Did you guys enjoy your three day weekend? I had the worst time getting out of bed this morning. I haven’t heard an alarm clock in 3 whole days (!!!) and when the bleepity-bleep…bleepity-bleep blasted in my ear at 0600 this morning, I rolled over and went, “Noooo!!” I am usually a morning person, but not today.
Lunch today with the Viper Pilot. Turkey melts at the bowling alley FTW.
I think his helmet hair is tots adorb.
Yesterday, we Warhawks (our squadron) were honorary grape harvesters at the Sebastiani Weingut (winery). Our squadron has a special relationship with the Sebastiani’s: we pick grapes for them, and they make the grapes into Warhawk Wine for us. It’s win-win.
I knew the weather was going to be cold and damp (hello, we’re in Germany in October) so I decided to sacrifice the Viper Pilot’s clothes rather than get mine all grubby and muddy and potentially ruin a nice pair of jeans. I kinda sorta threw out my okay-to-get-dirty-work clothes before the move because apparently I assumed there was no work to be done in Germany. Yeah, right. So I asked the Viper Pilot if he had an old pair of jeans I could borrow and wear a belt with. He did, and when I put them on, not only did I realize that our legs are the same length (my legs disproportionately too long for the rest of me), but he was the same size as I am now as a freshman in college. We can’t decide who that’s a compliment to…
I rocked the carpenter pants and I had a handy-dandy pocket to carry around my scissors in.
All the other girls looked so cute all bundled up. I don’t normally care what I look like, so long as I am warm. I hate being cold. “Cold hands, warm heart,” I always say.
I have picked sweet corn and walked beans, but I can’t say that I’ve ever harvested grapes. What’s different about harvesting grapes? Well, the view for one.
Even in the usual morning fog, it was absolutely picturesque. What is it about a vineyard that is so romantic and peaceful?
The rows are wider so you have plenty of space to spread out and you don’t have to worry about stepping on the plant as you walk through the rows. They have skinny little tractors that they can drive between rows. The Viper Pilot being the farm boy that he is thinks they were pretty awesome. I just think they’re cute.
Grapes are ever-so-slightly prettier than corn or soybeans. I mean no offense to anyone, just stating my opinion. 🙂
The Warhawks big and small (the kiddos helped too) picked a trailer full of grapes by the end of the morning. We are awesome grape harvesters if I may say so myself.
The grapes were immediately hauled back to the Gästehaus to begin their journey of becoming wine. We got to watch them crush the grapes, which to my dismay was not how Lucy does it in the infamous I Love Lucy episode, but with a machine in the trailer. The juice and everything else goes through a hose into another big machine where the juice drains out into a tank below. It has to sit there for 150 minutes. I don’t really remember why, but when we start making wine from the grapes in our backyard, I’ll be sure to let you know. They opened several bottles of wine for the adults to sip while we watched and once the grape juice started flowing out into the tank, we were able to sample the freshly squeezed juice. It was very sweet and reminded me of apple juice.
The owner, Alfonso, and his wife made us a lovely traditional German meal for lunch and the kids ran around in the yard. I got to spend time with my favorite pretzel loving kiddo…Caroline! 🙂
We were having a tickle fight. 🙂 |
I also had fun in the play house. Do you see the little boy leaning out the window? It was apparently his house and when I asked him if he had any snacks in the kitchen, he kicked me out. I guess I was a rude house guest.
Sometimes we aren’t sure if I’m 5 or 25.
Speaking of being 25, if you would so kindly excuse me, I have 2 weeks worth of laundry to fold and put away (awesome) and applesauce to make (awesomer). Have a great rest of your day, everyone!
PROST!
Source |
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Alison Donlon says
LOVE the link for an adopt a soldier! I think I will look into this with the boys! What a great thing for them to do! LOVE the pics of the grapes..it's all so beautiful there! Love you, miss you!
Emily says
Love and miss you, too!! Come visit! 😉
Dave says
Just a couple Iowa Farm kids helping with harvest… Very interesting, The "little tractor" looks like a John Deere? Do they have Warhawk beer also?
Emily says
It wasn't a JD, but I have seen them in the fields here. We do have a Warhawk Brewers Guild…everyone makes their own brew and we compete who has the best! It's fun but some of them don't turn out so great. I think we're going to start brewing our own beer after we figure out how to make our own wine!