Dear Bob, To be fair to the readers, you should point out that (a) you and I are competitors and you have no interest in seeing me succeed at anything, (b) we never met each other and don't know each other, other than by name and reputation, (c) I have never criticized your work - I know only a little bit about your work (see below), (d) that Ralph Riva, V.P. at Wente in charge of their vineyards, told me that you were not an employee of Wente but were consulting with them at the time I worked with him there and I never saw or met you there, and (e) that the vineyard you mention at Wente was a 20 acre vineyard of Chardonnay where you had 10 acres to work on and I had the other 10 acres to work on. The two blocks were separated by a 30 foot roadway. We were in a competition created by Ralph to see which system was better - yours, which he called "sustainable", or mine.
After almost one year, in Ralph Riva's written evaluation of the two side-by-side blocks, he noted that our cover crop was more lush, despite the fact that it had been driven over several times more than yours and "healthier" than yours (this, he told me at the time was in response to your critique of our cover crop), our canopy was twice the size of yours, our grape clusters were twice the size, had twice as many grapes and had twice as many clusters as your side, and that the soil temperature in the winter was 2 degrees higher on our side when compared to your side which he said indicated a higher level of soil biotic activity than your side had, another indicator of better health. In short, according to Ralph, our side was a greater success than your 10 acre block, if it indeed was your block. We were brought in to teach Wente employees, not their consultants, our system as it was developing at the time and to show Ralph that our methods and products could save 80% or more of their Chardonnay vines that were dying from an infestation of Phylloxera. We were able to save about 80% of the vines, which Ralph can verify. Unfortunately, Wente sold off most of "our" side of this vineyard after we completed our work which was then turned into a housing project. The vineyard was planted in Chardonnay clone 2A which was one of the original Chardonnay clones planted in California. One of our jobs was to save enough of the vines so that they could take cuttings to graft into a new vineyard. One of the benefits of Steiner's remedies is that they bring out the best that a plant has to offer. So, according to Ralph, he was more easily able to pick the best vines for cuttings after he applied our sprays. I say "our" sprays because at the time, which is as I do now, I make my own Horn Humus, Horn Quartz and Horn Clay. At that time I used only the raw preparations. I did not have our current line of homeopathic sequential sprays. Ralph has samples of our current sprays. He told me he tested them with his radionic machine and they rated so high in Life Force Energy that they practically went off the scale. To date, although he personally supports my work, he has not continued with our program at Wente. He says there is resistance in upper management to do so. He says that some people have been saying very nasty things about me, although since he knows me personally and knows my work, he, personally, does not believe what he hears. Would you know anything about that? So, those are the facts about Wente. If you want to dispute them, I suggest you take it up with Ralph Riva. As far as wineries other than Topolos are concerned, we have a few such as Deerfield Ranch which produces a gold medal Merlot wine that Michael grows using our methods and products. But inasmuch as three years ago, I saw that our methods, products and system were evolving faster than I could keep up with them, I made a decision not to take on any more than one client a year until I worked out all the wrinkles. Over the years, we've had some good luck with some people, and bad luck with others. What I have learned is that our former system was too complicated and too far out for most people to understand. So I have spent the past 3 years working almost exclusively with Michael Topolos to refine, simplify and demystify our system. May I suggest that before you go through the litany of all the people you think hate me, you talk to Michael and actually go see his vineyards. Make an evaluation for yourself. Then get back to me. As of now, though, I stand by the statement that we, Michael Topolos and I, in terms of organic viticulture, disease eradication, increasing yields and quality and lowering costs, have accomplished more in viticulture than anyone alive today and I would be happy to go head to head with you or anyone else on any project you might have in mind. Maybe we could even learn from each other. I would be happy to have my methods and products evaluated by the best in the business. I am working on making connections with universities in several states around the country in an effort to encourage them to evaluate our methods and products. I am not afraid of any criticism nor am I afraid of failure. We learn by our mistakes, not so much by creating successes. But as far as the Wente job was concerned, according to Ralph, we did the better job. As I state over and over again, one of my major concerns is that biodynamics is too complicated for most people to understand and too shrouded in mysticism to be widely accepted. I've endeavored to simplify it to the point where it is a "pour and spray" system just as conventional agriculture is. This, after 10 years and a lot of money, I have finally done which is why I am so excited about bringing it out into the market and challenging anyone, anywhere to put my products to the test in an objective way, not some test rigged to create failure. I have great respect for Amigo Bob, and you, from what little I've heard and read about