i'm exhausted.
and tired.
of sleeping with spiders
and the dog pooping in the house
and being cold.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
recent events have included: a trip into Portland to visit our family friends, pumpkin carving, vespa riding, city exploring, and yummy yummy food eaten (like baby octopus!)
then back to Carlton where we've been continuing to press our wine, but have some time off: yesterday we went on a hike nearby the winery and after 45 minutes of walking we happened upon this open valley with vineyards below and mountains in the distance. it was a good time with a good bottle of wine. then last night we built a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and marshmellows on the fire.
then back to Carlton where we've been continuing to press our wine, but have some time off: yesterday we went on a hike nearby the winery and after 45 minutes of walking we happened upon this open valley with vineyards below and mountains in the distance. it was a good time with a good bottle of wine. then last night we built a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and marshmellows on the fire.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
right now:
"If you arrive in a strange land,
bow
if the place is bizarre
bow
if the day is utter strangeness
surrender--
you are infinitely more peculiar"
-Orides Fontela
(thank you for this mal)
im feeling so happy. and content. each day i know what to expect and i am feeling that i know what i am doing around here more and more, which makes me feel in turn that I'm doing a good job with my work.
the thought of WWOOFing, and the fact that I am doing these sometimes 13 hour days for free. well except room and board. it is an interesting thing to stop and think about. because it's a lot of work. and i wake up early and i got to bed late and when felix tells us to punch Bin 10 we punch Bin 10, and when he says, tile the shack and install dry-wall and a wood stove, we do just that. and yet, we are working in exchange for our roof over our head, food in our bellies, and an incredible chance to learn about wine-making from start to finish in an extremely hands-on way. So i don't know quite how to put what I am feeling except in adjectives: happy to be learning. tired every day. happy to be outside and using my body. tired from using my body. thrilled to be so much a part of each step of the wine-making process. gratitude towards felix for all that he tells and teaches us. irritated at felix for how much he throws at us without us know what we are doing. ecstatic for how much responsibility he gives us. it all has its flip side. which is, i guess, the way life is.
more importantly, the money thing: doesn't seem to be an issue. i work for food and sleep and the chance to learn. and there is something very peaceful and wholesome (i know, cheesy) about this kind of exchange. there is something honest and sincere about the relationship that develops between felix and us (ryan and myself) because we are not here for some sum of money and because of it...well i don't know what happens, but it feels somehow very pure. i can't explain it much better than that. except that it feels like a fantastic chance to experience and practice the philosophical, spiritual even, lesson of simply living--not for money or profit or the pursuit of anything except...living, learning, existing, eating, sleeping, laughing, cooking, building, and making wine.
on another note. i have been thinking a lot about how happy i have been in this life that is outside, working with grapes and making wine. each day goes by so incredibly quickly, and at the end of every evening i am fully pooped. but there are moments when i realize how mentally i am unstimulated. I miss school and the rigors of academia...I really do. I miss being challenged in my thoughts and beliefs and forced to use my brain to solve issues or think about difficult questions. Out here i am only utilizing a portion of my mind and a large portion of my body. i like that I have found something that uses even a part of my body--that must continue--but to be truly happy in the long run, i think I will need to integrate some aspect of mental, mind-work too. i absolutely love making wine and i am thrilled to be out here, and so excited to possibly be continuing this stuff in the winter in New Zealand...but i do feel that i have larger gifts, greater possibilities, and more that I could do in the world. perhaps still within the wine world, perhaps using communication skills, and especially if I could tie in an aspect of environmental advocacy into the wine-world in some way....that would be great. anyway, this all came from thinking about WWOOFing and the idyllic farm life that I have so much craved for years and years. now that i am living it, i realize that yes, it is wonderful, but not what i want to do for the next 20 years. once i'm 50 I'd love to have my little garden but for now i think I need something more brain-active aswell. In a way, being out here has allowed me to realize how my brother has been right all along: i have more to offer than an armful of organic vegetables. and yet, unless i'd come out here and lived this life, i would never have experienced it and so I'd never have realized that it is great...but not right for me at this stage of my life. at least, not in the larger sense.
not sure if this makes any sense. just thoughts coming out of my fingers at 8:30 in the morning on a wednesday in october as i sit at the family computer in Carlton, Oregon.
