In this episode, Nicole Dooling of Mariah Vineyards and host Jess Baum discuss the wonders of Mendocino County and growing up in a rural area, the experience of leaving home and coming back again, the concept of how regenerative organic agriculture is farming in service of life, and how the Savory Institute is taking certification to the next level.
Soil to Soul: Farming, Food, Wine, and our Collective Future is dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, and the future we’re working to build. Soil to Soul is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates, the largest Regenerative Organic Certified® winery in the United States, and is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra’s Senior Director of Regenerative Impact.
Nicole Dooling is an ER Trauma Nurse and a second generation winegrower from Mendocino County. She introduced regenerative organic practices to her family business, Mariah Vineyards, the first ever Global Land to Market Verified regenerative vineyard certified by The Savory Institute.
Listen in as Jess and Nicole discuss the wonders of Mendocino County and growing up in a rural area, the concept of how regenerative organic agriculture is farming in service of life, and how the Savory Institute is taking certification to the next level.
Today’s episode mentions Paul Dolan, a leader in the organic wine movement who passed away on June 26th, 2023. Paul’s decades-long influence on sustainable viticulture cannot be understated, and his legacy will live on for generations to come.
Nicole Dooling (00:00):
Agriculture is a big part of the problem, but the fact that farming differently and regeneratively can be a solution was just mind blowingly awesome to me.
Elizabeth Archer (00:24):
You're listening to Soil to Soul: Farming, Food, Wine, and our Collective Future, dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, and the future we're working to build. Soil to Soul is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates and is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra's, Senior Director of Regenerative Impact. Today's guest is Nicole Dooling, an ER trauma nurse and a second-generation wine grower from Mendocino County. Nicole introduced regenerative organic practices to her family business, Mariah Vineyards, the first ever global Land to Market verified regenerative vineyards certified by the Savory Institute. Listen in as Jess and Nicole discuss the wonders of Mendocino County and growing up in a rural area, the concept of how regenerative organic agriculture is farming and service of life, and how the Savory Institute is taking certification to the next level.
(01:22):
Today's episode mentions Paul Dolan, a leader in the organic wine movement who passed away on June 26th, 2023. Paul's decades long influence on sustainable viticulture cannot be understated, and his legacy will live on for generations to come.
Jess Baum (01:45):
Hi, Nicole, and welcome to Growing Forward. I'm so excited to have you here today.
Nicole Dooling (01:51):
Thanks, Jess. Glad to be here.
Jess Baum (01:53):
We met recently at an event that we were calling ROC Star, R-O-C Star at McNab Farm, where we were talking about regenerative organic certification and the way that regenerative agriculture can act as a solution to the climate crisis. You and I connected specifically around what you're doing at Mariah Vineyards with Land to Market verification and your connection to Mendocino. You grew up on your family's vineyard in Mendocino County, Mariah Vineyards, which you and your family still own and operate today. How did growing up on a vineyard and in Mendocino County in particular influence your worldview?
Nicole Dooling (02:36):
I grew up in Mendocino County in the middle of nowhere on a mountaintop vineyard that my parents established in 1979. They went up there and growing up there, as a kid you don't really realize your life is just normal, until you go out into the world and then realize how different, or how unique, or how amazing my childhood was. Growing up surrounded by nature, my parents are very much off the grid. We didn't have electricity, we had a generator and have had solar for 20 something, like a long time now. There was a school bus. We did have a landline, we had phones. Eventually we got some satellite TV thing. We're pretty far out with the closest town being either Boonville or Point Arena / Manchester area. So, went to school there and I think even growing up as a kid, we played outside.
(03:36):
That was just part of being in, I think Mendocino County. It was a much more outdoor place and space. I'm the oldest of four, so I had two brothers and a sister. We were each other's best friends, and then I went to Mendocino for middle school and high school and realized, "Oh wow, I definitely grew up a little bit different than everybody else." I think in college is when I realized, "Wow, I grew up in a very different place." I have to say in high school it was hard. You have to drive far, you're isolated a little bit and you want to be really social. I mean, I just couldn't get out of there fast enough in a way. At the same time, I was over the last probably 10 or 15 years, I really am gaining such a perspective on the values that are incredibly important in my life because of how I grew up and where I grew up.
