Plans For The New Winery Garden

The new winery site on West Road in Redwood Valley

At Frey Vineyards we are looking forward to breaking ground at our new winery this spring, and several of us are enjoying these rainy winter days making plans for the landscaping.  The site is surrounded by oak-forested hillsides and reflects the incredible natural beauty of Mendocino County. In the middle of the vineyard is an irrigation pond fringed with cattails, which hosts an abundance of frogs, birds, insects and other wildlife.  Garden themes will bridge the exquisite natural landscape with the art of winemaking and culinary pairings.  The garden will include edible foodscapes as well as plantings of drought-tolerant California natives that are host plants for pollinators, beneficial insects, and Monarch butterflies.

At this winter’s Biodynamic Farm and Garden meeting I learned about Jail Industries, a two-acre nursery in Sonoma County that produces a wide variety of ornamental nursery stock including many California natives.  It is the perfect plant resource for our new project.  The nursery is part of Sonoma County Jail’s vocational program and provides low cost trees to cities, counties, schools and public agencies.  In addition, it has provided over 50 schools with free vegetable starts and seeds.  Their nursery is open to the general public by appointment and during their three plant-sales each year. All of the revenue goes toward funding the Agriculture Vocational Education Program for the inmates.

We are looking forward to working with this innovative project, which aims to help individuals gain practical life skills, as well as helping to preserve and protect the environment.  To find out more go to: scoe.org/jailindustries

We look forward to having you visit our new winery in 2018!