I woke up bright and early today to go pick grapes at Stonington Vineyards in southeastern Connecticut. Last year I had taken a tour of the vineyard with my father, and I remembered that they had a list of volunteers that they call to help with the grape harvest. This year I really wanted to do it, so I called them and every other vineyard on the CT wine trail and signed up as a volunteer. Stonington Vineyards was the first to call me back. They had started on Monday, but since I do my demos in Union Square every Monday from 11-2 (hint hint), I could only come on Tuesday.

This morning was one of the most beautiful mornings that I have ever seen. I drove down Pequot Trail at 7:30 am entranced by the changing leaves and the silent farmhouses along the road. The light was perfect and I felt so lucky to be in New England. When I arrived at the vineyard, I quickly made friends with Star and Kim, two other volunteers. Kim was a newbie as of yesterday, but Star was a seasoned picker. Star showed me how to use my shears to snip off the clusters, how full I should leave the lug, and when to remove any damaged fruits. I was working by myself at first moving a bit slow, but Star quickly caught up to me as I moved down my section of the vine. She and I finished up another row and a half together, chit chatting and getting to know one another. She just moved to a new apartment and is eager to get going on her organic vegetable garden. When I told her I was a cook and had an online cooking show, she was eager to talk about how important eating organic food was to her. I was grateful to Star for showing me the ropes and helping me, out of the kindness of her heart. Thanks Star.

After we finished our coffee break, we all drove to another field down the road. I had lost Kim and Star in the transport and met a new picking partner, Joe. He is just about my age and works at the Mohegan Sun Arena. His job is very cool, as he gets to meet a lot of the performers that come to give concerts. Among the ones we talked about were Taylor Swift (very nice), Beyonce (a great performer), and Luis Miguel (a super Divo). Joe is also a bit of a chef himself, and inspired me with his talk of homemade stuffed shells. When he said stuffed shells, I thought of cannelloni, and who knows. . . . maybe you will see something like that up on our site soon. We didn’t get to do a full days work because we picked pretty fast and covered the field within an hour.

I can’t quite say that picking grapes is easy, as I was not in that field for 8 hours like they were yesterday. I can say that I loved every minute of my experience, and hope to have another pair of shears in my hand next week. There is no better way to enjoy the fall than being outside, and in my case, helping with the grape harvest.

Just read an interesting article about the vertical farm, a proposed way for densely populated cities to feed their population and reduce the carbon footprint of its food supply in the process:  http://greenprophet.com/2009/03/02/7250/skyscraper-farming/

Basically the idea, developed by Dickson Despommier a professor at Columbia University, is to create a 30 story buildling that grows enough food and houses enough livestock to feed 50,000 people year round. It's also supposed to be essentially carbon neutral.

Sounds good too good to be true in a way, but also just sterile and missing the point enough that it will probably work.

Read more at Despommier's website: http://www.verticalfarm.com/