(04:27):
Mendocino is an amazing county filled with really innovative people. It's very focused on the environment. There's a lot of people that work and live with respect for the environment, and that's something that has been instilled in me growing up in that area, as well as with my parents being farmers. And I mean, my mom as well is very in touch with natural systems and has been recycling since before it was cool and using her own bags at the grocery store since I can remember. It's a great place. As I get older and move through the world, I respect so much the things that growing up there has instilled in me and I think it's a very integral part of my life and who I've become. Having gone away and gotten out and traveled, traveling has been a huge part of my life. I definitely have gained a very global perspective, but have this balance of this local compassion combined with more of a global perspective.
Jess Baum (05:35):
It's so interesting hearing you speak about this. I'm reminded of something that I saw in New England. In looking at old fields we would see these pasture trees reaching for the sun. And it always reminded me of this thing that we're grounded in, the soil where we come from, the things that we perhaps take for granted and then what we have to reach for and fight for. Watching the way that the trees grow, or plants in general grow to seek the sun until we have that whole picture, both the things that we take for granted that root us in who we are and the things that we have to fight for. Only then can we really appreciate where we fully came from and where we've gotten. And it sounds like you've come full circle?
Nicole Dooling (06:19):
Yes, and I am incredibly proud and honored to be from Mendocino County. I think it's a very progressive county in so many ways. And environmentally, but also in the agriculture space it's a very diverse county and there's so much cool stuff going on up there. It just blows my mind. Cold Creek Compost and all he's doing. And then there's the Mendocino Grain Project and Filigreen Farm in Boonville and what Boonville Barn Collective is doing with chili peppers. And then Oz Farm is down the road from the vineyard and there's the Mendocino Beekeepers Association, and obviously there's tons of tourism things and there's just so much cool stuff happening in Mendocino County that I'm like, "Oh man, I grew up at a really cool place and didn't really connect the dots on it until I got older and gained perspective." I'm happy and very proud to be from Mendocino County.
Jess Baum (07:14):
I've heard you say that you didn't expect always to end up working for the family business, but that all changed when you met your husband, Michael, can you tell us a little bit about that and your journey back to Mendocino and back to the vineyard?
Nicole Dooling (07:29):
The reason I was able to get out there and go and see the world was really like my dad was farming that place a hundred percent on his own. And my mom made sure to give us the things that we needed to be successful in life, so when I graduated from UC Santa Barbara, I put my, whatever the sashes you get, I gave it to my mom. I was like, "The only reason I got this is because you drove me here." Yeah, that happened and I ended up living in North County San Diego working as an EMT and it hit me like a ton of bricks, "Nursing, of course, that's what I want to do." As soon as I realized that I was on a fast track to be a nurse, it brought me back to Northern California where I went to UCSF School of Nursing, ended up doing some volunteer work after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
(08:20):
And San Francisco General was always my dream hospital. It's a level one trauma center. It does a lot of good work. And I was in Haiti with some folks from there and they're like, "Why don't you apply?" I was like, "I have, but I'm a new grad and it's hard to start." So anyway, I ended up getting a job at San Francisco General and that has been where I've been for the last now 13 years as an emergency trauma nurse, which has been an amazing roller coaster. But going to the vineyard was always, and getting outside was always my saving grace that allowed me to stay and do and work in the city. I always valued going home and going to the vineyard, it reset me.
(09:05):
Through my nursing career I was really just getting, I don't want to say stagnant, but I needed change. I decided I was going to apply for flight nursing. I was on a fast track to do that, and so I was going to burn up my vacation time and decided last minute to take this random trip to Peru and I invited my mom. My mom and I go to Peru and Bolivia for a couple of weeks on this trip and I ended up meeting this Swiss guy who was on around the world trip for a year. I met Michael and he came here and it was winter when he first came, but I remember him coming to the vineyard and we get up there and just the way that he looked at this place and had the utmost respect for the fact that there was no light pollution and there was no air pollution and you're off the grid and you're in the middle of nature surrounded by fort. He looked at this and just was completely amazed.
