Slow Food Traveler

26/05/2017

Happy National Wine Day! Like we needed an excuse... 😂

We’ve all been there. It’s some formal work event at a bar. You want to stay classy and professional and perhaps even wish you knew more about the fermented grapes in your glass. Well, lucky for you, it’s possible! Let’s learn the easy steps to tasting wine. via GIPHY Look at the color of the …

26/05/2017

Making sense of soil is kind of like wine tasting... You have to use many senses for the best analysis! Maybe not taste, but a little dirt never hurt. :)

You can see, feel, and even smell the difference between good and lousy soil.

16/05/2017

I'm home finally and have given the reflection due to my 2-month stay in New Zealand. Read on!

My travel lessons from New Zealand's Marlborough wine region.

23/04/2017

From yesterday's bike ride to the beach! Making the most of my last days in Marlborough (even with it being a 25 mile trip - endurance training for Montana adventures this summer). That boat is of guys fishing!

22/04/2017

Here's to finishing up my final shift of New Zealand Vintage 2017! We can conquer the world- or at least a racking and an RDV machine any day.

17/04/2017

The hardest working Argentinian couple I know is looking good in their rain pants at five in the morning. Well done as always! 🍇

16/04/2017

I finally have had a couple days off in a row, enough to catch up on sleep , enjoy some sun and good company, and finish a post. Here is my update from the last few busy weeks! No selfies... I look pale (night shift) and exhausted!

The real work of harvest is nearly finished. We have harvested already over 8000 tons. I have learned so much fast about how to make wine, so much so that nearly all of my dreams include hoses and valves and wine in some way (just ask my roommate). Vintage is hard work, and I have finally had a coup...

14/04/2017

I really like to see this. Environmentally and economically, grass-fed meat and dairy can make sense. AND it's better for your health!

Advocates of grass-grazing cattle say it's better for the environment and the animals. But there's another upside: Grass-fed meat and dairy fetch a premium that can help small farms stay viable.

07/04/2017

Happy Saturday! With a post work dinner/morning breakfast happy hour thing at RITUAL. This scrambled eggs and salmon on toast is no Midwestern dish that I am used to, but it was delicious and well worth the wait with this fun crowd of coworkers.

31/03/2017

Sometimes, to get to the wine you want to taste, you just gotta climb on up and find it. Thanks, Rosie, for a great tour and tasting at Seresin Estate!

28/03/2017

Vineyards. I just love them. I was lucky enough to visit some last week with a very knowledgeable winemaker from Saint Clair. Read on!

Growing up on a farm in Nebraska, my dad on Sunday’s would often take a break from work and instead take a leisurely tour of the farm in the afternoon. We would hop in the old ’78 Chevy pickup and drive from field to field. We would check how the plants were coming along, dig into the soil to see…

24/03/2017

What I look like when we decide to have lunch down the road at the Kitchen Door (or restaurant on a winery) before we start the 3pm- midnight shift. That would be my happy, I'm so excited, don't mess with my amazing plate with an open faced steak sandwich with a kumara hummus, greens, beets, caramelized onions on a piece of pumpernickel bread... 😃 a good start to transitioning to full night shifts after the weekend I think! Now if I can figure out how to recreate it at home...

22/03/2017

Feed the yeast... make some wine.

21/03/2017

We found a detour on our bike ride. A break on bean bags in the grass with a lovely session pale ale at MOA BEER was just what fellow adventurer and roommate, Kirsty, and me needed (okay- wanted). In other news, we bought a car together. Luckily, we get on well.

21/03/2017

The thing is... we weren't in the Marlborough Sounds... but just outside of Blenheim. But still a great bike ride in our new neighborhood!

21/03/2017

One happy gal in the field today, taking crop samples!

20/03/2017

Over a week down at Saint Clair! It was a week of learning and
recalling the ways one ferments, filters, and clarifies wine and how to use hoses, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and other equipment. So much to learn! Time is already flying...

Over a week down at Saint Clair! It was a week of learning and recalling the ways one ferments, filters, and clarifies wine and how to use hoses, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and other equipment. So much to learn!

16/03/2017

Have you ever heard of a "CSA?" It stands for "Community Supported Agriculture," and patrons like me support local farmers by purchasing a share of produce from them.
If you're from Bozeman, I used Gallatin Valley Botanical last year and loved it! Fresh and delicious produce every week. Split your weekly share with a friend or invite your friends over for dinner if you've got too much (and freeze the rest)!

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a cooperative farming agreement between consumers and farmers, sharing the inherent risks of working with mother nature and exchanging seasonal produce for up front payment to help buy the necessary supplies and pay the farmers for work done all year round. E...

13/03/2017

Growing up, my dad would talk about the great minds of sustainable farming with Wes Jackson being one of them. This interview focuses on his work with The Land Institute but also on this fascinating new grain made into beer, Kernza. Maybe Montana could start growing this perennial ancient grain, and my fellow Bozemanites can enjoy yet another amazing microbrew...

An icon of enlightened farming in the corn belt ruminates on the origins of agriculture, nature’s designs on the land—and a new kind of beer!

12/03/2017

Let the fun and the work begin!

12/03/2017

I finally have had some time to settle into my new home for the next two months in Blenheim, New Zealand! The first week was a whirlwind adventure. I share in this post the three things I really want to accomplish in New Zealand. Now you can all hold me accountable.

I finally have had some time to settle into my new home for the next two months in Blenheim, New Zealand! Before I left for New Zealand, I wondered how I could ensure that I accomplish all that I want. In reality, all that I wish I could see and do is impossible in two months: climb mountains and hi...

06/03/2017

When there are wineries in every direction, what do you do? Go in every direction!

05/03/2017

I found a very happy place. A barn full of wine and beyond it some vineyards just a few days short of their harvest.

04/03/2017

When in the Coromandel, we had to try the mussels! Never have I eaten mussels that were so huge and so fresh from the ocean! My next goal: to go fishing for mussels with the fisherman.

27/02/2017

First time for everything- a "Girl Scout flight!" Stone Brewing Tap Room partnered with Girl Scouts for a delicious afternoon tasting in San Diego!

25/02/2017

I can hardly believe it that the launch party for slowfoodtraveler.com happened over a week ago now! Thanks again to all you friends who came out to support and hear what it's all about! I'm now on the move, en route to New Zealand (via southern California)! http://www.slowfoodtraveler.com/

20/02/2017

An intro video to SlowFoodTraveler.com is coming soon (with cuts of fun interviews of guests from the Launch Party- can't wait to see it). Thank you to Eterna Films / Montana Filmmaker!

11/02/2017

I spent 3.5 months in Austria in 2014 in a small rural town. This article hints to me what I might feel like again in just a few weeks when I'm in New Zealand, working my tail off at a winery. But this time, I'll spend way more time in the cellar than the field. Can't wait! (...but for maybe the aches and pains... those can hold off completely this time if they want!)

I have been taken back ten years when I still lived on the Demmel farm – Where there is dirt under my nails. My hair has gone wild in a messy ponytail. I’m in work clothes with no glam or glitz. My lower back hurts from carrying heavy things. My legs and feet hurt from standing, old shoes or borrowe...

08/02/2017

Hello friends! Check out my new blog: www.slowfoodtraveler.com

I want to hear your feedback! What interests you most? And least? (Which is it for the photo below- burning hairs off of a chicken over the stove? :) I hope to keep it interesting- always.)