5" Carmi with Grapes, Fontanini

5” Carmi is the Hebrew name for vineyard.
In the hillside, the vineyard burst forth with fruit from months of labor and patience. it was harvest time…the season when Carmi’s family headed to their vineyard to gather the ripe grapes, which would be pressed into delicious wine and dried in the sun to make raisins.

While this was an annual ritual for her family, this year was even more special. For the first itme, Carmi helped in the vineyard from early spring to the fall harvest. She assisted with the pruning of the older branches to increase the production of the mature vines. She watched as a new field was cleared of stones and helped plant the young vines.

“God has given us a bountiful harvest this year. It brings us prosperity and home,” said Carmi’s father, looking across the hillside with his daughter by his side. “But we also like the vine that God has planted, pruned and cared for. You have shown the same love and patience with this vineyard, and now you are one of the harvesters of God’s field.

Carmi felt a sense of awe at the sight before her. She was honored to harvest what she had tended so carefully all season but what she knew God had helped bring to life. “I know that God is always watching over us and our vineyard,” she replied to her father.

Carmi’s family—from her small cousins to her aged grandparents-had to work very quickly. The grapes had to be gathered in baskets before they rotted or were ruined by the coming autumn rains. Carmi still took the time to inspect each bunch carefully and also sneak a few juicy grapes for herself!

When she wasn’t picking grapes, Carmi stayed in the stone watchtower. There she helped keep a lookout for any intruders or animals, especially foxes that also loved the fresh grapes. She also assisted with the household chores, as the watchtower became her family’s home during the harvest. It was a place where they slept, ate and celebrated each day’s accomplishments.

Indeed, while it was difficult work, harvest time was also a celebration. They sang and shouted with joy while cutting the ripe bunches of grapes from the vines. The grapes were poured into the winepress where the wine makers, accompanied by music, trampled the grapes with their feet into the juice. The precious liquid was then poured into earthenware jars, sealed with a linen stopper and allowed to ferment into wine. Carmi helped spread more grapes out in the sun to dry into raisins, a tasty and important food for her family.

At the end of the harvest, the wine and raisins were plentiful-and ready to bring back to share with those in their village. Before they headed home, Carmi looked over the hillside. She would return again next spring. But she knew that throughout the year, she could harves the fields in her own village-caring for those around her and sharing God’s love.

*The name Carmi was selected through a special Fontanini Collectors’ Club contest. We would like to thank collectors Christy Beshears and Bob Haberl, for their suggestions to use the Hebrew name for “Vineyard.”