A Day at the Vineyard

Photos
From the vineyard adventure in Maryland. I know I called it a work crew, but I don't see much work happening.

All education is not in the classroom
This past weekend Anne and the boys, Jacob and Andrew, went to Cremona Farm, a small vineyard on a 900+ acre farm located in Mechanicsville, Maryland. They were part of a “work crew” of about 30 people.

How much fun did everyone have? (like I need to ask!) LOTS!! After they got to Cremona they picked grapes for a while and then the boys went off to the barn with the grapes. After the grapes were weighed it was time for a picnic lunch by the river (which included last year's Cremona wine). Anne kept expecting Martha Stewart to show up with a fresh apple cobbler.

The red grapes were already picked by the time they got there, but they were able to help pick a white table grape that tastes very similar to purple concords. They also helped make Rosé, from the juice of unpressed red grapes.

Grapes are dumped from the bushel baskets into a crusher. Before the hand crank can be turned all stems have to be remove by hand. Three pairs of hands are needed to move the grapes around which smooshes the fruit and removes the stems. All grapes are smooshed by hand and then sent through the crusher. The juice is extracted from crushed grapes and the color of the wine comes from the skins.

They did it all. The boys helped a little but mainly played with their friend Dylan. They picked apples to feed the horses, jumped on a trampoline, and played hide and seek. After lunch they all went off to the barn for the crushing and pressing which took all afternoon.

Next up was a dip in the Patuxent River and then crabs for dinner at the Drift Inn. An amazing day under the most beautiful, cloudless blue sky.

The fun didn't stop there! The boys went home with Dylan for a sleep over and Anne and Rick got to sleep late. They can't wait to do it all over again...next year (including the sleep late part).