Brooding, like a big black bear slowly moving through the undergrowth, sniffing, snorting, and snuffling furtively here and there, in search of ripe blueberries, mulberries, and juicy blackberries in the warm and drowsy early summer months. Dusky, as a particularly hirsute rural homesteader, wiping his brow after carefully splitting and sawing slate to size for the roof of his humble country abode. Layered, like the heavy black metamorphic shingles he sets just so, preventing any unintended leaks, or damage from the wild westerly winds. Contented, the feelings of accomplishment and rising pleasure, as he takes a moment to admire his handiwork. Reaching deftly into his coat pocket, with thick and calloused fingers, he teases out his short-stemmed pipe, along with the last of his dried, shredded tobacco. Coaxing a small spark with flint and knife, his bowl finds a small ember, which blossoms in turn to that of a modest flame, as he steadily pulls air through the stem and into his anticipatory lungs. Further adding to his natural musk, the tobacco smoke curls around his body, settling softly into beard and clothes. With a hide tough as shallot skins and prickly as a pinecone, he is tan as ginger cookies, cacao nibs and shiitake mushrooms all rolled into one. No moss under his feet may grow, for innumerable tasks await his attention; rope and clothes there are to mend, saddle leather to be sewn, tilling implements to sharpen, red oakwood to split, and tarweed infiltrating the barley patch to hoe. Finally, as savory sausage in marinara sauce with fresh basil bubbles away on the stove, he safely secrets away the prized cashmere chili and Sichuan peppercorns in his cool cellar below. No longer one to travel far and wide, nor venture any great distance from home, he allows the outside world to come to him; in jars of kimchi, candied hibiscus flowers, orange bitters and juniper berries, carried by kindly wandering merchant, or the rare, good friend traveling from afar.    

notes by clay selkirk, winemaker & all around cowboy