But unlike most wineries in the area which are located amongst the vines, Cerro Caliente is unique. It’s located in a warehouse next to an automotive repair shop. You see Mitzi’s Dad, an auto mechanic, mixes his love for fixing cars with his love for making wine. The result is full body wines with names like Multi-Viscosity Red and Corvette Cabarnet. Don’t let their names fool you. These are full throttle wines winning multiple awards as well as a faithful following of wine drinkers. Mitzi says she loves helping her family with the wine business and loves wearing her overalls when she’s out in the fields checking on the grapes. They are the perfect color.

Rosies founder, Sharon Moore

It was about 7 years ago when Rosies’ founder, Sharon Moore, enrolled in her first welding class.  It was in this class that she got the idea for Rosies Workwear. When she went looking to buy coveralls to wear in class, all she found were ones designed for men. They were big and bulky and not in the least bit feminine. As they say necessity is the mother of invention, so Sharon created Rosies Workwear.  Since then other women welders as well as women mechanics, builders, painters, DIYers, farmers and gardeners have discovered the tough, durable and stylish overalls and coveralls that is Rosies. While we are thrilled to share with so many “can do” women, it’s welding that holds a special place in our heart.

Unfortunately, we are in a small minority. It was mentioned on carmenelectrode.com, a blog for women welders, that according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics the percentage of women working in the welding industry has actually declined – it is now LOWER than 6%. The news isn’t all doom and gloom. Check out this video we found on Carmen’s website. It’s of a girl’s summer day camp which is called coincidentally, Rosies Girls.  As the blog says, “It’s a place to learn skills (carpentry, welding, etc) that build confidence…This is an awesome way to introduce girls to career options that even today don’t seem accessible to women.” We couldn’t agree more.

During the 1940’s, the Second World War revolutionised the role of women in the workplace as former housewives took up positions in munitions factories, exchanging seamed stockings for industrial workwear clothing and replacing their high heels with a sturdy pair of protective boots. The working woman grew to be represented by the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, the famous lady in protective workwear and a bandanna who proclaims “We Can Do It!”

While some women returned to their old way of life at the end of the war, the era paved the way for those who weren’t afraid to roll up the sleeves of their workwear uniforms and get their hands dirty. Since then, countless women have stepped into mens work boots to continue Rosie’s legacy.

While working in a wartime factory must have been a trying and tiring experience, many women today find fulfilment in  jobs that were first considered to be traditionally male occupations. Real-life Rosies are everywhere; they strut proudly in their workwear trousers and heavy boots, embodying the spirit of that cultural icon who effortlessly combined mascara and red lipstick with denim workwear overalls and toned biceps. Women in workwear scale construction scaffolding, brandish welding tools and emerge from under the bonnets of newly-repaired cars with grease-smeared, smiling faces. Even ladies who prefer a less physical occupation will don workwear overalls to tend to their gardens, paint their homes or tackle DIY renovation projects. All are labors of love.

The reward of hard work and fully throwing yourself into a physically demanding project is undeniable. And of course, every hard-working lady wants to look her best while going about her day. Womens workwear design has come a long way since the 40’s, and ladies in stylish, feminine workwear are a common sight.

What is your labour of love? Are you a welder or mechanic, or do you slip into your workwear clothes to enjoy a day of gardening? Share your story with Rosies and tell us what tasks bring joy to your day!

Here’s our favorite “Labor of Love” for this week from Linda Traux: “My favorite thing to do is gardening, but with that my other favorite, digging. When I plant something in my yard you cannot dig too deep until you hit a rock. Not just a small one–a huge rock..I try not to let the rock win…I will stick with it until I get it out using my shovel and crowbar. Once I have it I proudly place it in a nice spot in my garden and of course take pictures. When it is a good find, my friends need to see and hear about it…lol..love digging!” You could say Linda really digs her rock garden.

Darlene Nieman Morris I’m still waiting to find out, if I ever have nothing to do!

