Mar 06 2010
Dispatches From the War on Terrorism
Yes, we are doing our part here on the Sonoma home front. Our enemy is insidious, all but invisible and skilled in taking advantage of our own resources to further his evil plans. Of course, I’m talking about non-Native plant invaders who are encroaching on our little piece of Sonoma paradise. But our defenses are marshalled. At the risk of a pun, I’ll add that we have a Plan. Yes, we are doing our share.
For those of you who have shown up a bit late, let me give you the lay of the land, as it were. When we purchased this land, it had been virtually undeveloped — except maybe for migrating Miwok Indians who used our seasonal creek as a highway (we’ve found their acorn grinding stones and arrowheads.) Some rusty barbed wire at the edge of the property showed that someone at some time pastured some cattle out here. But elderly locals all tell us this area was always “the back of beyond”. Younger Sonoma residents say this was where they came to drink, smoke pot and make out. The result is a forty acre patch of Sonoma that is almost entirely undisturbed. That means a wide variety of native vegetation and animals — even including a stand of 500 year old Redwood trees that, by all rights, probably shouldn’t even be this far from the coast, and an increasing population of threatened Tree Frogs, who have now grown in significant enough numbers to comprise a veritable Amphibian Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Why We Fight: Checker Lily, Mission Bells or Fritillaria affinis

Why We Fight: Milk Maids or Cardamine californica.

Why We Fight: Indian Warriors or Pedicularis densiflora
Of course, we want to preserve it all. Seems easy. But it’s frightening how fast you can compromise a pristine environment, even if you think you are in preservation mode. First mistake, when the vineyard was put in three or four years ago, we allowed hay bales and straw “snakes” to be brought in for erosion control. Big mistake. Apparently, if you aren’t a careful buyer, these things can harbor all sorts of alien seeds and invasive plants that then take over. And they’ve started their march down the swales and water drainage areas. Apparently we should have specified rice bales, which are not native, but can’t possibly survive in Sonoma once the weather heats up. Next mistake, allowing mustard to be planted as a fallow season crop in the vineyards. Apparently, this plant multiplies faster than Aliens. We now need to plan our strategy for eradicating the mustard.

We're doing it for the critters. Although deer aren't endangered, they've got a clean, well-lighted place to graze here.
I should digress here for a John the Baptist Nature Lesson. Again, if you are showing up late, John the Baptist is our trails man, plant guru and freelance forest spirit. With his trusty lieutenants, Louis and Jesus, he speaks for the plants. Many readers of this blog have written, after reading about our efforts, to ask “Why do you make it sound like Natives are so weak they can’t survive as well as invasive species?” I put that question to John, and here’s his answer: “Natives exist in their landscape in a balance. They have enemies and predators and plants that keep them from overpopulating. Certain non-Natives have no native enemies and they just run wild, choking out all the Native plants.”
So we’ve brought out the Big Guns for the Armageddon of the Vineyards. This year is Blitzkreig. We’re even resorting to selective spraying of Round-Up to kill back some of the invasives that already have a foothold. The marketing information says that this particular formulation dissolves into inert ingredients in three months and doesn’t affect the groundwater. John says he doesn’t believe a thing Monsanto says. But, you’ll see the measure of desperation here. Unfortunately, this is John’s Guantanamo and he’s willing to sanction extreme measures to even the odds. Tell it to Dick Cheney, John!

John the Baptist and Jesus armed for chemical warfare on invasives.

Oscar does his bit with more natural herbicides.

Even shy Lucy Terrier got into the act by killing a gopher...which she promptly gave to her new boyfriend, Jesus.
After this year’s Shock and Awe, we’re hoping that we’ll only have about a 5% recurrance next year. With quick burning and pulling before germination, we should be able to reduce the non-natives in the year after next to about 1% ressurgance. And so it goes.

We're keeping Sonoma safe for Wavyleaf Ceanothus.
Neil Young told us that “Rust Never Sleeps”. Ditto for non-Natives. But we’re at the barricades and we won’t be stopped. With a British husband, it’s now appropriate to misquote Winston Churchill:
“We shall fight in the swales. We shall fight at the creekside. We shall fight in the vineyards. We will never surrender.”
A new project here is to photograph and catalog all the Native California and Sonoma wildflowers that are growing around our little slice of heaven. John the Baptist and Louis are leading the charge by bringing me examples of flowers they find in their trailbuilding work. For now,these bouquets will have to serve as my educational pieces as I’m finding it a lot easier to get good photographs in the wild than when the flowers are picked. I believe I’ve also made my position clear on using common names instead of the Latin. A California Native don’t need no steenkin’ Latin. (Sharp eyes might notice the yellow flower outside the vase that has been chewed and stomped by terriers. It’s one of our 





It’s been raining solidly for weeks now. Living in a semi-arid state at the end of a three year drought, most of us want that rain to keep on coming. But it was nice to have a two day break. Yesterday was sunny and warm, definitely Springlike. (In fact, the thousands of tree frogs around here suddenly decided Valentine’s Weekend was a good time to start the mating season.) The forecast said today would be another sunny one, so I was up early for a walk to see the sun break through the clouds. I forgot that the Sonoma sun doesn’t exactly “break out” in the Winter. We have several fog channels that affect Sonoma, the Petaluma Gap and the Carneros up from San Pablo Bay. And just to be different and “Californian”, our fog doesn’t predictably come in and burn off. It hovers, then recedes, then rolls back in again until you don’t know what kind of day it’s going to be.









I won’t say we’ve done everything right here at Two Terrier Vineyards. But we were blessed to be able to get hold of the ecological version of a blank slate. Then careful budgeting and perhaps a lack of ambition kept us from making irreparable mistakes. Our idea of landscaping was not so much planting things as building stuff out of the thousands of rocks that covered the property. Luckily, by the time we got done having retaining walls, stairs, a bocce court, an amphitheater and other things built, we had learned enough about this unique plot of land mostly to leave well enough alone. One of the exciting things about our land is that it’s never been developed, so it’s never been exposed to the meddling of traditional landscapers. In fact, the area was the scene of a pretty devastating fire about thirty years ago and, in the aftermath, was covered with an almost impenetrable covering of mesquite and weeds. That kept out most of the invasive species that people around here have traditionally planted. Things like Eucalyptus, Himalayan Blackberry and non-native grasses. Not that we didn’t plant some non-natives like Rhone grapes, olives and lavender, but at least they aren’t invasive. In fact, it’s hard enough to keep them healthy that there’s no fear they are going to crowd out the locals.

What a difference a month makes. Especially in Sonoma. Especially if that month is January. Especially, especially if it’s an El Nino January. Buckets of rain have been coming down for what seems like weeks. But Saturday offered a rare sunny break and a chance to corral the terriers and walk the back 40 to see how everything was holding up. The first thing we encountered was a lovely little sylan stream, complete with Hobbit-sized waterfalls, running along the back fence. Since this area is usually filled with trash that idiots throw over our fence and into our property, this change was a nice surprise. I got very excited and immediately went into naming mode — as every rock and wide spot in the road has a name here. I’d settled on Danthonia Creek, naming it after 







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