you, as well as other organic soil consultants for your ability to improve soils. I can do the same things with soil that you, Bob or anyone else in this field can do. To me, that's no big thing. What makes my work different, and successful, is that I recognize the plant has a relationship with the soil, the atmosphere and the Cosmos. In the past, the only well known practitioners of agriculture who knew this, other than Steiner, were Burbank and Carver. For the average person, only by employing Steiner's remedies can you help a plant make the connection it needs to the Cosmos, in the right way, without an excessive amount of work and time. Steiner's remedies do this instantly. I have no idea where you stand regarding biodynamics, but I've heard that Amigo Bob doesn't call himself a biodynamics practitioner. I've seen some great soil development in AB's vineyards but IMHO, they still lack that connection to the Cosmos which can be proven easily by dowsing or by radionics testing. When that connection is made, his vines and his olive trees would do even better. At this time, Michael Topolos and I are sufficiently satisfied with my system to make the whole thing public and I hope that you and others appreciate the value of it when you get the full story, although I know not everyone will. We are starting to work with farmers on crops other than winegrape vines in several other states now. In the mean time, in my mind, I know that I have some fences to mend around here and more work to do. For many years, I was very sick and didn't know it so I came off as a grouch too much of the time. Constant physical pain will do that to you. I've since found out the problem and am now on the way to recovering, after almost dying last Christmas. I will do my best to mend fences by, among other things, offering our remedies to the clients I've had in the past, some of whom still won't talk to me. Others are just perplexed. Many still use what I taught them with greater success. Some will never have a good relationship with me, nor I with them. One client in particular, who shall remain nameless, who refused to follow any of my instructions, had, I found out after I left, some person sabotaging everything I did in every way imaginable. His ego was/is so big, he couldn't stand any competition in the limelight and he viewed me as a threat instead of someone who could help him make better wine. It happens. I would call that vineyard experience a total failure and I certainly can't use them as a reference. (You've probably never had a client who hated you.) Early on, 5 and 10 years ago, we had other spectacular failures. Biodynamics was still in its infancy then and I got absolutely no help from the BDA, JPI or Demeter. I had to do it all by myself. When I analyzed what happened, I made corrections. But I would say that in every case, if I failed for some reason, the failure was mutually instigated. Having said all this, I must say that for you to state outright that no one other than Michael Topolos has anything nice to say about me, my methods or products is just outright wrong. For example, ask Donald Harms and Patricia Damery how I saved them from losing a $100,000 winegrape crop a few years ago. I don't believe you mentioned them. Perhaps I can grace you with others at some future date. While you're at it, how many people do you know who have actually used our new field sprays? How many have you used? Why didn't you come to Michael Topolos' and my organic viticulture workshop a few weeks ago? You were invited. I haven't seen you on the organic vineyard tour in Sonoma County. Sigh. It's a comment on the human condition I guess, that the people who are my worst critics don't know me, have never met me, know nothing about my work and have never used any of my products or methods. Since I'm working in the field of cutting edge agriculture, I guess this is to be expected. No one else is doing the kind of work I'm doing, except maybe Glen Atkinson although his interests are different than mine. No one else that I know of is willing to take the risks to pocketbook, sanity and reputation. However, in the face of all this, I have persisted and now have a complete, simple, competent, proven system that I am proud to say anyone can understand and follow. (You need to by my book.) More than that, today, I understand better than ever the nature of disease and insect problems in plants and have completely integrated everything I know about biology with sound management practices in a system that is so efficient, Michael Topolos has been able to lower his operating cost on one vineyard to $500 per acre per year, producing 6 to 8 tons of gold medal wine on 776 vines every year. I'd like to know the name of anyone else who has done that. Michael will confirm this. Well, I have no real idea what you have accomplished but from what I hear, many sing your praises. That's great. I appreciate your questions and I am happy to answer them as fully and honestly as I can. It helps to present the facts, though, especially about Wente. Don't you agree? Michael Topolos can be reached at 707-887-1575. You may still be able to get some gold medal Merlot on the Deerfield Ranch website at http://www.deerfieldranch.com. You can also view the new environmentally sound vineyards that Michael and I are helping them develop there. They love my stuff! Well, Bob, believe it or not, our new homeopathic field sprays are going to completely revolutionize agriculture. Heck, we even slipped one set into one of Hugh's Field Broadcasters to see how well they work there (not in California). Greg Willis Agri-Synthesis® Napa, CA __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ BDNow mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can unsubscribe or change your options at: http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/listinfo/bdnow
