Clear Lake Wine Country

We visited several wineries in Clear Lake, and learned all about the wonderful soil, enriched with age-old volcanic ash, and the excellent climate and growing conditions. One especially interesting winery is Ceago Vinegarden Wineries, created by Jim Fetzer (formerly of Fetzer Vineyards), near Nice on the north end of Clear Lake.

Ceago Winery from the dock – lavender

Ceago is a certified Biodynamic winery that uses organic, sustainable, and earth-friendly practices, designed to produce a top grade product and rejuvenate the earth. Their practices include crop rotation; composting; use of, manures, green manures, and organic fertilizers; and avoiding genetically engineered organisms and chemical pesticides. Ceago specializes in both red and white wines, and also grows organic vegetables, and lavender for its essential oils.

Shady arbor

We had a great visit to Ceago. We arrived by boat, so approached the winery from Clear Lake. The lavender had recently been harvested, so the remaining plants were a dusty gray green and clipped into rounded shapes (it must be beautiful when the plants are in full bloom). The buildings and grounds are lovely and well kept, with restaurant, tasting room, and small store centrally located in the main building. The landscaping includes a central courtyard, a leafy arbor, and vegetable garden.

The dock

Lake County

My husband and I had the opportunity for an end-of-summer visit to Clear Lake in Lake County, about 90 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Clear Lake is the largest natural fresh water lake (43,000 acres) in California. It is located inland, and is accessible from both Interstate 5 and Highway 101. The whole area is an ancient volcanic field, with the dormant Mount Konocti (3,200 ft.) located near the southwest shore of the lake. The Geysers steam field is tapped by geothermal power plants to provide electricity. The soil is rich from ancient volcanic ash, and very productive. The climate is mild, sunny, and typically fog-free.

Clear Lake - classic golden hills dotted with oaks

Lake County region is in Climate Zone 7 - California’s Gray Pine Belt  in the Central Valley (or incense cedars to the north and south). According to Sunset, Zone 7 is characterized by hot summers and mild winters, with sharply defined seasons yet without severe winter cold or humidity. Plants that require a distinct seasonal pattern thrive, such as flower bulbs, peonies, lilacs, and flowering cherries. Deciduous fruit trees also do well, such as apples, cherries, peaches, and pears. Typical winter lows range from 35 to 26°F (2 to –3°C), with record lows averaging from 18 to -0° F (–8 to –18°C).

 

Clear Lake - shoreline wetlands

I loved the contrast of the classic golden hills dotted with oaks, the lush shoreline, and the productive farms and wineries, all in close proximity. We enjoyed learning about the geology of the area, visiting wineries, purchasing fruits and vegetables from roadside stands, and eating a delicious dinner of local ingredients in the town of Clear Lake. The area reminded of me of Napa and Sonoma, but without the crowds, congestion, and commercialization.

Clear Lake - productive farms and wineries

Hortus Third

Hortus Third is a reference of economically important plants in North America, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The book was authored by Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858 – 1954) and his daughter Ethel Zoe Bailey (1889 – 1983), and published by MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. (New York, 1976). Liberty Hyde Bailey joined Cornell University in 1888 and expanded its botanical, nature, and agricultural programs; he became Dean in 1903 and established new departments, an experiment station, an arboretum, and new courses of study. He was a plants man and avid collector of plant specimens and seed catalogs. He was a botanist, taxonomist, horticulturist, and writer.

The introduction describes the book and its scope, arrangement of content, classification system (a few things have changed since 1976), botanical names, and the abbreviations used to describe plants and geographical origin. The appendix provides a list of authors cited, a glossary of botanical terms (including leaf-shape diagrams), and an index by common name. The endplates show minimal temperature ranges for USDA plant hardiness zones in the continental United States.

The bulk of the book is devoted to describing the plants. Entries are ordered alphabetically, by genus and species, and describe the plant or tree in detail. Using abbreviations, the descriptions are concise and dense with information about names, origin, leaves, flowers, fruit, stems, bark, and so forth. Many descriptions are accompanied by illustrations and exploded diagrams, especially useful for complex flower parts. Here is a sample description, for Quercus agrifolia:

Agrifolia Née [Q. oxyadenia Torr.]. CALIFORNIA LIVE O., CALIFORNIA FIELD O. Evergreen, to 100 ft.; lvs. elliptic, to 3 in. long, spiny-toothed, convex above, somewhat stellate-pubescent, especially in axils of veins beneath; fr. maturing the first season, cup enclosing ¼-⅓ of nut. Me. to Fla. and Tex. Zone 4. Furnishes one of the most important commercial woods.

I refer to this book all the time to learn about trees and plants, and the language to describe them. My copy is second hand – from Chuck Konigsberg, a plants man and educator whom I interviewed a few years ago for a Sunset post (he, in turn, had obtained it second hand from one of his students). The book is almost 40 years old, but is still very accurate (much of the reclassification over the years has occurred in the realm of bacteria and fungi). Interestingly, the book refers to changes in classification that were occurring at the time it was published, indicating that classification is in continual flux as we learn more about the world around us! I especially like that Hortus Third was authored by a father-daughter team.