So the internet is extremely slow here, but I do have it! It takes a while to do anything which is why I have not updated recently.
Anyways, today is my third day working at Montezuma Canyon Ranch and Vineyard, and let me tell you I'M EXHAUSTED. We are planting vines, Chenin Blanc, and working from 9:30am to around 5pm with a lunch break in between. The first day was incredible. The first 4 hours flew by without me even realizing it. After lunch, we all lost momentum (like usual) but it was still easy work. The second day was a little bit more difficult but nothing to complain about. Let me tell you, day three was excrutiating. Among the regular aches and pains one receives doing physical labor, I am covered head to toe in bug bites. All I remembered about Utah the last time I came here was how great and beautiful it was. Yes, I remembered the bugs, but not as vividly as I do now. I must admit, this morning I was in tears over the situation, I mean for goodness sake I even have bites on my eyelids. How the hell do you itch you eyelid?! I can tell, all the workers are a bit more fatigued today and we were all asking for the time more often than the other days. We even heard stories about previous workers who only had to work 5 hours a day. I called for a strike and even the formation of a union. We are still working out the details. Let's see how tomorrow goes!
Here is how one plants roots for a vineyard. You dig a hole. You put the root in (making sure all the roots are facing down or else they will grow upward and strangle the plant). You put a little bit of dirt over it. You put a "vine shelter" on top of it. You fill the vine shelter with dirt. You make a mound outside of the vine shelter. We do this for 8 hours a day. We need to do 3000 more. Yes, life is good.
Yesterday after work, we went for a hike around the canyon and learned a lot of interesting facts. First, the canyon is 50miles long, thats MONSTROUS. Throughout the canyon (which is 90% public land, along with the rest of Utah apparently) are Anasazi ruins. For those of you who don't know, Anasazi are a prehistoric Native American tribe. We went hiking to many of their shelters and kivas (ceremonial houses). As a budding Anthropologist, this was AMAZING. There was one part of the hike where there was almost a flat rock wall with little (and sparse) footholds going to a cave above. We all eagerly climbed up to look at this ancient shelter, only to realize how terrifying the climb down was. We also went to several other shelters where ancient pottery was littered throughout the clearing. There were the more popular pieces, which were black ink on top of white stone, and then rarer pieces including black ink on red stone, as well as crude arrowheads. I have visited Anasazi ruins in Utah state parks before, but it is an entirely different experience to find these ruins on your own without a huge arrow pointing you where to go. It was absolutely spectacular.
Danny Bull and his parents own the vineyard and they are originally from Santa Barbara, California. Danny opened the vineyard 5 years ago but lost most of his first years batch in a fire. When my group first arrived at MCR, Danny took us on a tour around his property. He has just under 200 acres, but only 30 are farmable. Mostly, it is a vineyard, but he also has a small vegetable garden. He carries many varieties of grapes, including my favorite, Pinot Noir, which does very well in the region. One of the most interesting aspects, for myself at least (a complete vineyard novice), was that the actual wine making process takes place in a cave on his neighbors property. He took us inside the cave and showed us where he racks and makes the wine (as well as his "vinegar barrel", or in other words, his mistake barrel). The most interesting aspect about this vineyard is that Danny started off as a novice as well; he learned about vineyards from books and then started his own. Prior to opening his own vineyard, he said he worked on others (where he learned nothing), took a seminar on planting, and read tons of books. While the vineyard may not be flourishing (it is only 5 years old), he is definitely doing exceptionally well for himself considering he is teaching himself every step of the way. Even yesterday Danny's neighbors came to his house and brought him over so that he could check on their vines. They thought they may have a virus, so they went to Danny, the novice, to ask for help; he diagnosed it as a potassium deficiency. Danny studied film at college, but decided that the big city LA life wasn't for him. It was around then his parents bought this farm in UT and let him start a vineyard on it.
The WWOOF (world wide organization of organic farmers) program itself is quite exceptional and diverse. Along with my group is another woofer and exchange student from South Korea who is attending a college in South Dakota. Previously he spent 5 weeks working on a farm in California. He will be spending the next 5 weeks here in Utah and visiting New York during his summer break. I haven't gotten a chance to ask him what made him interested in the WWOOF program, but it is definitley on my list of things to do. Friday, a couple of WWOOFers from Britain will be joining us.
There are so many things to write about but I just can't think of what else to say at the moment. Saturday we will be getting a one day fishing liscense and Danny will be taking us trout fishing at a nearby lake. I asked him to teach me how to gut a fish, so we will be bringing coals with us and cooking whatever we catch for dinner. Sunday we leave Utah and head for Arizona. We will be spending one day in Acrosanti and another day in Taos, a city very similar to Acrosanti in that it is purely sustainable (and quite famous, everyone asks me if I've been there). Also on Sunday, a surprise WWOOFer will be joining us. My boyfriend will be coming to join us for our farm work in New Mexico and leaving the day our original group begins to head home. I only have a one person tent packed with me so this will be quite hilarious (or enourmously frustrating, we will see).
As for everyone back home, enjoy the heat wave!! I bet you all wish you were in the pleasantly dry and moderate temperature desert with me!! Oh yeah and at night, its outright COLD!
Talk soon!
