Reub's journey

13 October 2013

Filling buckets



Living in wine country is pretty great. We have friends who bought a vineyard a few years ago, and are actually making a go of it. Every October they put out a call for help on a Saturday, see who shows up, and everybody goes out to snip grapes and haul buckets. This year we picked Riesling grapes.




It was a gorgeous sunny day and there were plenty of snacks.




Vineyards here in Oregon commonly use sheep to graze around the vines after they've lost their leaves in the fall. It beats mowing with a tractor, right? And then of course, you also deserve a sheep dog.



  

New this year is Lulu. She is 7/8 Great Pyrenees and 1/8 Maremma, bred to sleep with and guard sheep, she is just 1 year old. Very love-y towards people & kids, not so much towards other dogs, who may pose a threat to the sheep.




This year my job was to pick up filled buckets...



...but I had to pause to admire the late-blooming Queen Anne's lace.



Reisling grapes filling a bucket.



Take-home pay was two bottles of wine. 





 Do you work for wine? If so, come on by; somebody could use your help!



25 comments:

  1. dang, that sounds like a great 'sweat equity' plan! sheep and dog company included!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The best kind of sweat equity! I loved meeting the new dog, as you might guess:)

      Delete
  2. Kerry, the image on the label of the Riesling is the same as in the books I mention in the post I just aired. Seeing it proved such a distraction, the other thoughts I had in response to your beautiful, warm, autumnal post went flying out of my head for a second.

    I do love the photos of the grapes so much. They speak not only of bounty but of love. And those look like some contented, hale animals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I downloaded the first in that series but haven't looked at it yet, but I really like this dragon image. I would be likely to pick the wine by its label and the book by its cover:)

      Delete
    2. I was actually referring to a different book in the post I aired last night, The Cosmic Serpent, as well as the book I have begun to write. That dragon image is quite weighty, actually. Have you ever heard the story behind the daydream that inspired the Kekule structure of Benzene?

      Delete
    3. Oh! Must check. And I will look at your link, too. I've seen this image before but do not know the story. Thanks!

      Delete
    4. Hey Suze, I finally figured out what you were talking about with the benzene link, and no I hadn't heard that story! Kekule was pretty trippy, seems like. The ouroboros is such a cool symbol and brings to mind multiple meanings. Now I wonder why this vineyard chose to put it on their label. Next time I see them I'm going to ask.

      Delete
  3. Beautiful pics! I love the first picture of the grapes, they almost look like a field of flowers, so inviting! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just looked at that pic again and re-imagined it as a field of flowers: fantastic! Thanks!

      Delete
  4. It looks like a great spot on a great day. While I have never worked for wine, it does seem tempting for some strange reason. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest the real temptation is the beautiful hillside on a perfect autumn day, working with a nice crowd of people & being fed a delicious dinner afterwards. The wine is a bonus.

      Delete
  5. What a perfect, perfect, perfect day. Please bottle and cork it up for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'll have to remember to come back to these photos in a few months when the weather has turned its dark face to us. Because it was a perfect day.

      Delete
  6. It hurts to think of the amount of bending these tasks would take and I can't help but wonder how much a bucket full of grapes weighs. The pay in wine would be pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my, yes. However I failed to mention/admit that we showed up late and I only had to haul heavy buckets for an hour or so. Plus there was the help of a cool little Kubota 4-wheeler. Two years ago it was much harder work, fewer helpers, and lousier weather also. I picked grapes & lifted quite a few buckets that year, and my back definitely felt it.

      Delete
  7. Wow, it looks like a very nice day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a wonderful day, especially appreciated after a long rainy spell.

      Delete
  8. All of these photos are wonderful, but the one of Lulu sure does warm my heart. Our grapes split--a lot of them anyway--due to all the rain--7 inches in September made for an all-time record.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fascinating pics of the grapes, the vineyard & the bottle of the finest wine. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Snow: Some of the grapes had split and rotted because of all that rain, which is bad, but the harvest still looked pretty good. Sure is nice to see the sun these days. Lulu was very photogenic.

    Reya: Aren't they? All greenish-purple-y.

    RR: Thank you. There might be a few vineyards in Idaho too, but I'm not sure. Next time you're there you should check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a beautiful first photo! :-) I love grapes.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Cuban! I'm so glad to see you again. My daughter is in London right now.

      I love grapes too. Once I made a grape pie.

      Delete
  12. Catching up on all your doings (I've been away). I don't work for wine but I'd work for some of those orange meringues in the previous post! nada fabulous time in Oregon. Maybe next year when I'm there we could meet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pauline I would love to meet you. I've never met another far-away blogger! That would be really nice. Our son is in the process of moving to Portland, where I think you also have a son?

      Delete

Talk to me.