Picker's 10

This year my job title changed from Membership Director to Grape Picker and I must say that life is really good. Working at Stonyridge Vineyard has been an awesome experience. Here's a list of my top 10 in no particular order except number 1, which is my favorite. But I'm starting with 10, because this is my blog and I can -- but don't cheat and skip ahead to 1. For those of you who know me well can probably already guess number 1 ;-)

10. Great Outdoors - I've been lucky in my previous jobs to have positions that involved getting out of the office on biz trips to tradeshows, conferences, and board meeting type events. Even though I haven't had office jobs that kept me at my desk for 40 hours a week, year after year, they've all still been office jobs. Now, I'm outside under the sun, breathing fresh air, sitting on wet grass, and really enjoying the change of scenery!
9. Me Time - Picking grapes allows for a lot of personal time. It's really nice to just enjoy the silence or just get wrapped up in my own thoughts. It can be very meditative and peaceful. Sometimes I listen to my ipod or eavesdrop on other people's conversations :-) (Sometimes I'm forced to hear conversations that I don't want to hear. Unfortunately, I can't turn people off.)
8. Lunchtime - It involves food, what's not to love? Plus, Stonyridge provide lunch, which is really cool. It's also really nice after hours under the hot sun to sit under the olive trees over looking the vineyard. I must say that food after manual labor is much more satisfying than following hours in front of the computer. That said, I definitely miss all of the lunch options that The Mission has to offer and of course the occassional long lunch that ran over an hour ;-) EFFers please visit Evergreen for me, and Pakwan, and El Toro, and Mr. Pickle, and Big Lantern...(omg I'm hungry)...and Weird Fish, and Popeye's (Chris, eat meat!)
7. Backpackers - I knew I wouldn't be the only foreigner in the vineyard, but I had no idea that I would be picking with twenty some odd people from around the world! People from the Czech Republic, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Uruguay, Japan, Thailand, some Brits, and some annoying Americans too! They're all here on working holiday as well and it was great getting to know them whilst picking side by side amongst the vines.
6. Bug's Life - I'm a city girl. Born, bred, and lived in cities so it is normal and expected that I freak out when I see bugs. Until now, that is. Picking grapes pretty much requires that you become one with spiders (tons of spider webs), massive roach-like creatures and their occassional leftover skin shells, ants, bees, and other unidentified crawlies. I don't love them, but we're able to coexist.
5. PeeWee and The Pheasant - PeeWee is a dog and she belongs to Peter, a Waiheke Island local who rides his bike in to work with PeeWee caged on the back. PeeWee's often found sleeping under the sun in between the rows of grapevines making all the pickers jealous of her life of leisure. As you may know the grapevines are covered with nets to protect the grapes from evil birds. They're meant to keep birds out but there are times that birds get in and have difficulties finding their way out. In this instance, The Pheasant never made it out and PeeWee scored dinner for Peter. Well done, PeeWee.
4. Waiheke Island Locals - There are about 10 locals who return to Stonyridge every year out of their love for wine, their ongoing relationship with the vineyard, and simply to be part of the island's harvest season. They're a colorful group of islanders who have lived here since before the island was popular for it's wine. One woman worked in the kitchen on the Rainbow Warrior and another used to be a professor at Oxford back in the day. I overheard a conversation about painkillers one day that was especially amusing. It started with chronic knee pain, evolved into all sorts of physical ailments, and finishing with a discussion on the various pills popped for relief. One pill had such an overwhelming effect on the chronic knee pain lady because it was so strong that it made her hallucinate! As scared as she was she also imagines the experience was one that she would have enjoyed a few years back...
3. Blue Snips - Snip, snip, snip. Snips are an essential tool for picking grapes. Every morning we gather around the snips bin to choose our fate for the day. The blue ones are the newest and the best! Watch your fingers!
2. Harvest Party - All good things must come to an end. Grapes are all in so we celebrated the harvest with a party with the Stonyridge staff and pickers. Yummy bbq, a few drinks, and a nice opportunity to have a good time before saying goodbye.
1. Nature's Candy - Raisins, yes! I love raisins! And being able to have them straight from the vine after spending the season ripened by the sun is such a treat! I didn't indulge very often since raisins are a sweet addition to the wine, but a couple managed to make their way into my mouth ;-)

More pics of Stonyridge here.

Poo Field

OK, I never said I would be good at blogging ;-) I'm going to try to write more often, but just know that I'm probably having a good time and too busy to write as opposed to not having anything to write about. Today, I'll write about poo.

Back in San Francisco I was lucky to live in an awesome part of The Mission right on Hill Street at Valencia. Ah, I miss my little apartment ;-) In addition to being walking distance to great restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and Dolores Park I was also less than 10 blocks away from my work. As many of you know, The Mission's streets can vary greatly, some lined with gorgeous Victorians, others lined with trash...and things. Well, I had a bit of both on my walk to work and it got progressively worse as I approached Shitwell Street where I was often dodging condoms, needles, and piles of poo.