(10:05):
He's like, "I thought you lived in a shack in the woods somewhere." I started to see it in a different light in the sense of, "Wow, my parents really built something here." And my dad isn't just a farmer. I mean, he's an electrician, he's a mechanic, he's a plumber, he's a welder, he has to do all these things. There's nothing just down the road. And my mom, she runs that play. I guess I just started to look at my home differently. It's always my home, but I just didn't really truly respect or understand all that they did. It was just home. We ended up having some conversations with a very good and close family friend, Paul Dolan, just about certain things we were thinking around just in the wine world, kind of understanding it a little bit more because Michael was helping my dad farm.
(10:56):
I was very much not really involved and Paul told us to go to this Regenerative Earth System Summit in Colorado in 2019 I think. And that just spun us down this regenerative agriculture rabbit hole that I am so happy to be in still today. That's kind of the beginning. That was the spark of the beginning of my entrance into this regenerative space. And really the thing that brought me back home was not because my parents needed me or needed us or because I wanted to be a farmer, it was more that I was so inspired by regenerative agriculture and the possibilities that it could have to be a solution. Agriculture is a big part of the problem, but the fact that farming differently and regeneratively can be a solution was just mind blowingly awesome to me that immediately we came back from this conference and we went to my parents. We were like, "We got to do this, we have to do this, let's do it." And my mom was like, "All right, let's go. I'm on board. Let's do it. What do we got to do?" My dad's like, "What do I got to do differently?" He's like, so that was really ... What triggered it. And at this summit we met people who I didn't really know of, some heavy hitters of the regenerative space. All these folks from Savory, the Savory Institute, which I didn't really know much about. And Will Harris was the one who was like, "You got to talk to Abby from the Savory hub in Northern California." We started the conversation. That's really what instigated our regenerative path at Mariah Vineyards.
Jess Baum (12:42):
It sounds like going to the Regenerative Earth Summit and learning about regenerative ag really changed your view of farming and the possibilities that it brings as a solution, as a form of activism even. Can you tell us a little bit about Land to Market verification, which Mariah Vineyards has achieved through the Savory Institute?
Nicole Dooling (13:05):
The Savory Institute is a global nonprofit that has hubs all over the world. They're very focused on grasslands and regeneration through integration of animals back onto the land. They do a verification called Ecological Outcome Verification, which is based on these ecological health indexes. You do your baseline year and then every year you are monitored. You have a monitor from your local hub come and do your monitoring, and it is outcome based. There is no check boxes. Do you do this? Do you do that? Or there's no recipe for what you have to do or don't have to do. It's purely outcome-based on these ecological indexes about covered soil, biodiversity, water infiltration, there's soil sampling involved, things like that. And there's annual monitoring and then these long-term monitoring every five years. So yeah, we just were really intrigued. They were not working in cropping systems and we were kind of like, "Why not? This would be amazing." And they just hadn't gotten there yet.
(14:15):
In our conversation we ended up connecting with the top folks of Savory and they decided to bring us on as the pilot vineyard for adapting their Ecological Outcome Verification for vineyards globally. They hadn't gone into this system before, into cropping systems and verifying on that level. Yeah, we just started the conversation and next thing you know the pandemic hit, and then it was very early summer 2020, we did our baseline testing with the Savory Hub in Northern California, now called of UVE, but at the time it was the Jefferson Center for Holistic Management. Yeah, it was really amazing. We learned a lot. We learned a lot about our land and went down this path and ended up the next year releasing our first Land to Market verified wine. That's kind of the short version of it.
Jess Baum (15:08):
I had the pleasure of serving on the board of the Savory Hub back in New Hampshire and have learned a bit about the way that land is surveyed through the Savory Institute and the Ecological Outcome Verification. And it's so interesting, because it is in many ways looking at similar things as regenerative organic certification, which is what Bonterra has achieved, but it's coming at it from a different angle. As far as regenerative organic certification is concerned, you have to have a certain number of cover crops and a certain percentage of land cover which is audited. And then as far as Land to Market and the Ecological Outcome Verification, you're putting these squares on the land and looking at what percentage is covered. It's such an interesting way to get at a similar outcome.
