Friday September 5^th, 2008 dawned clear, with a promise of heat in the 90s by mid-day, just the same as it had been all week.  I went out to the vineyard at 7:15 a.m. to pick a sampling of grapes into a baggy and came into the kitchen to test the BRIX.  This is a measurement of the mass ratio of dissolved sugar to water in a liquid, and lets us know, so we can tell the wine maker who buys our grapes whether they are ready for harvest.  Our buyer wants the grapes at about 25 BRIX.

This Friday morning, the test showed BRIX at 25.2 so I leapt into action.  I called Richard, our buyer and arranged for him to pick up the grapes the next day.  I called Norm who was tending to his ailing mother in Los Angeles so he could pack up and get down here to Ramona in time to help me harvest.  I sent out an email to likely suspects who often volunteer to help us in the vineyard, and lined up two, my daughter Tammy and our friend Vivianne who promised to be here by 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.  I washed the white 5-gallon kitty litter pails we’d been saving for this event, and then pulled out quiche and banana nut bread from the freezer to feed the troops in the morning.

I slept badly that night I was so excited about this, our first harvest.  I’d set the alarm for 6 a.m. and Norm and I were already in the vineyard when the other arrived, starting to work the rows removing the clips that held the bird netting in place so we could access the grape clusters.

A discussion between us the previous day about the bird netting removal and storage process resulted in an argument.  Norm insisted that the bird netting should be unclipped from the top, and lain down on the ground.  I wanted to unclip from the bottom and lay the net over the top of the trellising so weeds wouldn’t get caught up in it, and it would be out from under foot of the pickers.

Our compromise position was that Norm could do his method on the even rows and I would do my method on the odd numbered rows.  That only lasted a few rows when popular opinion among the 2 other women grape pickers was that putting the netting up on top got it out of the way better and collected less weeds and grasses than Norm’s method.  I resisted saying it…

Each of us had our clippers and plastic pail, and through a complicated scientific process (weighing them on the bathroom scale), we determined that a full, slightly piled up pail held 25 pounds of grapes.  After 2 hours we had completed our harvest.  We were sitting on the porch enjoying our breakfast when Richard arrived to pick up and pay for his Petite Syrah grapes.

After everyone had left, and I’d cleaned up the kitchen, Norm and I decided to lie down together for a cuddle and a nap, holding each other close and congratulating ourselves on our first hard earned harvest.  And then the laughter began – a little giggle from me started it, escalating quickly to loud guffaws by both of us.

Both of us had been thinking the same thoughts: adding up the purchase of the property, the value of which is 85% land value; considering the 25 months of land clearing, fencing, irrigation system building, trellis installing, vine planting, trimming, tying, spraying, weeding and bird netting; dealing with those who would try to destroy our will, our spirit or our crop, who are the nasty neighbor, ground squirrels, rabbits, gophers, birds and caterpillars, not to forget the Witch Fire which would have destroyed it all had we not stayed to save it; and fighting for the right to earn a living wage from our own property with the County. 

We had received this day from the sale of our 2008 Vintage crop of Petite Syrah grapes, a check for $73.45, which didn’t even pay for Norm’s gas to drive down from L.A. to help pick it!  After the laughter subsided we rolled over and decided that indeed we were in this together for the love.

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