The Regenerative Home's video: Organic Wine Making Integrated Organic Animal Crop Farm Hanzell Vineyard

In this video we tour Hanzell Vineyard in Sonoma, CA. USA. Possibly the most sustainable farm in California and beyond. They use an integrated organic animal crop farm system to fertilize the grapes, manage weed and suppress fire. Farm manager Brandon Brado show us how he uses American Guinea hogs, Maremma sheepdogs, chicken and geese to grow organic grapes in the vineyards on the oldest continuously producing pinot and chardonnay vineyard in North America. https://hanzell.com Transcript Mike Stokes Today's video is a tour of Hansel vineyards in Sonoma Valley, and how they use animals to suppress weeds to fertilize their vineyards and to control fire all organically and sustainably. A really great example of regenerative farming in action this spinner it's been around here for how long Brandon Brado 1953 If there was a clear day and be able to see San Francisco and be able to Mount Diablo so back in the day in the 1950s, the original landowner Harris Zellerbach, he wanted to replicate a grape growing region in France. And so because of the volcanic soil because of the aspect of the way it's facing the sun, the hillside and all that and the varietals. He planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And these are really old vines. In fact, they're the oldest longest in production in the western hemisphere for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, pretty world class, the dogs are instrumental. If we didn't have the dogs, you'd literally have to barn every animal at night to keep the big cats away. The dogs that we have, which we'll meet in just a little bit, are Maroma sheep dogs them in Italy, they call them wolf slayers really awesome. They got chasing a mountain lion. We know that because all the neighbors were had been seeing sightings, tracks. So yeah, without the dogs, you couldn't do it. So this is this would be you know, we're done with grazing for the season. But this was our base camp, where we'd have electric fencing water, other shade structures, which you'll see which I built on there. And, and they would have roads to pick from to go and graze. So all of these vineyard rows are grazed, they're not mowed their grazed by animals. And while the animals are grazing, of course, they're giving the ground what it needs. And that is natural fertilizer. Mike Stokes So what are the who what animals are grazing? Brandon Brado So we have sheep, and we have pigs? Ducks, chickens, geese, Mike Stokes and do they do all of those different animals go in the vineyard God, just a different times are Brandon Brado all all together all at once? Yeah. Oh, wow. different niches that they pick. Right guns are really interested in the manure looking at a party eating the the larva that that hatch off of it come up often with a pig. Every pig usually has three or four chickens sort of complimenting them. And when the pig flaps over soil, the chickens go in and start scratching. And so the chickens want the bugs and the grubs and the seeds and the like. And it's fun too, because the only only animal on our team that will do this following job is the chickens and that is they'll not the larva in the manure of the pigs waste before it hatches. So and then they flick apart the manure and they essentially spread it so they are a manure spreader. Mulching professionals and the cleanup crew is what the chickens the geese are a new thing for us. We're finding that they're entirely they love eating the cover crop as it leaves out and flowers out they they shred that stuff. So they're very similar to the sheep and that they want the stuff above ground they want to eat the stuff that's Bradley flowers. And of course, their manure is great for the for the ground. Sheep are are just a mobile lawn mowers. They eat everything above ground, and we send them out in the grazing area full of cover crops in the vineyard. They're all about charging out and eating the tops of all the 14 different things that we we plant as the composer's of the cover crop. They start at the top and they work their way down to the very nub of the cover crop that's growing and of course their manure is great to chick shots are based on another person's designs. We were actually interested in buying the the PDF from him oh nice he just got the material locally. Yeah, so this this this shows you it's nice, you know nice ramp they're nice we keep a big piece of plywood on the front here. Uh huh. Like that over there that big opening the dogs out. Love eggs too. Mike Stokes Right? Right right. So the crates about the crate but Oh, I see you just kind of where the handle goes. I see Yeah, next Mike Stokes Behind you is the electric fence. Lush Planet Design Build. lushplanet.net Subscribe to my channel: https://bit.ly/3eGRbXB Website: http://www.lushplanet.net/