(15:59):
You mentioned before that your family is close friends with Paul Dolan and that he was the one that pushed you to attend the Regenerative Earth Summit, which changed everything for you and for your family as far as moving into regenerative agriculture. Paul Dolan, for those who don't know, is a pioneer in the regenerative organic field. He's on the board of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and has been an incredible leader in this work, and Paul has said that, "Regenerative organic agriculture is farming in service of life." In 2020 you were working as an ER nurse during the pandemic while also working to get your farm verified through the Savory Institute's Land to Market Ecological Outcome Verification. What was it like to be in service to life on the front lines of the pandemic while also working toward this verification?
Nicole Dooling (16:55):
It was interesting. For the first couple of months I didn't go to the vineyard. I didn't see my parents. I was exposed to COVID every day, all day and somehow didn't get it. But the testing wasn't really great at that time, and I surely didn't want to give it to my parents who were hiding out on the top of a mountain, which is the best place to be. Eventually, I think probably in May, right before we were going to do our baseline is when I finally went up there and basically when we went down this path with Land to Market and with the Savory Institute. Michael and I said, "We're going to do this. We believe in this, we will help." My parents, I mean, they're farming that place themselves for the most part, and we can't just put more on their plate and say, "Yeah, we should bring in sheep, but we should do this."
(17:40):
We really jumped in and part of it and it gave me this amazing outlet from the hospital. I gained the ability to really go and work on the land and learn about what my dad is really doing out there. I mean, I knew a lot of stuff just from growing up there, but really jumping in and learning from him and being part of that and realizing how much my mom actually knows about farming in that place. I didn't necessarily regard her as a farmer, but she is a 100% a farmer. I mean, that woman has her fingers on the pulse of that place completely. And really coming home and being there and being part of it, it centered me and it gave me energy to go back underneath my masks and go into that ER for my shifts. It was really a saving grace to actually get my hands dirty and not wear gloves and really learn.
(18:37):
They both have a lot of wisdom from up there, and in order to continue farming that place, somebody's got to learn it. Somebody's got to step in and help and support and learn the things that he's learned over the years farming up there. If you had told me, I don't know, even just 10 years ago that I would be where I am today, I would definitely laugh, but I am so honored and so proud to be part of the future of that vineyard. Farming and being a part of this regenerative agriculture movement gives me hope. I feel like I flip-flop between two broken systems. There's a lot of system problems and things broken in the agriculture world, but the healthcare world is another disaster. And so I think that being part of what's happening at our vineyard and to be able to help be part of this regenerative agriculture movement and expand it and do better, I can do more good in the farming world than I think I can in the broken healthcare system. It gives me a little bit of an outlet to still feel like I'm doing something good.
Jess Baum (19:48):
Well, I'm sure that you do good in both places. And what an interesting juxtaposition of experience to be working in, as you called it, these two broken systems. One where you feel like you can move the needle, which I imagine is because all you need to do to be a farmer and to change the farming system is dig your hands in the soil and plant seeds, right? And the revolution is in the doing. At Bonterra we really talk about how the product is the promise of our impact in action. In our corporate mission statement we say that we make wine for change makers. And our farming practices, our commitments to care for our workers and to climate action, they show up in our certifications, because they hold us accountable to our commitments and to our consumers. How do you see this promise showing up in your wines and this hope that you talk about when you speak about Land to Market and the Savory Institute and regenerative farming?
Nicole Dooling (21:01):
My parents were farming. I mean, they weren't too far off before we jumped in. We're like, "We're going to farm regeneratively." And my dad's like, "What does that mean? Dry farmed already. I'm permanent cover. We are on solar. What else do I got to do?" And he's like, "Electric tractors, not there yet." I mean, I'd be shocked if he doesn't have diesel in his blood. Our biggest change was actually our vine row management to stop any soil disturbance in the vine row. And that was a big hurdle. I would say the hardest part of all of this is actually, I don't even want to say hard, but the more exhausting pieces are the conversations around change and mindset change. That has been a big piece. And we end up balancing out these new ideas or actually old ideas of farming and how we should farm with, well, I've been doing it like this for, I don't know, 40 years or whatever it is.
