friends who worked with him at Pragtree Farm. We all had roles in creating Tilth. Actually documenting the evolution of Tilth for Washington State University archives is what brought us in contact with each other again.

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  57. Excellent article. Thanks for informing me about the local sewage treatment process. I found it interesting. I was wondering if the dried up biosolids are always spread onto fields in the Colville area? Does some of it that testes high for pollutants go the the landfill? It is very concerning about the health problems to both the soil organisms, animals and people that live at and near the fields that are spread with the biosolids. I bet the pharmaceuticals is very high and the heavy metals are too. I would like to know what fields south of Colville have received bio-sludge.

    Thank you for the interesting article.
    Laura Patterson

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    • Actually no biosolids have been spread from the Colville Sewage treatment plant yet. They have to dry and accumulate and then the State tests them before they are spread. I don’t know if public input is involved.

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  58. We investigated overview, Joe. When I studied veg crops 201, they said the most productive farms int he world are in Taiwan, where they can get up to 5 crops a year off of the farmland. How do they maintain the soil fertility. With the shit of their animals and themselves. I don’t now how many harmful chemicals have been introduced since 1982, but it was working for them at that time.

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    • Thanks Klugy. I have also heard good things about Korea:
      https://naturalfarming.co/
      Lots of learning yet to do.

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  59. 50 years ago I was station at an army post in a small village 40 miles north of Seoul Korea. The locals were entrenched in the use of animal (including human) waste as crop nutrient source. Locals would intentionally plug our toilets- there were many- so they could muck out the solids by hand before it went down the drain to treatment. It was free and they really had nothing else available. I was not aware of any abnormal health issues in this village or the country.

    However, unlike today- particularly in the US and perhaps other developed countries- there was no rampant use of antibiotics, pesticides, fragrances and the other peculiarities Joe mentioned in this article. This now seems to be something we cannot escape no matter where we live; They are as ubiquitous as microplastic particles, an unintended consequence.

    I get to Africa every few years and know that in the rural (meaning no electricity or running water) Kenya human waste is combined with animal waste on field crops- mostly corn. And while there is now definitely more western influence impacting their lives- particularly farming pesticides- animal and human waste is a free source of nitrogen for these subsistence farming people.

    If it were not for all of the modern-day additives in human waste one has to wonder if the world’s historical use of human waste would have come to this. Again, beware of unintentional consequences.

    Great article Joe, Thanks!

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  60. great blog Joe … worth the wait … great pictures and your iris’s are beautiful

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  61. Excellent article, Joe! I’ve been managing my forest for fire risk, and notice that grass will come up in areas I thought were too shady. Hearing about breeds that browse encourages me to keep working in my woods. Maybe someday we will have a herd of cattle or sheep on our place. We will want somebody else to run that enterprise, of course. Too busy being retired, ourselves.
    Going to google a forestry brush hog now…
    Roger at Thornbush, San Juan Island

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  62. Quite the menagerie Joe…

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  63. well I am a happy camper that the link is working … love the pictures

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  64. Thanks, Joe.

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  65. Joe was.a man of such hight principle, so joyest and a dedicated family man. First acquainted with him through his friend Sol.
    Many memorable time at ymca pool!!

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  66. As always pertinent and profound, some tears here for your family and father. being with the loved one is an honor and a revelation, puts a shining light on what is important. I too had some new critters around this year including a multitude of squirrels who joyously decimated my walnuts and hazel nuts, but they sure were fun to watch. Concords best ever others not so great, white mold. anyway the party was fun and the company great. Happy Thanksgiving <3

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  67. You write a good family history. Reading it causes one to remember the sort of incidents that occurred in the foggy memory of my own family. Dennis Craig Pulver can be found by doing a simple search on Google.

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  68. This is a lovely tribute and a loving one. No wonder Joe was so proud of you all.

