Images of livestock weaving through the vineyard rows only tell part of the story. What you’re seeing here is an ongoing effort to fold animals back into a living farm system, where their presence shapes the land as much as the vines do.

We began modestly, with a small trial alongside Marie Hoff of Full Circle Wool. A few sheep, a few passes, and a curiosity about what might change. It didn’t take long to see the vineyard respond. The grasses grew differently. The soil held together better. There was a quiet shift in how the place functioned.

In the years since, that experiment has grown into a deeper commitment. Many of these images are from our partnership with Perennial Grazing, whose flocks have helped us think more holistically about timing, density, and movement. Today, we continue that work closer to home with local grazer John O’Mara, bringing sheep through the vineyard primarily in the spring, when growth is vigorous and the need for balance is highest. We have also begun to explore grazing after harvest, letting animals return to the vineyard at a different moment in the season, with a different kind of impact.

The goal is not efficiency in the conventional sense. It is to reintroduce a relationship that vineyards once had with animals, where fertility, weed control, and soil health are not outsourced, but carried out in step with the rhythms of the land. Hooves press organic matter into the soil. Manure returns nutrients in place. Grazing interrupts dominance in the understory, making room for greater diversity.

It is a slower way of farming, and at times a less predictable one. But it is also more complete. Each pass of animals is another small step toward a system that can sustain itself, season after season, with fewer outside inputs and a deeper connection between all its parts.

These images are moments within that process.

Photos and copyright by Chris Binghamhttps://www.cbinghamphotography.com/