Our gardens are the creation of MeiLi to provide yearlong beauty by having flowers, flowering shrubs, and trees that adorn their color throughout the seasons. Something is always in bloom to attract beneficial insects from the moment of first growth throughout the entire growing season. Full of wonderful aromas and habitats, our gardens enhance biodiversity throughout the days and nights. A white garden was specially designed to attract night pollinators. A walled kitchen garden gives us excellent natural produce throughout most of the year and of course also feeds lots of birds and insects. MeiLi works closely with Sarah Horne (Kew Diploma in Horticulture) and her team.
Our Biodiversity
Our Gardens
Our Hedgerows
Hedgerows of native plant species are employed extensively at Ramiiisol to temper the damaging effects of a vineyard’s monoculture to its organisms when not in balance. Placed strategically to break up the vine monoculture, they mimic the forest edge providing a rich habitat for small animals and insects. These habitat corridors are populated with multitudes of species that offer shelter and fodder for pollinators who in turn attract beneficial predatory insects and together foster a healthy biome.
Our Cover Crops
Between our vineyard rows you will find a revolving cast of beneficial plants according to the season. Each has a vital role to play in creating a living, breathing soil for our vines. Grasses prevent erosion as well as remove excess water during wet periods. Legumes fix vital nitrogen in the soil while buckwheat provides phosphorus, the key to a healthy root system. Tillage radishes drill deep into the earth, creating drainage and aeration, while mustards and other brassicas emit natural biofumigants that ward off fungus. Beneficial insects are drawn deep into the vineyards by the inviting scents of herbs and flowers and microorganisms take up residence in the soils to create a vast holistic biome teaming with trillions of microbes below one’s feet.
Our Orchards/Trees/Forests
Each year we plant a rich variety of native, ornamental, and fruiting trees to provide diversity to our farming activities, and in many cases fodder for wildlife. Among the dominant species are dogwoods, redbuds, maples, and sycamores. In the orchards, one can find pears, apples, plums, peaches, and persimmons. Our old growth forests are full of noble oaks, hickory, witch hazel, and tulip poplars. Rather than in the vineyards, animals spend time feeding in the wooded perimeters of the property, where serviceberry and apple trees reside. Ancient white pines also dot the property. We have used a natural rocky knoll, with a few old noble pines to create our pinetum by adding rare and exotic evergreens, including a majestic cedar of Lebanon.
Our Wildflowers
Each year we plant acres of wildflowers. One 5-acre field has been dedicated to a wildflower meadow teeming with a plethora of butterflies, bees, moths, and other insects. Dotting the landscape with spring color are sunflowers, shasta daisy, coreopsis, cosmos, echinacea, poppies and more. These meadows of tall vegetation are essential to insect and bird habitat. When allowed to grow to full maturity, our flower meadow provides the right mixture of tall and short species in order to diversify our ecosystem and to attract all forms of life from microbial populations and insect life, to pollinators and vertebrates.
Our Lakes and Ponds
We built a 3-acre lake to complement our existing farm ponds, create habitat and add to the natural beauty. Springs and streams abound at Ramiiisol. These sources of fresh water provide habitat for fish, insects, frogs and other wildlife, as well as, provide hunting grounds for King Fishers, Ospreys, and Great Blue Herons. To further understand our ground water, springs and wells, we have performed extensive chemical, biological, and mineral analyses. The pH and high mineral content in our water sources allows our vines to unlock the door to the richness of our terroir.
Our Habitat
Ramiiisol’s ecosystem in the Blue Ridge Piedmont attracts most all of Virginia’s fauna including more frequent visits by Bald Eagles and the occasional brown bear, as well as red foxes and many other small animals. Additionally, we have placed birdhouses, owl houses, bat roosts, and duck houses in special locations around the rolling farmland and next to our ponds, springs, and forests. Chickens are allowed to roam a corner of our orchards and are raised for eggs. Once a year, the vast energy and appetites of goats are directed to clear forest undergrowth and eradicate invasive plants. The goats provide fertilizer and an increase of airflow, light penetration, and general health to the forest.
Our Honey Bees
Acting as a constant barometer for the health of our ecosystem, a number of honeybee hives are maintained on the property. Also, we are blessed with at least one native hive that has occupied an old tree near one of our springs since we arrived in 2013. Although bees are not essential to the pollination of grape vines, they are essential to providing the pollination necessary to promote a healthy and bio-diverse ecosystem needed for an abundance of life, food, and habitat. They also provide an important gauge of the quality of our farm management. And we all love our beautiful honey harvest each year!