Thanks for sharing and we couldn’t agree more. In between traveling, visiting with our fellow Rosies and starting a million projects, we’ve been busy working on some new clothing items and colors to add our line of overalls and coveralls. We think you’re gonna love them. Speaking of love. We’re ramping up for our Labor Day giveaway, we’re calling “Labor of Love”. Tell us what your labor of love is (gardening, horses, welding, working on cars, ranching, etc) and submit a  picture of yourself in action on our Facebook page and have a chance to win our “classic” denim coverall.
It’s perfect for fall clean-up. Not exactly everyone’s labor of love. But you might as well do it in style.

Below are a few tips from WebMD and Rosies on how to protect yourself:

• Apply sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or greater 30 minutes before sun exposure and then every few hours thereafter
• Wear sunglasses with total UV protection
• Wear hats, long sleeved shirts and pants. Pair Rosies overalls with our long sleeve shirt and top it off with our cap and voila, your got yourself covered.

• Avoid direct sun exposure as much as possible during peak UV radiation hours between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
• Eighty percent of a person’s lifetime sun exposure is acquired before age 18. As a parent, be a good role model and foster skin cancer prevention habits in your child
• Avoid tanning beds

• Alter your pattern of outdoor exercise to take advantage of cooler times (early morning or late evening is great for doing chores). If you can’t change the time of you need to go outside, scale it down by doing fewer minutes, walking instead or running, or decreasing your level of exertion.
• Wear loose-fitting clothing, preferably of a light color.
• Cotton clothing will keep you cooler than many synthetics.

Beat the heat with Rosies zip-off overalls and a cotton T.

• Fill a spray bottle with water and keep it in the refrigerator for a quick refreshing spray to your face after being outdoors
• Fans can help circulate air and make you feel cooler even in an air-conditioned house.
• Try storing lotions or cosmetic toners in the refrigerator to use on hot, overtired feet.
• Keep plastic bottles of water in the freezer; grab one when you’re ready to go outside. As the ice melts, you’ll have a supply of cold water with you.
• Take frequent baths or showers with cool or tepid water.
• Combat dehydration by drinking plenty of water along with sports drinks or other sources of electrolytes.
• Some people swear by small, portable, battery-powered fans. At an outdoor event I even saw a version that attaches to a water bottle that sprays a cooling mist.
• If you’re wearing a cap or hat, remove it and pour a bit of ice cold water into the hat, then quickly invert it and place on your head.
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol as these will promote dehydration.
• Instead of hot foods, try lighter summer fare including frequent small meals or snacks containing cold fruit or low fat dairy products. As an added benefit, you won’t have to cook next to a hot stove.
• If you don’t have air-conditioning, arrange to spend at least parts of the day in a shopping mall, public library, movie theater, or other public space that is cool. Many cities have cooling centers that are open to the public on sweltering days.
• Finally, use common sense. If the heat is intolerable, stay indoors  when you can ( hard for Rosies to do) and avoid activities in direct sunlight or on hot asphalt surfaces. Pay special attention to the elderly, infants, and anyone with a chronic illness, as they may dehydrate easily and be more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Don’t forget that pets also need protection from dehydration and heat-related illnesses too.

Tucked amongst rolling green hills and beautiful homes you will find the elegant yet charming Wind Dance Farm. The 40 acres is home to budding olive trees, organic, sustainable gardens, a herd of alpacas, a brood of chickens, a breathtaking home and grounds, a lavender paradise in the making and a three-generational family working together to breathe life into this lifelong dream. There is richness and something very pure found on this beautiful farm hidden in the hills of Avila, CA, and beyond its gates is the story of one family’s dream becoming a reality.