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  69. Well for a egg-headed blog that was pretty good. I even learned the meaning of a couple new words, something I always value. I have known for some time now that we only think we know. We actually have no idea about what is actually going on here or where the whole thing is headed. We, being that royal we, think we do but if you once realize that even in yourself, that changes on a fairly regular basis, just multiply that by millions. In some places and peoples lives Maslow’s triangle is pretty accurate, but I think in a society where peace quote un-quote, exists and every need appears to be answered, then it’s upside down. Other than the fact that death would be right around the corner if one stopped eating completely, music/poetry are food to me and without them my day is dull and without nourishment. Great job, made me think. I’ll be watching, Have a Great day !

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  70. I’ll need to do this one again in small doses;)
    Here we go in the Year of the RAT!

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    • Very interesting! Life is a mystery, but you have brought a lot of thought to bear on it. I was particularly impressed with the inverted state of the ocean compared to the biomass distribution on land. Ironically the largest mammal on earth today, feeds largely on the smallest creatures in the sea. I don’t know what the proportion of producers (e.g. phytoplakton) and higher forms (krill) are in the diet of whales, but you make a telling argument about the proportion of animals that sustain us to our human biomass. being a farmer has certainly brought you to a prospective of human existence that few of us ever consider! That fan diagram of the biota is humbling, and even our pinnacle position is only possible because there are many times more symbiotic single-celled organisms in us that genetically human cells.

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  71. Looking back over the material, I’m coming to the conclusion that the observations about marine (actually ‘reef’) systems probably aren’t that key to your general argument. The mass of creatures at each trophic level is largely distinct from the amount of energy (calories/square meter/day for instance) produced at each trophic level which isn’t inverted.

    In any case, the physical impact of humans on the earth’s biological systems is, to a very large extent, a function of the choices we make about foodstuffs. A carnivorous diet centered around eating herbivores will require roughly 10X the energy input that a fruit/vegetable diet requires. Because that vegetable diet is dependent on sunlight, a carnivore will require roughly 10X the sunlight (or area on which the sunlight falls) that a vegetarian requires. In ‘modern society’, this means that a carnivore is responsible for turning 10X as much land over to agricultural production as a fruitivore/vegetarian.

    I don’t have figures for the rate of energy burn for a person who lives by her/his mind, vs. a physical field worker. There might be significant difference there, or maybe not.

    I’d also guess that there’s a substantial range in the degree to which sunlight falling on a given area of land (say an acre) can be converted to food-grade calories in a given time period. But, all things being equal, browsing is far more efficient than butchering.

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  72. Dennis Craig Pulver died suddenly in Vancouver, Washington, where he had moved not long before. I am sorry for your losses and the lack of communication to you and Cheryl at the time of Dennis’ death.

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    • I went to high school with Dennis in atlanta Georgia back in 1960. we hung out together a lot. he had an older brother, Al, who I was very close to as teenagers. He also had a little sister named Cheryl. His mother was the sweetest lady. His Dad was President of Lockheed Ga at the time. I lost touch with the whole family when they moved back to California, and then to Oregon. Al Pulver has a son, and a former wife, Joyce Pulver, the mother of his son, Ricky. They still live in Georgia I believe. Joyce is or was, a real estate agent.

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      • Daniel. Your information is correct. Allen also passed away several years ago. We stay in touch with Joyce.

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  73. well thank you for the tour … love your Easter costumes

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  74. Impressive tour Joe! I do miss the personal commentary however. Hope we can do some on-site visiting during the summer.

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  75. Y’all’s industry never ceases to amaze me!

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  76. I love the shredder and biochar. Good work, crew! Eleanor

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  77. Your old fashioned industry and modern ingenuity are admirable and enviable. Good on you.

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  78. Hello my name is dan i was referred to you from a common friend. I posted in face book that i was looking for some grape seeds to start some grapes to see how they would grow here in Nespele
    . I only got into gardening last year and wanted to expand my foods on my one acre peice of land. I do not drink alchohol but still am interested to grow them. My question today is do you by chance sell organic grape starts? I am looking for a couple to begin with.

