Ever since I saw the “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucille Ball joined a group of women stomping grapes I’ve had a secret desire to do the same. Something about getting to mash food with my bare feet appealed to my inner child.
I got to fulfill that childhood fantasy last Saturday when my husband and I participated in a “Grape Stomping” contest at a local winery during their “Harvest Festival” celebration. Four teams gathered atop a flatbed wagon and wooden tubs were filled with about twenty pounds of grapes. One person of the team (me!) stepped into the tub while the other person (my husband) held a plastic pitcher below the tub’s spout. We had three minutes to stomp away at the slippery fruit and try to get as much juice into the pitchers as we could. I’m proud to inform you all that WE WON!!! I pulvarized those purple balls and my husband kept the spigot clean so that all our juice poured out!
To answer some frequently asked questions after the event-no the grapes weren’t cold, the stems didn’t hurt my feet and my toes weren’t permanently colored purple.
Of course, I have much bigger goals to accomplish on my true “Bucket List” before the Lord brings me home-visit Israel and Egypt, get a novel published, hike a mountain (a small one!) But stomping grapes really had been something I’d always wanted to experience and I had a blast doing it.
So what little thing have you always wanted to do but never had the chance? Learn to juggle or tap dance? Take a class in basket weaving? Bake a four tiered chocolate layer cake? Jot me a line and let me know. And then maybe look for the opportunity to accomplish that goal. It sure is a lot of fun! Now if I can just figure out how to use the experience in one of my stories…