(21:56):
And I don't have 40 years of experience, I have 40 different experiences. A farmer said that on some podcast I listened to. That stuck with me and I throw it back at my dad every chance I get. And that is something that I think has allowed us to really start thinking, and especially in the face of climate change and the things that are happening that are just out of our control. You have to be adaptive and you have to think about each year differently and tackle things as they come, not just have a recipe that you apply to it. So anyway, we are very proud that we went down this Land to Market verification because we know what goes into it, and we know that we are farming, like Paul Dolan says, "In service of life." And we feel that the verification is proof of that.
(22:47):
And I get as a consumer, we're bombarded with so many things now. I mean, people just make up their own stuff on their boxes these days, but we do need some sort of labeling that consumers can understand and get behind. For us, in the future we might have a different certificate, I don't know. But right now it seems to work for us. We have somebody that comes on our land physically boots on the ground and monitors our sites, and it's based on what's there. So we are very proud of that and it is on our bottles. And there's a lot of explanation that goes with it because that certification is not as widely known, especially in the wine world. And I'm sure you guys understand that as well. I mean the broad consumer, it doesn't even know the word regeneration, let alone what it means or what the various certifications are out there.
(23:39):
There's a lot of education that comes along with our certification, but we do our best and we are all about arising tide, lifts all the shifts and how do we bring more people involved? And that's exactly where our conversation started, Jess. It was how do we expand regenerative, viticulture, regenerative agriculture? How do we move the needle and lift up not only the vineyards that are doing this, but all of Mendocino County? How do we uplift everywhere and do better and strive for better? And it's these pivotal places like Bonterra that are doing this and proving that it can be done.
Jess Baum (24:14):
It's definitely a challenge that we all face. And I like to think of our work essentially is to be educators, to educate our consumers and share more about what it is they need to know to make conscious choices. And certainly in the field of regenerative agriculture, there is no legal definition. And so there is kind of a risk of it being used by anybody to mean anything. And so when we bring certification to the table, we're saying, "Don't take our word for it, take theirs. And there's a third party in play that is verifying this." Thank you for sharing more about your experience and your journey with that. I am going to move us on to our quick question segment where I'm going to ask you five questions back to back, and I'm going to ask for just a quick one sentence answer. So Nicole, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Nicole Dooling (25:19):
First an archeologist, and then when I was a bit older, it shifted that I was going to be a pediatrician or an ER doctor.
Jess Baum (25:28):
What's your eco confession?
Nicole Dooling (25:30):
I find myself reusing and recycling so much stuff and I'm all about no waste. And I grew up with that and I got on my mom's case about it, and now I'm completely that way. So that's my eco confession.
Jess Baum (25:44):
What's the most impactful thing that you've read in the last year?
Nicole Dooling (25:48):
For me, the most impactful thing I've read in the last year is actually this book called Out Here: Wisdom from the Wilderness. And this girl just writes these short little life stories with so much wisdom that I love it. It made me feel at home and just passionate about the beauty of being in the wilderness.
Jess Baum (26:09):
What place brings you joy?
Nicole Dooling (26:11):
Being in the mountains.
Jess Baum (26:13):
And what's your life motto?
Nicole Dooling (26:15):
I would say always moving, always outside. I can't sit still, so I'm always moving, and being outside is where I feel at home.
Jess Baum (26:28):
Thank you so much, Nicole, for joining us for this conversation. Thank you for all that you do in service to life, both at Mariah Vineyards and in the ER as a nurse.
Nicole Dooling (26:38):
Thanks for having me on. And I really think it's great that you are creating a voice with this podcast for people to tell their stories and learn more about power of regenerative agriculture. Everybody has a different way they can create regeneration in their life. It doesn't mean you have to have a vineyard to do it.
Elizabeth Archer (27:04):
Thanks for listening to the Soil to Soul podcast, hosted by Jess Baum and produced by me, Elizabeth Archer, right here in Mendocino County on behalf of Bonterra Organic Estates, the largest regenerative organic winery in the United States. If you love wine, look for Bonterra's first ever Regenerative Organic Certified estate collection, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay in a store near you. To learn more, visit bonterra.com. Original music composed by Mendocino County musician Julian Sterling. Thanks again to today's guest, Nicole Dooling of Mariah Vineyards in Mendocino County. We hope you join us again next week for another compelling conversation about farming, food, wine, and the collective future we're working to build.