Harvest Time

It's Hallowe'en today. Halloween, Hallowe'en or All Hallows' Eve, originally All Hallows' Evening, is celebrated or observed on October 31. It may have had its roots in European harvest festivals and festivals for the dead.

I thought I would concentrate on the Harvest festival theme today.

We have recently been in both the Okanagan (South central British Columbia) and Comox Valleys (Vancouver Island) and observed the harvest in both locations.

In the Okanagan the grapes were being harvested and wineries were busy picking, sorting, crushing and pressing. The harvest is eagerly anticipated by the birds and animals too.  We saw lots of birds (starlings, robins, sparrows, quail) but deer and bear also have a taste for grapes as well as insects; fruit flies are particularly abundant at harvest time.

Wine grapes are generally smaller than table grapes and range in colour from almost white to very dark blue-purple almost black.

Many of the grapes are protected by netting in the final weeks of their ripening.



But some looters are bipedal:



Once the grapes are ready (the sugar and acid levels are tested prior to harvest) they are picked. Some grapes are hand picked, others are picked by machine. The grapes are sorted and then an auger like machine removes the stems.



The grapes are crushed ....



Then left to do their magic ...




.... and pressed and then allowed to ferment.
The colour of the wine depends on the type of grape, and how long the juice stays in contact with the skins before pressing.

Here is a stray bunch of grapes and a lady bug.

Many thanks to Virginia (Orofino Winery) for taking the time to show me the grapes and allowing me to photograph the new crush and to Michael for organizing a spectacular tasting (La Stella Winery).

Scarecrows are a harvest symbol to me. 

The apples and pears were also ready to harvest.

Artichokes add a splash of colour to large flower planters in Osoyoos .. 

and pampas grass and cacti ripen at the side of the roadway.

Now we skip over the another market on Vancouver Island to enjoy the fall bounty:

On the Halloween theme I am sharing this link to photos of the Dunbar Haunted House in Vancouver; it is quite an elaborate display. Here is a sample  of their decorations from last year:

My Halloween decorations look nothing like this, just a poorly carved pumpkin and some artificial cobwebs, but then after the recent earth quake on the West Coast and the storm on the East Coast the world is quite scary enough for me as it is. I hope everyone has a safe Halloween.

Here is a picture that is almost finished. It is a watercolour and is inspired by a picture I took recently at a farmers market.

Thank you for taking the time to drop by my corner of the blogging world.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week .....

"OK" weekend - a bit of everything

We spent last weekend in south end of the Okanagan Valley, in south central British Columbia (many just refer to the valley as the "OK"). We went to the OK to attend a wine dinner at the Orofino Winery (in nearby Similkameen Valley) and to visit friends and a few wineries.

This post has three parts: first the dinner, followed by some flora and then fauna (aka critters) from the Similkameen and Okanagan Valleys.

As I mentioned in the introduction the dinner was at Orofino Winery near Caston in the Similkameen Valley. The Winery partnered again this year with Joy Road Caterers to offer a 1.6 mile dinner; almost all the ingredients were sourced from within 1.6 miles of the winery. We arrived for the dinner (on a shuttle bus), and were greeted by our hosts, John and Virginia, and offered a glass of one of their newest wine offerings Moscato Frizzante.

The table were setup on the patio right beside the winery and John had set up a windbreak with grape pallets and wine barrels to shelter us from any late evening breeze. There were blue skies, beautiful summer weather and wonderful aromas from the outdoor kitchen set up for the event.

As we enjoyed our frissante the appetizers were passed.

The crackers were made from milled locally grown rye.

Time to find our places and sit down for the dinner. In our places were menus, the tables were decorated with local flowers and the view was of the sun on the hillside. 

Here are a couple of reflections for you: the first is the hills reflected in one of the winery windows and the second  the patio setting for the dinner (this one is a bit of a stretch I admit).

And then a hush settled over the tables as the dinner was served.

Wouldn't be a winery without grapes and grapevines.

Some of the flowers, trees and plants

Buganvillia



Almond "fruit"



And here are the critters I promised. This one is looking for the rest of the flock, seems that the blog lady separated it from the rest.

Two pigmy goats, very cute and quite anxious to have their heads scratched, which is why the next couple of pictures are a bit too close up. These guys are fully grown but only about 18 inches tall. You will no doubt notice the rectangular pupils, a trait shared with sheep, and cows I think.

After much scratching they finally settled down for a portrait shot, a little later the brown one settled his chin on the white one and both dozed off.

The rest of the chickens.



Which came first?



A few birds collected at a feeder in the early morning much to the delight of our friends' cat, Zee.

House finch

Gold Finch

"Zee" enjoying the bird activity

Pine Siskin

A dove and a baby bird hanging around near the feeder, maybe they enjoyed watching the indoor cat.

So when I say an OK weekend I mean a weekend filled with friends, good food and wine, beautiful weather and interesting critters to watch.

When I took this it reminded me of something but for the life of me I can't remember what.

Loved the colours and patterns reflected in this tasting sample.



Something different this week. I finished this painting, intended for a card, it is a watercolour called "Age old question?": 

Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate your visit and I read and enjoy all your comments.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time ............