IMediterranean-style villa atop a western knollt’s a dusty, warm early August evening whenPatricia Damery walks out of her house, a overlooking the Napa Valley designed by her architect husband, Donald Harms. She is joined by an enthusiastic seven-year-old David, the son of the farm manager family who also live on the thirty-one-acre property. It is time for their daily ritual of walking the goats. Nine eager goats stand at attention waiting for the latch on the fence to be opened, freeing them to scatter to the closest green patch to eat. Patricia, adorned in a straw hat and walking stick, quickly directs the herd down a dirt path to keep them out of her newly planted garden. Bringing up the rear is a fifteen-year-old llama, which serves as the herd’s protector. David does what any young boy does naturally, chasing after the goats and helping direct them to a hillside behind the home next to a 1.5-acre lavender field that saw its most recent bloom two months earlier. His father and mother, who help with the farm, join in after attending to an ailing goat that is kept separately from the herd. Though Patricia and Donald consider their hoofed friends more as pets, the goats, including two pygmy breeds, play an integral part in their biodynamic approach to their farming. The goats feed off the land and their manure is used to help fertilize both the couple’s vineyards and lavender fields. “It’s important to return the soil to some kind of balance, and the animals are a part of that,” says Patricia. “There is something so energetic about the goats. I walk with them every day, and they help you get into another state of mind by listening to the earth more, not only with your ears, but with your entire body. This practice teaches you a kind of humility, and that is important in farming.” The couple both grew up on farms in Illinois, where, Donald said, they grew all their own food; but sadly he recalls most of those farms are gone. “Now they grow corn for plastics and corn oil,” said Donald. “That’s not food in my eyes.” “I never thought I would get back into farming,” admitted Patricia, a published writer and a thirty-five- year student of Jungian psychology and psychoanalysis. “We are happy to be in California and farming the way we want to.” Continued next page Opposite page: Patricia Dramery, David (son of the farm’s managers, and one goat form a perfect Napa Valley pas- toral image. Above right: The farm’s managers administer treatment to an ailing goat. Lower right: Patricia with two of her charges in the goat barn. S E P T E m B E R / o c T o B E R 2 0 1 2 13
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