Le temps des vendages

The last week has been an immersion into harvest season at an organic vineyard and winery in the Beaujolais region of France. The first day, I had serious doubts about whether I would be able to handle the work for the two weeks I had arranged through the WOOFing program.

But after several days here, I can say that I have received such a warm welcome that I feel very privileged to be included in this yearly ritual. It is quite the experience. My hosts are a couple with a young son; however, there have been between eight and twenty people working and sharing meals together. It is such a tradition in this area that friends from across France have arrived for weekend work-bees --and several of the bunch speifically time their vacations to be able to join in.

Although cutting and harvesting grapes for most of the day isn't in itself something I find all that fun, there are perks! The rolling hills and quiet, the amazing night sky, the great compan, French practice, and of course; the food! We have shared in cooking on the quieter days a hours and enjoyed prepared gourmet food on the busy weekend. And even in the field, our snacks are quiet classy: wine, coffee, bread from the local bakery, dark chocolate and sometimes even mutiple varieties of cheese!

I am here for another week and, while I have no plans to move to a farm myself, it has been such an experience! Next post, I will include photos of the views and some of my new activities -- including crushing grapes by foot.