Harvest Time!

The grape harvest has begun! Now as we ride past the rows of vines that spread in every direction, we check if the fruit is still on the vine. It seems perhaps the harvest is about halfway done.

Daily, I pass trucks, either the standard 4 wheel kind or the unique little three wheeled vehicles ubiquitous to Tuscany’s farm roads. Stacks of plastic bins are always stashed in the truck bed. Early in the day the bins are empty. Later, when the day’s picking is done, mounds of glistening purple grapes fill the bins.

Soon all the vines will be stripped. The leaves will wither and drop marking the end of this year’s cycle. Beneath the rocky earth the roots will rest until its spring and the cycle begins again.