John LaBoyteaux

I can't believe there was a fire and no one told me.  My concern over the affects of the fire on the land were counteracted by thoughts of swiddenculture and slash and burn practices.  Some people do this on purpose, right?  I called a bunch of friends to talk about this, and in doing so I felt more at ease as we rehashed fire-related farming practices.

I also wanted to talk to an experienced grain farmer about their encounters with fire.  I thought of John LaBoyteaux who sold me some triticale a few months prior.  He's a Humboldt County melon and grain farmer who I've written about before in relation to his involvement with the North Coast Grain Growers and the seed trials.  He generously made time to swing by the new farm to assess the place and discuss cultivation and propagation steps.

When we walked out to the field, John said he didn't think the burn was a disaster and that I had good tilth. The field was still mostly charred, but some patches of new green growth have emerged. Some radish and grass. Thankfully not too much morning glory. It's too early to tell, so it'll be interesting to see what comes up and how much. John said that it looked like the fire did some good in getting rid of many weeds and that it probably would have been helpful to have let the whole field burn.  As for the new growth, he suggested that I lightly disk the field three times, each time a few days after a rain, in order to get rid of weed seeds. The purpose behind this process is to naturally diminish available weed seeds by allowing them to become germinate and mow them before they set seed. As long as you don't disk too deep, you can minimize the amount of weed growth. Front Porch Farms used this approach and greatly reduced their weed population. 

John agreed with Jess on the point about planting between every other vine or, if we're removing vines anyways, to take out every other set of vines to increase the area devoted to grains. This might reduce the likelihood that the grains would draw water away from the grapes, make harvesting grains easier, and produce a higher yield of grains.

When I mentioned that I'll be introducing sheep, John shared some history that supported my plan.  He said that the farmers who used to grow Sonora wheat in Mendocino County, back when this area produced most of California's wheat, brought in sheep to graze the young grains to strengthen the roots and manage weeds.  They'd do a few cycles of this until spring, when they'd let the grains grow to fruition.  How encouraging!

I stepped away from this conversation much less worried than the other day and with a good deal of advice.  Not only did I get another opinion about the fire, but I also felt as though I had some support from a fellow farmer.