the thought of WWOOFing, and the fact that I am doing these sometimes 13 hour days for free. well except room and board. it is an interesting thing to stop and think about. because it's a lot of work. and i wake up early and i got to bed late and when felix tells us to punch Bin 10 we punch Bin 10, and when he says, tile the shack and install dry-wall and a wood stove, we do just that. and yet, we are working in exchange for our roof over our head, food in our bellies, and an incredible chance to learn about wine-making from start to finish in an extremely hands-on way. So i don't know quite how to put what I am feeling except in adjectives: happy to be learning. tired every day. happy to be outside and using my body. tired from using my body. thrilled to be so much a part of each step of the wine-making process. gratitude towards felix for all that he tells and teaches us. irritated at felix for how much he throws at us without us know what we are doing. ecstatic for how much responsibility he gives us. it all has its flip side. which is, i guess, the way life is.
more importantly, the money thing: doesn't seem to be an issue. i work for food and sleep and the chance to learn. and there is something very peaceful and wholesome (i know, cheesy) about this kind of exchange. there is something honest and sincere about the relationship that develops between felix and us (ryan and myself) because we are not here for some sum of money and because of it...well i don't know what happens, but it feels somehow very pure. i can't explain it much better than that. except that it feels like a fantastic chance to experience and practice the philosophical, spiritual even, lesson of simply living--not for money or profit or the pursuit of anything except...living, learning, existing, eating, sleeping, laughing, cooking, building, and making wine.
on another note. i have been thinking a lot about how happy i have been in this life that is outside, working with grapes and making wine. each day goes by so incredibly quickly, and at the end of every evening i am fully pooped. but there are moments when i realize how mentally i am unstimulated. I miss school and the rigors of academia...I really do. I miss being challenged in my thoughts and beliefs and forced to use my brain to solve issues or think about difficult questions. Out here i am only utilizing a portion of my mind and a large portion of my body. i like that I have found something that uses even a part of my body--that must continue--but to be truly happy in the long run, i think I will need to integrate some aspect of mental, mind-work too. i absolutely love making wine and i am thrilled to be out here, and so excited to possibly be continuing this stuff in the winter in New Zealand...but i do feel that i have larger gifts, greater possibilities, and more that I could do in the world. perhaps still within the wine world, perhaps using communication skills, and especially if I could tie in an aspect of environmental advocacy into the wine-world in some way....that would be great. anyway, this all came from thinking about WWOOFing and the idyllic farm life that I have so much craved for years and years. now that i am living it, i realize that yes, it is wonderful, but not what i want to do for the next 20 years. once i'm 50 I'd love to have my little garden but for now i think I need something more brain-active aswell. In a way, being out here has allowed me to realize how my brother has been right all along: i have more to offer than an armful of organic vegetables. and yet, unless i'd come out here and lived this life, i would never have experienced it and so I'd never have realized that it is great...but not right for me at this stage of my life. at least, not in the larger sense.
not sure if this makes any sense. just thoughts coming out of my fingers at 8:30 in the morning on a wednesday in october as i sit at the family computer in Carlton, Oregon.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
insulation!
yesterday we put up insulation in our shack! and we installed the chimney and tile for our woodstove. now we just need to fireproof the walls and we are ready for a fire....
it's all very exciting business.
today we take more fermenters to barrels.
it's all very exciting business.
today we take more fermenters to barrels.
Monday, October 12, 2009
so much wine
too much wine! so much wine!
in india people would frequently mix up "so" and "too." this meant they were often saying things like "we are having too much fun here" instead of "so much fun. Madeline, the 5 year old i live with, has this same problem. it brings back great memories and makes me think of Mallory on a daily, often 10-minute basis (!)
anyway, the point is that we are making too much wine! as in so much. the fermenting process, and the punchdowns 4 times a day are winding down. the wine has been sitting, we've been adding yeast food, punching away at it each day, and a few days ago we started taking some it to barrels! this means draining the fermenter of "free-run" wine at the bottom directly into a barrel. the rest of the grapes and skins and seeds which have been resting on the top as a "cap" of sorts, still has good juice in it, so we put on all-natural rubber boots (first we clean them off, make 'em smarkle. just a little.) then hop into the fermenter and hoist buckets of soggy grape-seeds-skins into the press. then we turn it on and a rubber bladder inflates and presses the grapes and whatenot against the sides and out pours "pressed" wine. which pump into another barrel. in the winery room downstairs, a sort of 2nd level down the hill, we have so far filled about 20 barrels with this years vintage. each barrel holds 60 gallons so...as i say, that's a LOT of wine. and we've only done the Pinot Noir so far! we still have about 9 fermenters to go of the other kinds of grapes.
so, we are busy. every day is still the same really. in a good way. wake up in the cold cold, convince ourselves it's really necessary to get out of warm sleeeping bags and into the cold jeans hung on my rafter beam, walk to the house for coffee and breakfast. we start still with punchdowns, and then get to pressing.
