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ENVIRONMENTAL VINTNER 
by JANE BOGNER
SUNDAY, July 11, 2004

It’s Solano County Fair time again and this year, VALCORE is setting up the backyard composting display in the garden area behind the Exhibition Hall. We are also installing the Solano County recycling exhibit in McCormick Hall.

On opening day of the 2001 county fair, a crew from the Sacramento’s KVIE PBS program, California Heartland, came down to film our composting class. It was quite exciting as they filmed for over three hours. The result was a two minute and 37 second spot that aired in September 2001. (VALCORE has a copy for anyone to see).

Our segment was rerun and a vintner in Lodi happened to see it. David Lucas of The Lucas Winery called VALCORE and invited me to come to his winery to participate in a Vine to Wines weekend. Over a dozen wineries open their doors to the public and offer food paired with wine, live entertainment and education about wine making.

It turns out that Lucas is an environmentalist and wanted to include backyard composting information for his visitors. So off I went to sip incredible wine, listen to blue grass music, and talk about earthworms.

This past May marked my third weekend trip to the valley and David and I sat down to talk about his vineyard and winery. While his vineyard is not certified organic, there are a lot of environmental and sustainable practices in place. An obvious one is the owl boxes sitting high above the vines. They are home to barn owls and kestrels. Instead of using poison, the birds keep the gophers in check. Lucas was instrumental in getting other Lodi wine growers to follow suit.

Coyotes have a place in his fields as they keep the rabbits away from the new growth on the vines. No, they don’t guard the vines, they... well, you know. We chatted about cover crops and he rarely plants them as they take precious water away from the vines. He plows every other pathway which keeps weeds at bay and helps avoids the loss of valuable top soil to the hot valley winds.

Weather is an important concern of all farmers and Lucas watches the humidity closely and uses only the minimum of sulfur to prevent mildew on the grape leaves. Lucas had an interesting encounter with the water quality control board. Just like the Bay Area, Lodi is on the edge of several rivers and watersheds. The water quality inspectors were concerned that the chipped vines, leave and left-over grape pulp that Lucas was composting in the vineyard would seep down and contaminate underground water. With a little help from the Solid Waste Board, Lucas was able to educate the water inspectors about the benefits of composting such as the overall health of the vineyard, the tonnage of diversion from local landfills, and the pollution caused by hauling the material to the composting yard and back.

If you get a chance, attend the Lodi Vines to Wines event (www.lucaswinery.com) or visit other small wineries. Ask what they are doing for the health of our planet and enjoy a glass of wine for your health.

Solano County Fair Composting Classes

The Solano County Fair runs from July 16 thought July 25. Backyard composting classes will be conducted at 4:00 p.m. every day except Monday and Tuesday. The class will be at 4:30 on Monday. July 19 and Tuesday, July 20. Participants will receive a free composting book and each day, one lucky Solano County resident will win a backyard composting bin.

VALCORE will also have a composting class at 38 Sheridan from 10am to Noon on Saturday July 17th.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.

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