Things are very different here on Waiheke Island, but I'm still dodging piles of poo! However, it comes from horses as opposed to dogs...or humans. The first time I walked to work it took over 30 minutes along the road but then I discovered the short cut through the valley of poo. Now it only takes 15 minutes to walk to the winery! First, I get to walk past the alpacas, "good morning, alpacas!" Then, I slip through an opening in a fence that takes me into the horse field which is almost completely covered in poo. Big piles of poo that are really densely plopped around the field -- I don't think anyone clears this field, or horses poo a lot! Once I've cleared the poo, I enter this lovely open area at the bottom of the olive grove that has the sweetest moss covered bench that overlooks the stream. Finally, I zigzag uphill through grapevines, hop one more fence, and voilà, I arrive at work!

Daniel's Tongue

Last Saturday, my first full day on the island, was a perfect day. I spent it with a Canadian woman I met at the IEP (International Exchange Program) orientation last Wednesday. Christina is from Montreal and she's very nice and fun and will most likely work in restaurants and play the ukalayley in Wellington (probably not at the same time, although that would be very cool.) We ran into each other at the hostel and decided to spend the day together.

We set off from the hostel bright and early to check out the Saturday market at Ostend. We bought some lovely fresh figs, kiwifruit, and squirted feijoa into our mouths. The market was cute but quite small so we finished quickly. Since we had so much time we decided to walk to the olive oil tasting place instead of bus-ing it. The hills and the lack of sidewalks proved to be a challenge and in all the commotion we missed the olive oil tasting place. Not wanting to go back down and then back up the last huge upward stretch of the hill, we decided to settle in at Ridgeview Vineyard for a bit of wine tasting. Christina had met Daniel, their winemaker, the day before at Waiheke's Wine Centre. I'm really glad they met and that we made the effort to get to this vineyard because the views were breathtaking. Not only was it gorgeous there but Daniel was awesome. He spent an hour with us and was super generous with tips on which winemakers/vineyards I should contact on the island and which regions of NZ I should hit not only according to seasons for winemaking but also to make the most of the snowboarding season ;-) He also walked us through some basics on wine tasting. Some of which I'd heard before but this one-on-one interaction with him was unlike any that I could have ever experienced in Napa/Sonoma's popular vineyards. Daniel even drew this tongue to indicate which areas of the tongue recognizes which taste characteristics (the middle bit says "no" upside down and stands for no man's land or the area where you don't taste different flavors.) I still have a lot to learn but this little session with Daniel was a great first experience of the kiwi friendliness I've heard so much about and the type of education I'm hoping to have during my year here.

Next we set out for Onetangi Beach. Daniel sent us off with instructions to walk through the air field, right at the air sock, and then a series of right turns that should have taken us about 45 minutes. Well, we took a wrong turn and ended up in the Waiheke Reserve and it ended up taking us much, much, much longer than 45 minutes and my flip flops (kiwis call them jandals) were not the best shoes for this unexpected hike. Exhausted and starving we enjoyed a Monteith's beer and lunch out on beachside cafe patio. After we refueled we bought some groceries to bring back to the hostel and got directions from a man outside the shop before heading for the bus stop. We sat down to wait for the hourly bus and before we could even think about figuring out when the next one would arrive, the man from outside the shop pulled up and offered us a ride! Wow! Two friendly kiwis in one day?! I think I'm going to like here ;-)

giant German lump

The perfectionist in me has started writing this first blog entry a hundred different ways and could probably go through another hundred without ever being completely satisfied with what might constitute the "perfect" beginning. I say "poo on the perfectionist" I'm just going to start writing. I welcome you to follow along because you're my friend and family and you'd want me to just start this and stop worrying about being perfect. So here goes. Oh, and I promise to try really, really hard not to use too many smiley faces :-)

It's my fourth night in NZ and just hours ago I set off from Auckland to ferry on over to Waiheke Island. It felt really good to be on the ferry with the taste of the salty mist coming from the water, the wind in my hair, (the smell of garbage coming from the bins I was sitting next to but was too tired to move,) leaving the city behind. I've always lived in cities and I'd really like to slow the pace of life down a little bit. (Waiheke's population is only 8500!) The bus I needed to catch was right there when I got out of the ferry terminal so things were going quite smoothly. The ride was beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking. The scattered homes and the lush vegetation really reminded me of driving around some of the more remote areas of Oahu...a slower pace in paradise. As I walked down the road from where the bus let me off to the secluded hostel I couldn't help but smile and feel like I'd chosen the perfect place to start my adventure. I sent a few emails to wineries yesterday and have already received a positive response from a popular vineyard on the island. They will start harvesting next week and can use my help with picking and possibly in other areas of the winery as well. I'll find out more in the next few days. Yay, all is going according to plan. Well, sort of. I'm writing now from my bunk bed having a bit of trouble trying to get to sleep. The cute secluded hostel in the middle of paradise is...er...not exactly what I expected. I knew that leaving my very comfortable life in San Francisco would come with some challenges, but so soon?! Right now, my face is about a foot and a half away from a giant German lump sleeping above me in a room that reeks of damp and old, with carpet that feels wet through my socks (no shoes allowed in the hostel) -- oh, and there are mosquitos.

Good night.