Lately, tho, other jobs have cropped up as well. for instance a few days ago Felix rented a wood splitter. an electric one, which i quickly learned how to use. I chopped SO so so so too much wood. ear plugs and the whole shebang. felt like such a lumber jack. i have no idea how people measure wood chopping, but i chopped for about 4 hours and its a lot of wood.
Or, even better was yesterday. Right before Ryan and I arrived here one of Felix's ewe's got out and was roaming the area. yesterday we got news that she was in the neighbor's property so we dropped our pressing work and went on a ewe-hunt. basically we had to try to corner her, but forgot to close the gate to another pasture so she got away, then it turned into this poor creature trying to escape between us and damn was she fast. finally, felix managed to tackle her and so we carried her home on our shoulders. that was quite the adventure.
anyway, life is great. busy and long days. tons of work, but great wine and great fun. we've been working sometimes late into the evenings which has been rough, but still somehow manageable because it's all really fun and i enjoy what I'm doing.
and being a farmer, well it takes a bit to get used to it, but it definitely is a comfortable place for me. spending more time dirty than clean, never getting the dirt or grape residue off your hands, wearing the same dirty jeans you wore yesterday, all of it--it's different from living in New York City, or Boston (not to mention India and Kenya..) and that takes getting used to at first, but now that I'm in it, and living it, I really am loving it and I'm so excited that I'm staying for another month and a half.
and im also excited that we are putting our wood stove into our shack today and tomorrow because it is getting really really cold.
in india people would frequently mix up "so" and "too." this meant they were often saying things like "we are having too much fun here" instead of "so much fun. Madeline, the 5 year old i live with, has this same problem. it brings back great memories and makes me think of Mallory on a daily, often 10-minute basis (!)
anyway, the point is that we are making too much wine! as in so much. the fermenting process, and the punchdowns 4 times a day are winding down. the wine has been sitting, we've been adding yeast food, punching away at it each day, and a few days ago we started taking some it to barrels! this means draining the fermenter of "free-run" wine at the bottom directly into a barrel. the rest of the grapes and skins and seeds which have been resting on the top as a "cap" of sorts, still has good juice in it, so we put on all-natural rubber boots (first we clean them off, make 'em smarkle. just a little.) then hop into the fermenter and hoist buckets of soggy grape-seeds-skins into the press. then we turn it on and a rubber bladder inflates and presses the grapes and whatenot against the sides and out pours "pressed" wine. which pump into another barrel. in the winery room downstairs, a sort of 2nd level down the hill, we have so far filled about 20 barrels with this years vintage. each barrel holds 60 gallons so...as i say, that's a LOT of wine. and we've only done the Pinot Noir so far! we still have about 9 fermenters to go of the other kinds of grapes.
so, we are busy. every day is still the same really. in a good way. wake up in the cold cold, convince ourselves it's really necessary to get out of warm sleeeping bags and into the cold jeans hung on my rafter beam, walk to the house for coffee and breakfast. we start still with punchdowns, and then get to pressing.
Lately, tho, other jobs have cropped up as well. for instance a few days ago Felix rented a wood splitter. an electric one, which i quickly learned how to use. I chopped SO so so so too much wood. ear plugs and the whole shebang. felt like such a lumber jack. i have no idea how people measure wood chopping, but i chopped for about 4 hours and its a lot of wood.
Or, even better was yesterday. Right before Ryan and I arrived here one of Felix's ewe's got out and was roaming the area. yesterday we got news that she was in the neighbor's property so we dropped our pressing work and went on a ewe-hunt. basically we had to try to corner her, but forgot to close the gate to another pasture so she got away, then it turned into this poor creature trying to escape between us and damn was she fast. finally, felix managed to tackle her and so we carried her home on our shoulders. that was quite the adventure.
anyway, life is great. busy and long days. tons of work, but great wine and great fun. we've been working sometimes late into the evenings which has been rough, but still somehow manageable because it's all really fun and i enjoy what I'm doing.
and being a farmer, well it takes a bit to get used to it, but it definitely is a comfortable place for me. spending more time dirty than clean, never getting the dirt or grape residue off your hands, wearing the same dirty jeans you wore yesterday, all of it--it's different from living in New York City, or Boston (not to mention India and Kenya..) and that takes getting used to at first, but now that I'm in it, and living it, I really am loving it and I'm so excited that I'm staying for another month and a half.
and im also excited that we are putting our wood stove into our shack today and tomorrow because it is getting really really cold.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
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