This means i am pretty much on my own in a lot of respects. I am here exploring the California wine world--to see if wine is something that I could use in life. as in a career of sorts. I am here to explore what a new part of the country feels like--a part of the country that nearly everyone tells me I really belong to. I am also here because when else am I going to be able to take 4 months (or however long this adventure lasts) to do nothing but live in a new place, meet new people who are interesting and friendly, and take some time to think about what I really want to be doing with "LIFE." Yea right.
So I am here and if this all turns out to be a flopp--that is, wine isn't for me for a career--then no big deal because MAN this place is gorgeous and these people are fun and I'm having a blast.
So what else is happening in this place? Let's see: After Gen and I had our oil spill of 2009 (Joey I'm sorry), we stayed at Le Vin winery and vineyard in Cloverdale CA with Eric and Holly Le Vin. That WWOOFing experience was...unexpected. Read sophieandgengowest.blogspot.com to get Gen's concise and wonderfully written review of our time there. For here I'll leave it at this: the place has no beds for the 10 WWOOFers who live there. And there's really not much in terms of order. Rattlesnakes abound, and there's a fair amount of swearing, but lots of music jamming. It was just too crowded for me and to be honest, not what I really had in mind nor what I really want to spend my time on during this adventure in CA.
So, Gen dropped me off at the Buckners and I have been here since Thursday. I have my own beautiful room, I have my guitar, miles to go running on, porches for yoga in the shade of table grapes, delicious food, an incredible veggie garden which is my job to weed and tend to, tons of produce which we harvest and turn into ketchsup (SO sO SO good) and relish. I now know how to can properly in the old fashioned way using boiling water and old Bally jars. There are 3 dogs and 3 cats, Tim & Laura and their son Andrew live here. They turned out to be a Waldorf family. Also my dear friend Tammy from Boston is WWOOFing with a family just down the road. We had a playdate together yesterday and our families had dinner together tonight.
last night we had dinner at my house, then laura took us to local guy's backyard which he has set up like a drive in movie. each weekend he plays a different movie and people come and sit on lawn chairs and watch once the sun goes down. he even has a popcorn making machine which you pay $0.25 for a bag. =) so we watched Mr. Goose something with Cary Grant under the California stars (you can really see the Milky way out here) and had cuddly blankets and popcorn.
Today I helped make relish and can it. so fun. can't really describe how fun and rewarding it feels to pick the veggies, cut them, cook them, then can them and boil them sealed shut, and now they are preserved for as long as they want and the Buckners will eat that relish over the course of the next year. We did that with ketchup also. (which you can also spell "catsup, did you know??) and we had some of it at dinner tonight. WOAH yum yum. like YUMMM.
What do I do? Well. I wake up and go running through the grape vineyards. Then I do some yoga under the grape canopy on the porch. Then I go and pick some fresh blueberries and strawberries and eat them with my granola. Then I help in the house--either canning or making some new concoction--or I help Tim with the vineyard work, or do some weeding in the garden, or eventually I think I might do some ranch work (like shoveling and that kind of thing). Basically I am here to do whatever the family needs me to do, and Tim knows that I am interested in wine and learning about organic grape growing so he is going to let me do as much of my work in the vineyard stuff as I can. Which is awesome. My days are work in the early mornings before it gets hot (doing vineyard work, or ranch or gardening stuff) and quit by 1pm i think, then in the afternoon I am pretty much free, though I then help out with dinner and any house stuff that needs to get done. That's what I'm assuming at least--I have yet to really have to work all that much, mostly it's been pretty sporadic and all over the place, and honestly I really don't feel like I'm working enough for how well I'm eating and sleeping. but I have a feeling once the week starts tomorrow they are definitely going to put me to work and I'll be singing a different tune....
I really love it here. I hope to stay here for a few weeks or even a month, then head up to Oregon and see what I can fine there! possibly even invade gen's new life.
so that's sort of the update. bed now. wake up at 6am tomorrow for vineyard work!
