That escalated quickly

So I'm the direct opposite of a fighting kind of person, but when I do go to the mat, it's usually when someone is trying to spread lies or take advantage of people. I just read a facebook post from a winery trying to sell its wine by scaring people away from other wines. They claimed their wines have no sugar and therefore no hangover (most wines do not have sugar, the sugar converts to alcohol in the fermentation process and THAT'S what gives you the hangover). They claimed most other wineries are actually, secretly owned by three large corporations (again, not true) and finally, claimed other wineries regularly add things like fish bladders, corn syrup and purple dye to their wines (nope).

Anyway, I fired off a snappy retort and then wondered if I should have gotten so riled up. Injustice is a big deal to me, and either presenting yourself as something you're not or presenting someone else as something they are not will usually get my blood boiling.

So to calm down, I'm going to come here and post some lovely pics of the late Oregon summer. We've been walking in the evenings, and a good walk in the vineyard, a park, or by the ocean will soothe even the strongest urge to sort someone out online.

I should probably go for walks more often -- for many reasons -- soothing the savage beast of injustice being just one of them.

Golden fields of harvested grasses.

These Pinot grapes are coming along nicely!

A little early fall color.

Sunset in the vineyard.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad in Tillamook.

 

Tillamook Bay.

Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

Watch the skies, people.

Ghost in the Vineyard

Night in the harvest vineyard

So Big Ag and his crew are waist-deep in harvest right now, and a strange little issue has come up. What is it, you ask? Three of his vineyard workers have reported there is a ghost in the vineyard known as Five Hills, where harvesting is now taking place. 

A ghostly man, dressed in white from hat to shoes, has been seen leaning up against the fence posts which stand at the end of each row of vines, standing and silently watching the harvest until he vanishes.

We know it's not a real human, as access to the vineyard is extremely limited, especially in this area which is literally miles away from the nearest road. And these workers are not of the ilk that would spoof and play games with each other. They're much too serious about their night's work and heading home to their comfortable beds on time at this point.

But it certainly fits with all the ghostly goings-on this time of year. Spooky! 

Meanwhile, at Justin Vineyards...

The new owners of Justin are clear-cutting old growth oak forests to make room for more grape vines plus a huge reservoir, the filling of which will likely lower the aquifer level of the entire area, thereby impacting the wells of every neighbor they have (which luckily is not us).

They put some bullshit statement on their website about planting 5,000 NEW oaks to replace the century-old forest they ripped from the ground, but those will take 100 years to grow, assuming of course that they CAN grow to maturity amidst fields of water-sucking grapes, which I doubt. 

As for replacing the habitat and ecosystem of an entire oak forest? Ain't gonna happen, people.

If you drink Justin wines, this is the kind of environmental stewardship you are supporting with each bottle purchase. I don't know about you, but I've enjoyed my last bottle of Justin wine.

Actually the one thing I can say about their wines now is that they have unmistakable notes of dead forest on the palate and a very bitter finish. For me, anyway.

Here's a link to the article if you'd like to read it.

http://pasoroblesdailynews.com/justin-winery-clear-cutting/56473/