We are all
familiar with transplanting - the idea of taking something from somewhere and
putting it someplace else. We do it with organs, we do it with plants.
I am a Viticulture
and Enology student who has lived in California my whole life. I’m not as stereotypical
as possible, but I reek Californian. When I moved to upstate New York from the
Golden State, my nickname became “California” pretty quickly. I'm blonde, I
wear giant sunglasses, I am snob about wine and Mexican food, and I actually
did grow up next to the beach. I love California culture, the amazing weather and the who-gives-a-fuck attitude. I can party in SF to LA without a problem, I
love the mix of people, foods, wine, and places.
I then uprooted myself to move across the country to the frigid
wilderness of New York to persue Masters degree.
Wikipedia says
Transplanting (for plants, always my sphere of reference) is defined as:
“the technique
of moving a plant from one location to another. Most often this takes the form
of starting a plant from seed in optimal conditions, such as in a greenhouse or
protected nursery bed, then replanting it in another, usually outdoor, growing
location. Botanical transplants are used infrequently and carefully because
they carry with them a significant risk of killing the plant”
I was a greenhouse seedling California. I grew up in really
optimal conditions on so many levels. The question is am I a “botanical”
transplant incapable of moving locations?
The article pointedly goes on to describe:
"In all cases, avoiding transplant shock—the stress or damage
received in the process—is the principal concern. Plants raised in protected
conditions usually need a period of acclimatization, known as hardening
off."
I am undergoing some harsh transplant shock. It all comes down to
if I can survive my period of acclimatization, if I harden off well enough
before the grey and cold of upstate New York’s winter hit me and kill me off,
like a botanical plant.
But I like to think I’m more like Vitis vinifera - my beloved
grapevine. Vinifera is bad-ass, growing like a weed in sunny and mild
California. But in the cold Northeast, a few every year are taken by winter
kill.
Hopefully I won’t be one of them.
So join me as this 20-something wino cutting uproots herself and her dog
to be a Cali transplant in New York.