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    • Hi Dan: Grapes are very good at starting from seed. But they are very bad at developing a plant with the same characteristics as its parents from seed. So we clone all of our organic grape starts from cuttings. We grow at least 30 different varieties of grapes and make starts for most of them. For descriptions and advice on planning a vineyard, check out our grape catalog here: https://barrecavineyards.com/Downloads/GrapeCatalog2020.pdf. BTW This is July and the ground is dry. If you have a secure vineyard with a trellis and watering available, you can plant in the Fall when the ground is wet again. Most people plant in early Spring. Call us any time of year to arrange a tour of our vineyard and learn more about growing grapes.

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  79. Good reading Joe- nice to ‘meet’ another neighbor!

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  80. Joe, this is as good as Masanobu Fukuoka- and more concise. Thanks, Don

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  81. I remember that potato patch!

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  82. Thanks Joe. Always the busy bees.
    Magical photo of the hobbit house.

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  83. You aptly point out the challenges that we will face in out food supply of the future. I worked with farmers long enough to know that farming is no picnic! If we don’t make efforts to support the environmentally sustainable farming systems while grinding the dumping of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, we could conceivably lose this battle.

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  84. I like the succinct bio-char explanation. I’ll need to give the compost tea sites a look; seems to be a lot going on there.

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  85. Synchronicity- Roger is going to a local sawmill this week for scraps.

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    • Glad to hear that. Both the mill ends and the sawdust have been very helpful this Spring.

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  86. The miller wants me to take a load of sawdust as well. I’ve been reading about torrefaction, a lower temperature process than pyrolysis. Torrefied sawdust can be used to make pellets and potting soil.
    Keep up the good work, Joe!

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    • Okay. I had to look up torrefaction. (https://www.etipbioenergy.eu/images/EIBI-4-torrefaction%20and%20pyrolysis.pdf) It is the heating of wood at low temperatures to drive off moisture in the absence of oxygen so that it does not catch fire. As Roger points out, it is useful for some things. It does not create the openings that absorb moisture as seen in biochar. So it reduces the transport cost of wood-sourced fuel and contains more resins that can be digested by microbes. So it doe not last hundreds of years in the soil like biochar. As I point out to folks, the best effect of carbon sequestration by biochar is that it promotes healthy carbon-rich soil, which in the end is sequestering more carbon than just the essentially light weight biochar.

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  87. “Too hot to hoot!”

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  88. That’s good new about Cheryl. Sorry you are having to face the monster heat wave. Even Pottland OR on the Columbia had 113 F, and Seattle was close behind. The ocean buffers us in Hawaii, but we are worried that the high ocean temp might lead to hurricanes later in the season; they are already starting in Baja CA.

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  89. Joe and Cheryl! Enjoyed hearing about your fall. Grapes, maps, cats! Hang in there.

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  90. Joe, this reads like a to-be-continued saga. Where will the data lead?

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    • Yes Don. I expect to find out new things by being able to see the “wee beasties” (an early English translation of the Dutch from Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.) Right now I am hoping to get pictures of snowflakes – but that is already proving difficult for a variety of reasons. I’m already getting some advice from old-friend experts.

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  91. hmm I thought Frank Herbert wrote Dune.
    I have a friend who is thinking of moving to Ferry county near Barslow to start an organic farm and eco resort.
    Do you have any words of wisdom? Where are you located

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    • Hi Steve: Interesting location for this comment. Our vineyard is about as far south along the east side of the lake as Barstow is north along the west side. This sounds like an ambitious and fairly well financed project. My advice is to take it slow. It sounds like there is a lot of infrastructure to build and farm ground to establish – or rehabilitate as the case may be. I suggest joining the NE WA Soil Health Stewards <ne-wa-soil-health-stewards@googlegroups.com> Get to know a lot of local people. Keep in touch with friends who might become customers or advocates. (Yes Frank Herbert wrote Dune – I should correct this post.)

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  92. Second read is still good & with clearer pics!

