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| First Person |
Vintner with a Mission
Ted W. Hall
06/01/2004
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Our vegetable operation is yet another
example. Last year we raised 60 varieties of rare heirloom tomatoes, sunflowers,
basil, beans, corn and other vegetables. We’ll take our really beautiful
tomatoes and sell them to fine restaurants. One of our best customers in Napa
Valley is the chef at Auberge du Soleil. We’ll take the tomatoes that aren’t
quite top-notch and sell them at our roadside stand or at the farmers’ market.
Our third-class tomatoes are sold to a great little drive-in restaurant, where
they’re made into gazpacho. If the tomatoes aren’t good enough for that, they
are fed to our organic chickens. Because they eat fabulous tomatoes and veggies,
the chickens lay spectacular eggs with yolks almost neon-like in their color. We
then get to sell the eggs to Auberge du Soleil.
There are even more
efficiencies here. Because we raise our poultry near our vegetable fields, we
have no cost for poultry feed—we feed them our leftover vegetables. When the
crop season is over, we have mounds of organic matter (old pumpkin vines, dead
tomato plants, etc.) that go into a nearby compost pile. Here we use chicken
manure as the source of essential nitrogen. When spring arrives, the compost is
ready to go back on the field as fertilizer.
Our integrated system also
enables us to sustain and regenerate our land. Our land is alive. We don’t use
herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers. We make extensive use of cover
crops, which provide nitrogen to the soil, prevent erosion and create habitats
for beneficial insects. The helpful insects, such as ladybugs, manage the pests.
By creating topsoil, eliminating erosion and protecting the diversity of
species, we are constantly improving the biological community on our
property.
Our farm has literally hundreds of interrelated loops that operate
in a virtuous cycle of life. It’s simply a return to a centuries-old system of
family farming that was continually self-sustaining. Every element in our ranch
makes a positive contribution to the whole. If I would stop producing olive oil,
ironically it would raise the cost of producing wine, and vice versa.
The
most satisfying thing we do is to foster imitators, and we are beginning to see
more of them. Altering farming methods, however, is a slow process. Moving
toward sustainable, organic farming is a long-term process. Nevertheless, I am
convinced that at least one-quarter of Napa Valley vineyards will be organic in
10 years; only 4 percent to 5 percent are now. Maybe a handful will also raise
something other than grapes. We’re proving that this works. I’m optimistic about
the future.
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