Sunday was the beginning of Thanksgiving season. American Thanksgiving is still a whole month away, but Germany and Canada both celebrate earlier. This Sunday at church was our Erntedankfest Gottesdienst (‘Harvest-Thanks-Festival service’). One of the local harvests celebrated is that of the grape. A grape grower from a large vineyard nearby brought in a large, leafy grapevine and presented a description/demonstration of all the work that goes into each vine throughout the year. I took notes on what he said, but I may have missed a couple key points or misunderstood his description; his dialect was kind of strong.
- In the winter is the vine-cutting. They cut all the branches off a vine except 1.
- In March comes the bending time. The branch that is left gets bent (to the point it crackles) but not broken.
- When the branch starts budding, 2 out of 3 buds are removed.
- Through the Spring, the vines are cultivated and cared for.
- In July and August, 10-20% of the leaves are taken off so the leaves can each get enough sunlight and air. All excess is removed so the right amount of sugar gets produced and stored in the grapes.
- At harvest time, only the good grapes make it into the cellar – up to 50% are lost every year because they just don’t meet the standard.
Grapes are high-maintenance; you have to do a lot of hard work to get exactly the desired product. You can infer your own parallels to Jesus’ statement that He is the vine, we are the branches. The pastor’s sermon was about abiding in the vine – John 15:1-8.
Right after church, Katrina, Emily and I went over to Holzen’s fall festival. We met up with Marit and Natalie and the staff from Storch dorm. The freshly pressed apple juice was amazing! And the pumpkin soup was probably the best I had ever had! It was a good way to celebrate the local harvest.
To bridge the time between German/Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving, I’ve decided to be intentionally thankful for an entire month. Each day I’ll post a quick “thankfulness” status update on Facebook. Some of them will be just a hint of a fabulous story from the day; others are encapsulated fully within the short phrase. If you want to know the background, just ask!