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  93. Bummer indeed- and leafhoppers too…
    It has been a weird year for growing grapes.

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  94. Don’t let that COVID slip into long-term. Get the new vaccine as soon as they will allow. Kaiser has not gotten their supply of the Maderna yet. Sounds like a rough year. The mechanical stuff is not as hard to deal with as the damn computer morass. I had to upgrade Windows and it would not eve transfer my Outlook files, I have to go back to my old computer to salvage email addresses.

    It never rains but what it pours. I guess the hot weather has speeded up the grape harvest?
    Klugy.

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    • Actually the harvest is very late. It was a long wet Spring. Covid seems to be very gone. I’m glad Google and Gmail seems to survive new phones and new computers.

      Sorry to not chat long. Lots of things seem to be happening at once today.

      Joe

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    • Agreed about computers. Unfortunately the weather did not help much with the harvest.

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  95. Have you had any luck with the local extension services on bug identification? Or are there Master Gardeners here?

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    • I have not tried but friends have said that the local extension is more about education than agriculture.

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  96. Hi Joe. One probable correction. You posted: “…there are 1.5 million beetles, and they aren’t insects.” Actually the most numerous of all insect species are the beetles (Order Coleoptera). I suspect you meant “…there are 1.5 million beetles, and they aren’t bugs.” The term ‘bug’ is somewhat ambiguous. With the insect clan “true bugs” are those of the Order Hemioptera (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera) and include the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, stink bugs, giant toe-biters, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. Used in a more general sense, “bug” can mean any insect or small arthropod. One other thing, while I imagine the app will be useful, be prepared to have a lot of your finds remain uncertain. Even the best entomologists need to physically examine (or dissect) a bug to ID it with any certainty.

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    • I know about “true bugs” and beetles. The app does not discriminate between them. It handles spiders too which are not insects. In the article I didn’t want to get too bogged down in the taxonomy, which seems endless.

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  97. Lost my 17yo Chihuahua, Bella, to cardiac and pulmonary hypertension a few weeks ago. We are never ready to let them go. I live ~5 minutes away from the WSU Veterinary Hospital, and Bella was in there 4 times over the course of late September through late October.

    I hope you can find some peace. It’s nature’s cruelest joke that we never get enough time with our dogs.

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  98. Condolences for your profound loss Joe & Cheryl. Such a pal your Gretchen was. Glad she’s resting where she always waited for your return.

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  99. Sorry to hear about Gretchen.
    Ice wine may sell better for more.
    I caught 5 rainbow trout at the dock on lake
    Chelan with just hook and line and my special cheese bait.
    Reminds me of the fish we caught as kids on the elwah river.
    You cope with winter better than me.
    I have to move half of the furniture I own, like two garages
    full because the storage place is remodeling.
    I am confirming to my neigh
    borhood with some gripes.
    Love Jeff

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  100. Joe and Cheryl. I know this note is a little late, but Sue and I feel your loss of Gretchen. We lost our beloved Papillion, Stella, in October of last year. She left a huge gap in our daily lives. Second, you will want to know the Baco Noir plants I bought from you three years ago are doing very well. We took a small crop off of them in October last year. The Okanogan Riesling plants have done well also, not so much Gewurtz…. It has been difficult to encourage, though it still manages.

    Our first Baco and Riesling wines are in the carboys resting atm. Thanks for your insight. Again, we are sorry for your loss.

    PS I may come to you for a couple more Baco and Riesling vines, if you have starts available.

    Greg Simon

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    • No worries Greg. I have LOTS of plants for 2023. My aim is to have some left over so I can offer 2 year old plants next year.

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  101. I used calcium carbonate for years to cast sculpture. I discovered that many ancient cultures that had elaborate architecture, pyramids and stone carvings lived on top of calcium carbonate deposits. Better known as gypsum, plaster, hydrostone,alabaster, it has been used to create shapes and environments for as long as history remembers.
    A tantalizing mystery to me is that some found a way to make it durable out in the weather,for centuries. Find that out and some of our efforts might last longer.

