ISLAND GROVE WINE COMPANY AT FORMOSA GARDENS
Our Gardens
We’ve put our grounds to good use. Right here on our site, we maintain over eight acres of thriving botanical garden with unwavering dedication to natural practices. It’s a vacation for your mind, body, and soul.
Learn about sustainable agriculture. Enjoy a salad at our Bistro incorporating our fresh fruits and vegetables we grow right here at the winery. We even have a live observation hive of honey bees right inside the winery!
We’re much more than a fun drinking, dining, and special events destination.
We’re an agritourism attraction and center for education about sustainable agricultural practices.
Philosophically, our farm is built on three pillars:
• Care for the planet
• Care for people
• Return the surplus to the earth
To these ends, we rely on natural growing methods that promote optimal health and reflect sustainability and ecological responsibility. Essential aspects of our farming include:
• Biodynamics
• Water conservation
• Nitrogen fixing
• Organic pest control
• Organic fertilizing
• Worm composting
• Raising honeybees
Organic, Local Fruit
Island Grove Ag Products is Florida’s largest organic blueberry grower. We have farm locations from North Central Florida all the way to Southern Florida. Some of the wines we produce are made from organic fruit grown right here in Central Florida. We also grow more than one dozen different fruit crops in our on-site sustainable botanical garden and farm, almost entirely organically.
Natural Fertilizing
We favor natural fertilization techniques over chemical fertilizers. We compost plant matter, including plant-based food and agricultural waste generated on our grounds and by our processes. Plus we grow ground-cover crops that supply the soil with nitrogen and other nutrients (nitrogen fixation) as they break down. Also, we raised thousands of worms and introduced them into our soil to aid natural composting. Long term, our biodiverse planting helps ensure maximum fertility.
Natural Pest Control
Fruit flies and other insects are a big concern for us, but we don’t rely on pesticides to take care of them. We use a passive, natural method devised by an Island Grove biologist. It uses spent wine and other natural solutions to attract pests. When they land in them, fruit flies and other pests can’t stay afloat and drown.
Permaculture Principles
Our botanical garden is meticulously designed in accordance with permacultural practices. Basically, it’s an agricultural and gardening system that maximizes yield and sustainability while minimizing the need for human intervention, closely copying the way Mother Nature does things.
Water Conservation
We harvest rainwater to conserve our most precious natural resource. Our drip irrigation system is a highly efficient one that slowly and precisely supplies water to root zones. Also, we use rain gauges to eliminate unnecessary watering when the clouds have taken care of it for us. Our site has the same sandy soil found throughout much of Florida, and it does a poor job retaining water. We use natural treatment methods to increase water retention up to 100 times over untreated soil.
Certifications
We are pursuing Energy Star, Florida Water Star, and Green Globe certification for our winery.