HARVEST Time Has Come

It's harvest time here in the Wine Country which means the grape crush is on. How do I know the crush is on? Because I can hear it. I mean REALLY HEAR IT! All day and night the wineries are working, and there is a metallic thunderous sound that can be heard. Manmade thunder cracking the silence of the night. It's okay, it only happens for a few weeks then things get quiet, except for the annoying tourists with their winery maps.

The leaves on the vines are starting to change and soon there will be rivers of color bursting along all the hillsides, flowing up and over into the next vineyard. Mile after mile of them.

This is the only time of the year I can stand the vineyards. The rest of the year I detest them. Too much land is now devoted to vineyards and only vineyards. Hillsides have been destroyed, forests clear cut, other crops displaced. I call grapes the yuppie crop. Only those with full pocketbooks can afford what grows around me. It doesn't feed anyone.

I have no idea when or where these harvest photos were taken.




Click on either image to see it larger.

We used to be CLOSER TO THE LAND

These days few of us are really close to the land we live on. We don't pay much attention to where our food comes from or the people who raise it. I'll be truthful and say I'm perhaps a little closer than most because I live in a working orchard. I feel the seasons change. I look anxiously for the bees each year when the trees have blossomed. I anticipate the harvest.

For most of us we can easily trace our ancestors back to those who in some way made a living off the land. On my father's side I need only go back to his childhood to find him living on a ranch. On my mother's side I must go back to her father and his youth.

Our ancestors knew what it was like to breath in the dust of a newly plowed field. To watch the weather in anticipation of how it would affect the growing season.

These photos were all bought at estate sales. The first group is of farmers in Nebraska.

Click on any image to see it larger.

On the back of the shot above it says "preparing ground for alfalfa."

And these are from California.

And though these have been posted before, they fit the theme perfectly.

This is my submission to this weeks Sepia Saturday theme of "work."

WOMEN and TRANSPORTATION

To think there are places in this world where women aren't allowed to drive makes my head spin. I won't go into it other than to say the men in those countries have some serious problems. Anything that impedes on a woman's right to make self-determined choices in her life, all aspects of her own life, are simply wrong.

Using this weeks Sepia Saturday image as my jumping off point I give you Women and Transportation, all sorts of transportation.

Most of these images come from the Ten Buck Box. A couple come from the estate sale of Mr. Roberts.

Click on any image to see it larger.

On the door it says "Just an old Ford" and "Merry Widows".

I believe this may be Gertrude (Rich) Bowen.

This one is from the Robert's estate and I'm guessing this was taken at Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California.

I'm guessing this one was taken in Nebraska.

I'm hoping this is homesteader Frances (Rich) Cheney in Colorado.

If anyone knows what model these cars are drop me a line so I can add the information to the post. Why? Well, just because. Oh heck, if you know what the farm equipment is called give me that too. I'm seriously doubting anyone will have any info about the horses...then again....

Now get out there and drive, drive, drive wherever your heart takes you...and a full tank of gas.