Welcome to the blog of Johnathan Grieve.
I am the proprietor of Avondale wine estate, and pioneer of the BioLOGIC® approach to sustainable viticulture. The transformation of Avondale from over-used and abused land into a thriving, robust vineyard ecosystem has been a personal learning journey of more than a decade long. This blog is where I share some of what I have learnt about promoting life on our farm and the wonderful impact this has had on our handcrafted premium quality wines.
Johnathan Grieve
Part 2 – What Kinds of Cover Crops?
A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae. Legumes are commonly farmed for their edible seeds which are consumed by people and farm animals, and also provide oils. The main legumes that we use as cover crops include bitter lupin, fava bean, vetch, clovers, medics, seredela and lucerne.
An Extraordinary Way to ‘Know Your Farmers’ – Avondale’s Biodynamic Luncheon
We launched our first Biodynamic Luncheon in April this year, and we were really delighted at how the event turned out. Avondale hosted 36 guests at our Tasting Gallery who came to meet Avondale’s Proprietor, Johnathan Grieve and Farmer Angus McIntosh to find out more about biodynamic farming and to enjoy a veritable feast prepared by the Mount Nelson’s Chef Rudi Liebenberg.
Weeds that can Work for You
Some years back, I wrote a post on how Avondale regards weeds as useful storytellers, clueing us into what is happening with our soils. In the same vein, here are some interesting insights into the weeds known as Phytolacca, commonly called Inkweed or Pokeweed. Phytolacca are perennial plants native to North and South America, East Asia and New Zealand. Like any weed appearing on South African farming soils, it has a story to tell about its environmental conditions.
Part 1 – What Kinds of Cover Crops?
In this series of articles, I will get to discussing different species within those plant groups. However, the first 3 articles will deal with the plant groups. So let’s start here with cereals. A cereal is a grass from the monocot family Poaceae. They are commonly cultivated for the edibility of their grains, which are staple foods around the world. The main cereals that we use as cover crops include barley, oats, Saia oats, wheat and a cross between rye and wheat known as korrog or triticale.
How to Create Stable Humus – Compost
In the second article in our series on humus we highlighted the four main reasons why humus is depleted in our soils, including conventional farming’s failure to build organic matter in the soil. One of the key ways to tackle this issue is compost.
Adding compost to the soil is integral to natural farming. There are plenty of resources available on how to make compost, so I am rather going to focus here on some of the considerations we take into account at Avondale.
The aim of composting is to recycle organic waste into an incredible, stable multi-purpose soil food and microbial inoculant. Well-produced aerated compost is a great source of stable humus teeming with beneficial microbial life and enriching our soils with plant-available nutrients.
Why has Humus Become a Depleted Resource?
This second article on our series on humus aims to deepen our understanding of why we currently need to take steps to create, manage and protect humus in our soils. If we are to succeed in this, we need to know what it is that depletes humus in the first place, and then change our ways.
Graeme Sait on Humus
For the nature-friendly farmer, there can be nothing more important on the land than humus in the soil. Humus refers to the organic matter in the soil that plays the key role in sustaining the living communities in the soil, which are so essential for healthy plant growth. However, humus is not just the concern of the individual farmer. The lack of humus on agricultural land across the planet is an issue of global proportions.