a lucky harvest

in lodi there was a moth outbreak and a huge acreage of grapes were quarantined. my grandpa said thei send samples to uc davis but it takes 2 weeks to get the findings back! (p.s. grandpa lou studied agriculture at davis after he got back from the war. he is such a smart farmer!) lucky for us, the quarantine stopped at davis road, just past our land. so, that meant that our grapes got an awesome contract!

the best part was that they hand picked the grapes and put them in these gorgeous crates! mom was ecstatic. she hasn't seem them pick like this in almost 20 years! usually they have big harvesting machines that pick the majority of grapes. that's why the grapes are on wires. and they usually use the harvesters at night, so you get very good at sleeping through lots of noise during harvest.

but back to these beautiful boxes. i couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

it made lodi seem so wine-country instead of what i call "grape farms" 'cause we ain't fancy like napa and sonoma with their rolling hills!

when my mom was in college she used to have old wine crates as side tables in her living room. i bet they were super cute!

what's also good about not using a harvester is that dad's driveway doesn't get dirty. he really hates that.

we asked my cousin todd, who is in charge of getting contracts, where the grapes were going. he said that this company (above) has been shipping grapes to the east coast (nyc, canada, etc.) since the 1920's. meaning....yes, they sent grapes during prohibition! so there are italian families that still make their own homemade wine and they will be using our grapes! so freaking cool. my great grandfather ridenour (my mother's mother's father) also farmed grapes and his were very beautiful and packed so nicely that they were used on the Queen Mary ship that sailed out of nyc. family history is fun!

don't even think about trying these grapes though. they are tiny, dusty, hot, and they have seeds. definitely not table grapes. my mom eats them though, 'cause she's a farm girl 4 life.

the day we were in lodi was the only day they used crates for harvesting any of the family's lands. we were so lucky to be there!

shelby kept trying to squish the grapes with her tiny fingers. sorry fancy shipping people.

grandma took her to harvest our garden instead.

it was bountiful as always.

purty.

she isn't sharing, she is giving me what's left of her strawberry.
fresh from the vine is just how we roll.