White Buffalo Land Trust

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White Buffalo Land Trust

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White Buffalo Land Trust practices, promotes, and develops systems of Regenerative Agriculture for local, regional, and global impact.

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. A global hub for regenerative land stewardship, ecological monitoring & research, education, training, and enterprise development. Our mission is to practice, promote, and develop systems of regenerative agriculture for local, regional, and global impact. We are committed to the evolution of land stewardship and reimagining our food system to address the climate, biodiversity, public health, and food security challenges we face today. Our unique approach is circular; weaving regenerative land stewardship with the education of our community and the training of current and aspiring farmers and ranchers. Innovative monitoring and data collection measure and support scientific research which improves our land stewardship, learning, and teaching. All of this work brings regenerative products into the marketplace and catalyzes the forces of supply and demand.

10/14/2026

🐑 Turns out regenerative agriculture tastes pretty good.  Our 2024 Pinot Noir with Sandhi Wines has landed on VinePair’s list of the 32 Best Pinot Noirs for 2026 – with a 94-point rating. Out of hundreds of bottles tasted, it’s in company with Grand Cru Burgundy and some of the West Coast’s most loved producers.  What’s behind it:
🌱 A 5-acre vineyard at Jalama Canyon Ranch, farmed with regenerative practices since 2021
🌊 Fruit grown a few miles from the Pacific, cooled by fog
🍇 What VinePair found: a savory Pinot Noir with dried herbs, cranberries, delicate red fruit, and spice – plus grippy tannins that’ll help it age beautifully.

Shop the bottle 👉 sandhiw**es.com

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10/09/2026

Brands want proof of impact. Producers see it on the land every day. How do we get those two closer together?

That’s the question behind “Listening to the Land: Where Science Meets Stewardship,” a breakout session at the Conference in Vancouver. Our Director of Land Stewardship, Jesse Smith, is on the panel.

At our 1,000-acre center for regenerative agriculture, we track what’s changing in a lot of ways. Some of it is data – bird surveys, soil tests, air quality sensors. Some of it is knowing the land well enough to notice when something shifts. Both matter, and both are part of showing that regenerative agriculture is working.

📍 Session 2C: Listening to the Land
📅 Tuesday, Oct 13 | 3:15–4:30 PM
🏙️ Vancouver Convention Centre

Jesse will also be part of the Producer Spotlight and the Community of Practice for Nature talks during the week. If you’re attending, come say hi.

10/07/2026

🐦‍⬛🎉 Jalama Canyon Ranch is now Audubon Conservation Ranching certified — one of five ranches in the country to receive it this year.🐦‍⬛🎉

Why that matters: since 1970, grassland birds in North America have declined by over 50%, a bigger drop than almost any other group. Ranches managed regeneratively can increase the bird population, and National Audubon Society’s program verifies whether the birds are actually there.

Getting certified took about 18 months:

📋 Created a land management plan with Audubon California
🌱 Put it into practice: timed our grazing around nesting season and managed invasive weeds, which crowd out the native plants birds need for food + cover
🌿 Had an auditor walk the property, checking cattle grazing patterns, animal conditions, and how wildlife move through the land
🐦‍⬛ 4x bird survey visits with an ecologist — 35 species detected!

We met every requirement and all 10 of the optional ones, which isn’t common. The bird that surprised the ecologist most was Lazuli Bunting: a small, migratory blue songbird that rarely tops habitat lists. Seeing it as the most abundant bird is a strong signal our grasslands are functioning as a healthy + diverse bird habitat.

10/06/2026

🌾 In 1976, the idea sounded crazy: what if farms worked more like prairies?

Recently, The Land Institute celebrated 50 years of working on can we grow food the way a prairie grows, with perennial plants that build soil instead of wearing it down.  At their Prairie Festival, our Director of Land Stewardship, Jesse Smith, joined Aubrey Streit Krug, Liz Carlisle, and Elsie DuBray for a panel on “Living Roots,” a book on perennial agriculture he contributed to.

Also on the menu: pancakes and b**r made with Kernza (a perennial grain The Land Institute developed), plus a weekend of rain that didn’t slow anyone down.

What stuck with Jesse: the arc of it all. Fifty years ago, perennial agriculture was a fringe idea. Now it’s shaping research, farms, and policy conversations, showing that one idea can define a whole field. Here’s to the next 50. 🌱

📚 Order a copy of “Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods” online to learn more.

10/01/2026

You don’t often get to spend an afternoon with a beaver restoration ecologist 🦫, a USDA soil scientist 👨‍🔬, a wildlife researcher 🌿, and a live band 🎶 made up of environmental scientists.

At our October 10 Open House at Jalama Canyon Ranch, that’s just part of the lineup.

Spend the morning exploring the ranch at your own pace — from soil and wildlife stations to art, the vineyard, elderberry orchard, and views from the ridgeline.

Then make your way back to Basecamp for a cookout with Chef Pierre Tremblay, live music from Salty Strings — a band of local Bren School of Environmental Science graduates — and time to gather with the WBLT community.

The WBLT General Store will also be open, with limited release WBLT tees, Figure Ate biltong, persimmon vinegar, and bottles of WBLT x Sandhi Wines w**e to take home.

Come curious. Bring your family and bring a friend who’s never experienced a working regenerative ranch.🦬

🗓️ October 10 | 10am–3pm
📍Jalama Canyon Ranch, Lompoc
🎟️ Free RSVP, or $25 with lunch. Link in bio.

09/29/2026

We added something new this week: a PurpleAir air quality sensor, now live at Jalama Canyon Ranch.

Working with the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District Santa Barbara County APCD, they installed the sensor at basecamp to continuously track particulate matter – the fine particles that spike during wildfires, high winds, and other pollution events.

We already monitor soil, water, vegetation, birds, + insects at JCR. Air is the next layer. Questions we can start thinking about:

❓ How does wildfire smoke move through this landscape?
❓ What do particulate levels look like on high-wind or dry days?
❓ Are there changes in air quality tied to grazing, or other agricultural activities?
❓ Does regenerative agriculture land hold up better during climate extremes?

Data like this helps us learn how to better care for the land. Our air data is public and anyone can pull up JCR’s readings on the PurpleAir map in real time.

If you’re a Santa Barbara County landowner, nonprofit, or school: the Santa Barbara County APCD currently has funding to install 100 free sensors. All you need is an outdoor outlet + Wi-Fi. Fill out the form at ourair.org/sensors to get set up.

09/23/2026

Once a year, we throw a party. October 10 is it. 🎉 Join us for our Open House a day of exploring, learning, eating, and celebrating.

This is our biggest ranch event of the year with stations spread across Jalama Canyon Ranch with the people, partners, and projects behind the work. Here’s what’s waiting:

🌧️ Rainfall Simulator — watch what healthy soil actually does differently
🐦 National Audubon Society in the meadow — understand biodiversity monitoring + what we’re tracking
🌱 Soil lab with Caltech — get your hands dirty + explore soil texture
🎨 Artist-In-Residence station — explore prints, photography, and a sound experience with Nathan Sherwood Liang
🍇 Pollinator Garden — all about nature’s helpers, our Sandhi w**e partnership, + bird boxes
🫐 Elderberry Grove — learn about this crop with our Director of Land Stewardship
🏔️ Saddle Viewpoint + Hiking — explore over a mile of trails, with several scenic stops
🛍️ WBLT General Store — pick up Figure Ate biltong + persimmon vinegar, a WBLT t-shirt, or a bottle of WBLT x Sandhi Wines w**e
🍽️ 1pm Cookout — with Chef Pierre Tremblay
🎶 Live music from Salty Strings — a group of musicians who are also Bren School Bren School at UCSB grads working in environmental fields

🌿 RSVP 🌿
Free or $25 with lunch.
Saturday October 10, 10am–3pm
Jalama Canyon Ranch, Lompoc
Kids welcome, link in bio to RSVP.

09/22/2026

The grapes left Jalama Canyon Ranch at dawn. By morning, Sandhi’s team was sorting through them by hand to remove anything that doesn’t belong, cluster by cluster.

This is what 5 years of regeneratively-managed vineyards looks like when it hits the sorting table.

What they found:
✅ clean, consistent fruit
✅ small, compact clusters w/ even ripening, good sugar + acidity
✅ a low rejection rate

Next, Sandhi ferments the whole grape cluster, including stems. The stems create space for oxygen inside the tank, adding aromatics and structure to the finished w**e. It requires high-quality fruit; you can’t do it with underripe or damaged grapes.

One more thing about this pinot worth knowing: the “pied de cuve.” The pied de cuve is like a sourdough starter – a small batch of fruit is picked + fermented early. The rest of the harvest is added to it to create a strong and consistent fermentation.

📍 Harvest 2026 | White Buffalo Land Trust x Sandhi Wines

09/18/2026

Are you ready? AR Fall 2026 has launched

09/17/2026

Our 6th harvest at Jalama Canyon Ranch came in on the night of August 19.

Early fall rains + a warm summer moved the picking window earlier than usual. Bud break has historically been later February to early March – this year it started January 18th. The decision of when to harvest is a conversation between our team, the Sandhi w**emaking team, and Loma Escondido Farming.

This year, the fruit came in with great quality. The rejection rate was remarkably low — a good sign of how the vines are responding to our management.

The professional picking crew and our team worked by the light of headlamps and a high-powered floodlight hauled by a truck, bundled up against the fog that rolls into the canyon and drops the temperature fast. They moved in methodical lines up and down the rows: buckets passed hand to hand, then dumped into a large bin on the back of a tracked New Holland tractor crawling up and down the south facing slope threading between the vines. By early dawn, it was done.

📍 Harvest 2026 | White Buffalo Land Trust x Sandhi Wines

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Santa Barbara, CA

Website

https://www.whitebuffalolandtrust.org/

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