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    • I think the use of volcanic ash goes toward the weather-proof goal. Again, not all volcanic ash is going to be the same, or limestone for that matter. A friend explained that “All Limestone has calcium. That used for construction for lime plasters and concrete has more calcium. Dolomitic limestone for instance has more magnesium as an example of another limestone. the book that I described High-Calcium Limestones of Eastern Washington has the breakdown of all the samples looking for calcium oxide, Mg oxide, Silicon dioxide, CO2, phosphorus, and all sorts of other minerals. Another “limestone” mined in our area is gypsum, Calcium sulfate (vs. carbonate).” I can get this book for you to look at if you want.

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  102. This is a good read Joe. About a year ago I saw something about a cement company in India that had developed a process to make carbon neutral cement- at least that’s what I remember. Have you heard about them?

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    • Yes. There are several definitions of “carbon neutral”. Is mixing carbon back in the cement “neutral”. I would not agree with that. Even the preference for growing your own lime leaves a lot to be desired. I added a paragraph to the article about https://biosqueeze.com/. They are dealing with methane-leaking oil wells right now, but their bigger objective and DARPA contract goes into a straight biology to concrete solution.

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  103. Concrete is vital for cities building up rather than urban sprawl invading more and more natural acreage. However, I’m surprised that you didn’t mention the major air pollution from the activation cooking of the lime for cement.

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    • Actually I did. “The process released both carbon from burning the wood and carbon from the rock. ” Most kilns are now gas fired – a fossil fuel.

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  104. Good work, Joe!
    I’ve read about the addition of biochar to concrete to improve its characteristics. And now I’m wondering if our local limestone baked in a wood fired kiln, mixed with charcoal, gypsum from waste sheetrock, and local clay can make sturdy planting containers.
    More research is needed. And where will all that labor come from?

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    • Worthwhile question and comment about labor. There is some sort of balance between research and experiments. There must be some research online about baking limestone into lye. I would start by baking some limestone and use that batch by itself then with the charcoal, gypsum and clay separately in small pieces, maybe tiles that could be broken by measurable weights. Tons of time an money can be spent on this kind of study. I would settle for something that works as a planting container.

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  105. Joe, once again you have led the way!

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  106. Very interesting. I will want to know how it all turns out. Was it a one time deal or do they come back several more times? Here on our island, a friend owns a kiwi farm and the sheep have always been integral.

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    • It was once this year but I am gearing up to make it an annual practice.

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  107. Facinating!

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  108. I am very interested in buying two Baco Noir plants. I live in Elkton Oregon. I hear this variety does well in our climate and soil type. This is for my private garden. Colville is a fair distance from here. Google says 10 hours each way. I doubt I can make it to your Farmer Market. I have not had much luck finding this plant any closer so far this year. Is it possible for you to ship plants?

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    • Hi Ron:

      These plants are currently in pots. I would need to ship via US Mail or UPS as bare root. I have done that before successfully (although I hate it because the potting mixture that I make already has the mycorrhizal fungi growing in it. Also there were sub-zero temperatures here not long ago. These plants are good to 20 below but exposed in pots, it is trickier. I like to wait until they show signs of life, which again makes shipping riskier. I will print out this order and keep it in mind.

      The snow is gone. I am pruning and starting cuttings. I might also be able to ship those. Hang in there. We will figure this out. Baco is very Gung Ho.

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      • The Baco Noir are not looking good after a very harsh winter and dry summer. I will let you know if some revive.

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  109. i have a corn field and indian hemp is growing alongside it. will this indian hemp poison my cornfield?

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    • I think there is no danger to your cornfield. Indian Hemp, AKA Dog Bain, is very similar to Milkweed. Only the sap is an issue and only then when ingested – although it is sticky. I can’t see how it would have any effect even it growing right in the cornfield.

      There are actually a lot of medicinal uses for the plant.

      Joe

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