The harvest was threatened but perseverance saved the day
1 Apr 11
Rain! At 7 am it was raining on 17 March – a vineyard owners worst nightmare in the harvest season. No pickers would turn up!
The Yarrawa Estate grapes would be left to rot on the vines!
Mark and Sue Foster had a deadline – Crooked River Winery needed the grapes for crushing by Friday – the next day – no extension possible.
Then it suddenly stopped. The skies didn’t clear all day though and there was the constant threat of renewed rain but it held off.
By 8 am the Fosters and the depleted Canberra contingent for this year were out lifting the nets off the grapes. Well not all the Fosters of course. Mark found busy work driving his tractor around and moving things about but in spite of that by the time the first pickers arrived the nets were cleared and the harvest could commence.
The pickers came from everywhere, even Sydney, as well as two young WOOFERS from Canada and France adding to their experience of farming in the Shoalhaven.
A good representation of Kangaroo Valley’s finest were among the 28 pickers, including the halt and the lame as well as the superbly fit – one stalwart could trot up the harvesting rows with four full buckets of grapes.
One of the Canberra contingent struggled around with a nearly severed wrist, fortunately for the rest of us attracting lurking leeches as he gamely pruned the fruit.
Some pickers have been coming since the first harvest in 2002. This loyalty was at first puzzling because Mark and Sue had deliberately planted their grapes down a steep slope instead of finding nice, level land. (This probably had something silly to do with drainage rather than considering the struggles of future grape pickers.) But the fun and camaraderie of the jolly workers soon made it clear that this was going to be a fun day.
Around 11 am the scrumptious morning tea arrived : delicious cakes and bikkies provided by Sue and other pickers themselves and hot coffee to chase away any lingering chill. By lunch time as we trooped up to the house, over half the crop was harvested. More fine food: a ham and chicken salad with breads, more cake, coffee and tea and wine. Most of us were settling in for the afternoon when Sue cracked the whip and chased us down the slope to finish up.
Things got a bit frenetic as the afternoon wore on and the realisation grew that the harvest was bigger than expected and would not be finished that day. There was a constant call for buckets as the zippy, little Kubota truck trundled up and down the rows picking up full buckets and dispensing the empties.
Demands for buckets grew shriller – one enterprising picker offered buckets for sexual favours but sadly earned only derision.
At 4.30 we had much more important business than mere grape picking.
It was Kathy's birthday (being St Patrick’s Day and all) and celebrations were in order in the tasting room with bubbly and birthday cake.
That pretty much finished it for most of the pickers. Tired and well satisfied that they had done their best to lift this harvest the last of the Kangaroo Valley visitors had departed by 6 pm . But there was still enough time to get more of the final few rows done before dinner. Mark who had been riding around in his tractor and filling up the grape containers –the easy work of course, decided to do some real work and joined Sue and the Canberrans in the last of the harvesting for the day. Nearly five tonnes had been picked – very good work indeed.
Next day it was drizzling and that didn’t let up all morning. The Fosters and the Canberrans finished picking the last of the grapes in the main vineyard by midday – another tonne and Mark took them off to Crooked River Winery.
The harvest had been saved and sent off to the crushers; not a single finger had been severed by secateurs; no picker was threatening legal action; no relationships had been irrevocably damaged during the harvest as far as we knew. All in all a very successful and fun filled enterprise.
Joan and John Dunn. Canberra