Today we get a story, fun, and an observation.
A good friend, Pete, has a small vineyard in his
back yard. He grows about a ton of
grapes each year and when harvest time comes around, it is an excuse to have a
big party that he calls the “Grape Stomp”.
It is a big potluck and during the day much wine is consumed while people
are given sharp instruments that are used to cut grape clusters from the
vines. Once the grapes are all cut, at
previous stomps he has put out small tubs for the kids to stomp grapes in. Each year, the kids get a little bit bigger and
the bins look a lot smaller.
Pete has been seeing something a little bit more
complex in his mind for the past couple of years. He described it to me by saying that he
wanted something like a floor and walls surrounding maybe a wading pool where
people could stomp a little bit better.
He loves to have everyone participate.
His description produced a picture in my head of a
rickety little disposable framework surrounding a plastic pool where adults
could walk on grapes for some time, maybe fall down a few times and have a
laugh or two. So we made a date to get
this thing built.
The day before we were to stay, Pete picked up the
wood and texted me the directions to the place where we’d be building it. His friend would be helping us with it.
I escaped work early, and followed his directions out
into the country, to the end of a gravel road, down a long driveway bordered by
electric cattle fences. I arrived at a 10,000 square foot fully equipped
professional wood shop. Turns out that
Pete had enlisted the help of a master cabinetmaker who does a little bit
better than simple rickety frames.
Pete’s friend is a perfectionist who uses nothing in the way of hammer
and nails. He works with beautiful
reclaimed wood. The cabinet maker was
designing a rather unique grape stomping barrel. Pet and I would be doing the work, milling
reclaimed telephone pole cedar and reclaimed white oak into the sides and floor. The cabinet maker would instruct and
direct. The barrel would be five feet in
diameter and would be water tight, all made without use of a single nail or bit
of glue. We finished our own wood,
routered it, sanded it and cut every single piece at a custom angle. When it was done, it was an actual round
circle. It was beautiful!
It worked, too.
People had a ball stomping grapes in it and getting all purple. The day was deemed a success and there were
lots of photo opportunities for all of the partiers.
Our project took me to places where the true
backbone of the United States still resides.
In order to get wood, we visited a pallet maker. She builds them out of old cedar telephone
poles by cutting them up with a giant band saw into planks that are then sized
and nailed together. It is really hard
work. She does them by herself. She is off the grid. Try as hard as you can, you probably won’t
find her.
We picked up some metal strapping to hold the barrel
together from a similar business that custom builds gates and metal fencing. And, of course, we did the project back in a
spot that is completely out of sight. These
are people who aren’t voting in the current election. They’re busy working.
These are people, though, who are the first ones to
jump to your aid, to defend their country and protect our rights as
individuals. There is no negotiation
prior to doing these things. The folks
that magically make pallets full of food and beer and products appear in the stores
don’t ask for anything more than the selling price of their products. That’s it.
No handouts are requested, no free benefits are needed. Helping someone is just exactly that. You never hear “What’s in it for me?” They already know the answer.
This is the backbone of the United
States. There are no races here and
there is no difference between working men and working women. Much of this backbone consists of immigrants
and first generation U.S. citizens.
Their parents or grandparents studied and became U.S. citizens, and most
were treated far worse than the immigrants of today. They didn’t get welfare or free medical care
and they had to take menial jobs to survive.
They learned to depend on their own resources because help was out of
their price range. Today they pretty
much build our country.
I really don’t think that most people realize just
how amazing this subset of our country is.
They do still build things around here.
Pallets don’t come from pallet factories in Mexico. Cabinets don’t all come from the sales floor
at Home Depot. Someone actually makes
this stuff and then has to sell it. Lettuce
does not come from the lettuce factory.
And meat is not created already in the package. Someone had to feed it, grow it and butcher
it. Those people aren’t well paid and
they can’t afford a new iPhone every six months. They pay for their own health insurance and
don’t quite understand why we need free trade agreements with neighboring
economies. After all, we can build it
ourselves if we put our minds to it.
Ah, well.
Time to go home to my suburban house.
Time for a glass of wine while I sit and appreciate the fact that I
crushed the grapes that made the wine.
With my feet. Maybe.
