Corn Husks, Srps/Sickles, and Wine Grapes (Cross Posted From Barnyard Buzz)

 I like harvesting knowledge, even when  I don't learn too much.

One time, while living in eastern Croatia, in the city of Osijek (OH see yek), I had a friend who's dad didn't like what he was up to. So we offered to help him. Part of his dad's problems were from being a veteran in the war for Croatian independence, fighting over that very city. We got take sickles or srpovi, and husk the leftover corn. I was really good at it because I am short and can see things other people miss. It was a very visceral experience, especially knowing that my great-grandparents probably harvested corn in much the same fashion in Croatia. This wasn't the part of Croatia they were from, but still the tools, the language, and the weird mix between the past and the present, like early twentieth century Croatia must have been the same as early 21st century Croatia. Other than the fact we have microwaves, smartphones, broad penetrance of the internet, and other technologies, humans and societies are still the same.

Then we went and picked wine grapes. These are small little black beads about the size of a small huckleberry or a wild Alaskan blueberry that people mash into wine. The many thorns hurt because I was not used to picking wine grapes. Just to give some context, when I was living there, since I don't drink alcohol, I saw pallets of wine come into the supermarkets, big five gallon things of wine. I didn't drink, so I was looking for the local equivalent of Welch's fruit juice. It was all in vain. Croatians love to drink! When my great-grandparents came over, the Croatian immigrants in Rock Springs, Wyoming would buy a railroad car of wine grapes from the Napa Valley in California, and mash the grapes with their feet. There are a lot of stories with that part of the family with wine from my grandpa's teenage years. I thought about these the whole time I was picking the grapes. It was cool to connect with my family history and to harvest knowledg with my hands.