Last Fall Mimi convinced Ted to buy an old dairy tank where she could grow compost for the vineyard. They filled the tank with llama manure and some straw, and then tossed in a rich starter collection of soil dwelling organisms of all sizes and descriptions, now known collectively as Mimi’s worms (even though a lot of them have legs). She fed them squashes and other nutritious leftovers through the winter – people are always leaving sacks of over-the-hill vegetables on her desk. Their population has now exploded to the point where the whole tank seems to writhe with life when you stir it up a bit. And it doesn’t smell like manure any more – it smells like rich healthy soil.
Next step is to brew a tea from the mature compost to inoculate the soil in the vineyard with vibrant new life – promoting healthy vines with strong immune systems. Mimi hopes the tea will help revive some of our 30-year-old own-rooted pinot noir vines in the Flat Block which were badly weakened by the vole epidemic in 2005, and now look like they are becoming prey to phylloxera.
Some of Mimi’s worms had a night out in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. They flew down in Pat’s suitcase to be part of a biodynamic centerpiece at an Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine dinner at Quince. Their moment of glory was captured on Restaurant Girl’s blog. Happily they all made it safely back home to their compost bin when it was over.
Read more about “Compost Tea, a Powerful Brew” here.
Bethel Heights Vineyard 