What Is That Smell

[Lorrie]

HI ALL
I live in Guerneville, I had spent the day in Santa Rosa yesterday, when I got home around 9:30pm and got out of my car my nostrels were filled with the smells of Petaluma!!!(my windows were rolled up upon arrival)
It was OVERWHELMINGLY strong!!

What is that? Does anyone know?
It smells like doggie doo doo or Apple and Manuere or something awful like that...

When I left the house the stench was still in the air. I spoke with someone else this morning about it (they live in Guernewood) and they smelt it too, but didn't know what it was and was asking me.

I told her that I would post here to see if anyone knew.

Does anyone?
~Lorrie

[petermargolies]

Sonoma County's economy is based in agriculture. The smells that non ag people complain about in this area are generally a necessary consequence of spreading animal manure to help replenish the soil. Farming in many ways is similar to gardening and manure in one form or another is used by both farmers and gardeners. You can buy it by the bag right here in Guerneville at the local hardware store. The manure is from non meat eating animals and does not become rancid, is an environmental asset and an ecologically sound use of this animal byproduct.
I used to farm west of Chicago in an area that was being developed for upscale housing. I fought with neighbors for years who complained about the aroma that was a byproduct of my operation I could never understand why people who objected to the smell of manure would move next to a farm. Eventually enough neighbors banded together to force the village officials to require the farms in the area to have the manure hauled to landfills. At that point we had to begin purchasing petrochemicals to do the job in our hay fields the manure had previously been used for. As a direct consequence, I am no longer a farmer.
So, keep complaining, organizing and petitioning local elected officials and in time you'll probably be able to stop the smells you object to. The farmers will sell out to developers and soon the area will begin to look like the cities and suburbs you left and a lot less like the rural area you were attracted to in the first place.

HI ALL
I live in Guerneville, I had spent the day in Santa Rosa yesterday, when I got home around 9:30pm and got out of my car my nostrels were filled with the smells of Petaluma!!!(my windows were rolled up upon arrival)
It was OVERWHELMINGLY strong!!

What is that? Does anyone know?
It smells like doggie doo doo or Apple and Manuere or something awful like that...

When I left the house the stench was still in the air. I spoke with someone else this morning about it (they live in Guernewood) and they smelt it too, but didn't know what it was and was asking me.

I told her that I would post here to see if anyone knew.

Does anyone?
~Lorrie

[Lorrie]

WHOA Peter!
I have lived on a farm and have lived in Sonoma County my whole life. I resent being called a "non ag people". Besides the fact that I was not complaining for what reason the smell was there, just that the smell was bad.

I was asking Wacco persons to see if anyone knew the specific cause i.e. What farm was using it or where specifically where? or any other infor someone cared to share.

I am sorry for your bad experience in farming in Chicago and for bringing up any bad memories from your experiences.

I have lived in Guerneville for almost 4 years now, and it has never smelled like that the whole time I have lived there. Hence my curiosity...
~Lorrie

Sonoma County's economy is based in agriculture. The smells that non ag people complain about in this area are generally a necessary consequence of spreading animal manure to help replenish the soil. Farming in many ways is similar to gardening and manure in one form or another is used by both farmers and gardeners. You can buy it by the bag right here in Guerneville at the local hardware store. The manure is from non meat eating animals and does not become rancid, is an environmental asset and an ecologically sound use of this animal byproduct.
I used to farm west of Chicago in an area that was being developed for upscale housing. I fought with neighbors for years who complained about the aroma that was a byproduct of my operation I could never understand why people who objected to the smell of manure would move next to a farm. Eventually enough neighbors banded together to force the village officials to require the farms in the area to have the manure hauled to landfills. At that point we had to begin purchasing petrochemicals to do the job in our hay fields the manure had previously been used for. As a direct consequence, I am no longer a farmer.
So, keep complaining, organizing and petitioning local elected officials and in time you'll probably be able to stop the smells you object to. The farmers will sell out to developers and soon the area will begin to look like the cities and suburbs you left and a lot less like the rural area you were attracted to in the first place.

[mykil]

Korbel is planting a few new grapes right behind the school!

[79paul]

More specifically, the smell is from cow manure mixed with hay seed and spread on the land to make next winter's verdant green hills. This has been a regular occurrence here for decades, a rite of fall if you will. The rotten apple smell, just that -- windfall apples that are returning to the soil. Enjoy the sweet aroma, and PLEASE don't complain!!!!

[Lorrie]

I found out that Korbel is working some land on Laughlin just blocks from my house. They usually use their own compost which doesn’t have a smell, but they ran short and used a Chicken Compost, containing Grape pumice and rice hulls they got from another company.
And where I live the stench was exceeding. Korbel says it won’t be happening again. The smell is now dissipating. Hence no more complaining.
~Lorrie

[Helen Shane]

MiDear. It is one of the joys of living in Sonoma County. That is the sweet and piquant aroma of fertilizer. Newbies on Sebastopol's Main Street are seen checking the soles of their shoes as they walk. Not to worry, it's not you, it's about growing the food we eat.

[RedwoodsAngel]

Hey, I live up above Laughlin and have had the olefactory joys of two smells this time of year thanks to Korbel's monocropping of that good old winoculture...it used to be just the sweet smells of fallen apples returning to the mama, but that goldang chicken manure they spread was almost too much to take.....the noise of their heavy machines, reverberating through my bone marrow was enough to rattle me into a funk, but that SMELL was almost unbareable.....thank whomever it is finally going away! No offense to all you wino's out there but Korbel sucks and we all know it! Now they have made my once peaceful valley with my namesake a smelly noisy agri-vation shituation!
Peace in the valley tonight, AAA :cool:

MiDear. It is one of the joys of living in Sonoma County. That is the sweet and piquant aroma of fertilizer. Newbies on Sebastopol's Main Street are seen checking the soles of their shoes as they walk. Not to worry, it's not you, it's about growing the food we eat.

[petermargolies]

Excuse me? Korbel has been in operation and employing residents of the West County since the 19th century. They maintain a pristine facility along River Road, are a major player in the local economy and make a product that brings recognition to our area throughout the world. By adding the waste product of another agricultural enterprise in the county to replenish the soil, they are recycling something that otherwise would further tax the limited resources of our local land fills.

So you tell me who sucks, the company that is making a positive contribution to the economy, the environment and the livelihoods of local residents - and has for well more than a century - or the newbe who moves next to an agricultural operation and then whines and complains about something they obviously know very little about?

And furthermore, what made apple growing any less of a "monocropping" operation than viticulture?

It occurs to me that your diatribe was written more to illicit responses than to present any sort of valid complaint. But taken at face value, your rant makes me wonder why someone with your acute olfactory senses would chose to live in such an earthy environment as Sonoma County. Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable and at home in the hermetically sealed environment of some metropolitan high rise.

Hey, I live up above Laughlin and have had the olefactory joys of two smells this time of year thanks to Korbel's monocropping of that good old winoculture...it used to be just the sweet smells of fallen apples returning to the mama, but that goldang chicken manure they spread was almost too much to take.....the noise of their heavy machines, reverberating through my bone marrow was enough to rattle me into a funk, but that SMELL was almost unbareable.....thank whomever it is finally going away! No offense to all you wino's out there but Korbel sucks and we all know it! Now they have made my once peaceful valley with my namesake a smelly noisy agri-vation shituation!
Peace in the valley tonight, AAA :cool: