We both came to farming via a rather circuitous route. Jodi is a graduate of Prescott High School, the University of Phoenix, and has a master’s degree from the College for Financial Planning, Denver, CO. She is a partner in a local financial advising firm in Prescott – Cambium Wealth & Legacy Strategies,, and is passionate about her work partnering with clients wishing to leave a personal, not simply financial, legacy to those who follow.
I hail from Zambia, Africa and a career in food service. I came to Prescott in 1996 and in 2000 obtained my bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies through the Adult Degree Program at Prescott College. Since then I have been the Education Director of a local non-profit educational organization in Prescott, the Highlands Center for Natural History. I confess to a passion for the natural world and spending time with children – of all ages – exploring the big world of the great outdoors.

A sense of the possible exists within both of us and that’s why we grow wine grapes in Skull Valley. For the past 4 years we have learned that the possibility of success for this venture depends on many things beyond our control! Thus the challenges are never-ending. Friends, family and other vintners have helped us learn, accept the uncontrollable (or helped us try to control them!), and celebrate and share the joys. Drinking wine with them all helped as well!

Why the “Painted Lady Vineyard”? No, there is not some funny business going on down in Skull Valley! No painted ladies looking for work! Instead, the ephemeral yet cosmopolitan Painted Lady butterfly decided to migrate by the thousands in the summer of 2006, the year we planted the vines. Lucky for us. If we had planted in 2007 perhaps the vineyard would be named after a grasshopper!

We love the land and our working goal is to reintroduce native vegetation to our acreage and do so in ways that are kind to all creatures and plants, ourselves and our animals. Our progress is slow but sure. We share the land with many beloved pets, chickens, Elvis and Tiffany (the mini donkeys), and Pablo, Sheila and Mesquite, the llamas.