Our goal at RAEN is to realize world class wines capable of sitting alongside the world’s finest. For us, this goal is directly tied to a great site and farming it at the highest level. We start out with the goals to be a permaculture first, then biodynamic, and basing out at organic. This means our priority is for the farm to sustain itself as best it can and with minimal resources coming from off the farm. We want to grow our protection in the same areas from which the challenges spring.

 

One of the challenges we have on the coast are gophers and rodents killing our vines and causing erosion. This past year we made a decision to partner with the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue to place, maintain, and oversee owl boxes on our property. This effort has led to a decline in gophers and will continue to lead to a decline to help keep these rodents at bay.

 

What I like about this partnership is how professional Doris and her team have been: how much they have taught us about the barn owls on our property and in our community, and how much they care for these animals and the life in our area. We are ever connected to nature and the more connected we can become the better stewards of the land we can be. I highly suggest working with their team and making our community an even better one to live in, one owl box at a time.

 

Carlo R. Mondavi

winemaker

 

RAEN

Sonoma Coast, California

“We have found SCWR to be a great partner in our Barn Owl Maintenance Program, contributing greatly to our vineyard pest management system. Their team is professional, innovative, and caring.”

 

— Anisya Fritz, Lynmar Estate

“The Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue team have been great to work with and we could not be more delighted to know that our modest fees for their help go to support a great cause. Best of all – it works!”

 

— Geoff Peters,Owner-Manager, Showa Farm

“SCWR has been a valuable resource for our vineyard as we transitioned from conventional farming to organic. Gophers and other rodents are always an issue in vineyard settings and we were thrilled with Doris’ enthusiasm and knowledge in establishing a barn owl presence on our property. She and her team installed two boxes after their analysis of our setting and we’ve been blessed by having both boxes occupied. Three owls were then raised in each box last season! It’s late January as I write this review and we’ve determined that both boxes are again inhabited by two healthy adults.”

 

— Carole Coplan of Coplan Vineyards

 

Promote environmentally sound farming practices, E. & J. Gallo Winery is proud to partner with Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue (SCWR) as part of their Barn Owl Maintenance Program (BOMP). We have worked with SCWR in Sonoma County for the past 7 years as part of Gallo’s Sustainable Rodent Control Program. In partnership with SCWR and BOMP, owl boxes have been placed in a number of our coastal vineyards and are maintained and monitored by SCWR. We look forward to our continued success in working together to help barn owls thrive.