The story for Scott and Lisa Ritterbuck began 3 years ago then they moved to Wind Dance Farm from Reno, NV so their young children could be closer to their grandparents. Lisa’s parents, Mike and Shirley, have lived on the farm for ten years and realized they needed help maintaining it as it began to grow from just a few decorative olive trees and landscaped gardens to a hillside covered with three varieties of olives and a garden yielding a huge variety of organic produce. Scott, who was a business broker, and Lisa, who has an MBA from Harvard, jumped at the opportunity to come help – even though it meant living in a small, one-bedroom apartment above the garage with their family of four. Only temporary though, as they are currently in the planning stages of building their home on the property. Both had no background in olive processing or sustainable gardening, but were eager to learn. Scott has become an amazing self-taught farmer by spending many hours researching and attending numerous conferences. Lisa soon discovered that her passion was not in farming the land, so a year and half ago she started raising alpacas. Running a farm is definitely a new direction for this family, but they are truly enjoying the ride.

From Harvard, to raising Alpacas on a small, Central Coast farm was far from her future plans, but life has a way of opening doors to unexpected opportunities, and right now Lisa says she couldn’t see herself anywhere but on this farm, living the life she is living. She has found a new passion raising alpacas and she has truly fallen in love with this new journey life has lead her into. It is also very apparent that Scott has found a new passion as well. His eagerness to share every detail that goes into working and maintaining the farm clearly shows he isn’t missing the corporate way of life. So, what does working together as a family look like at Wind Dance Farm?

First thing in the morning Lisa conveniently slips on her Rosie’s coveralls right over her pajamas – this being one of the reasons she loves her coveralls – and heads out to feed the alpaca’s. Then she heads inside to get her children up and ready for school. Four days a week she volunteers in the mornings at the school they attend just down the road. In the afternoon she comes home to do some bookkeeping and to work on their house plans. Then it’s back out to the alpacas for more feeding and some herd maintenance, which includes things such as weighing and vaccinations. She currently has four new crias (baby alpacas) on the way, so regular weighing and monitoring of her female alpacas is high priority. Selling the crias and the fiber that is collected during yearly sheerings of the adults are the two main focuses with her herd. Alpacas yield around ten pounds of fiber each year, and Lisa’s mom has recently begun using some of it to hand spin and weave on her own. In the near future, Lisa hopes to show some of her alpacas as well. Her passion for these animals was clearly shown as she worked with them, and she says that each one truly has its own personality. The alpacas also help impact the rest of the farm by creating rich compost for the other crops grown and harvested there.

Scott is definitely thankful for the alpaca’s contribution to the farm, since the work of his hands lie in the orchards and gardens on the farm. He is currently raising lavender from cutlets and working hard to find the right soil mixes for all the produce grown there. He proudly showed off his blueberries, and shared how challenging it was to finally find the right soil mix for them to produce the sweet berries that are just starting to ripen. He also spends his time tending to the olive trees and maintaining the beautiful gardens and landscaping on the farm, but his main focus this time of year seems to be the planting and harvesting of some wonderful organic produce.

Most of the produce grown on Wind Dance Farm is sold at local farmers markets along with the farms uniquely blended olive oil which is harvested and then processed into rich oil right on the farm. Each year, friends and family are invited out for a huge harvest party, which includes a mariachi band and BBQ. Around 30 to 50 gallons of olive oil are processed on site and then bottled to sell to local retailers. The farm will also soon be home to fields of lavender that the family plans to harvest and sell as well. The lavender will add another layer of beauty to the farm as well as another piece to the mosaic of Shirley’s artistic vision for the land. The land that this family has truly learned to live off of and love.

Living completely off the land is something the family is hoping to do for one month this summer. This goal is somewhat experimental so they can hopefully live solely off of the farm’s crops more and more each year. The only things they do not have on site are dairy cows for milk, but they plan on doing some local trading for fresh milk. Scott is especially excited for this upcoming adventure because of all the time and hands on investment he has poured into making this farm more and more sustainable. From bringing in plants that attract beneficial bugs so the crops can stay purely organic, to piping most of the property for collecting rain water to use for irrigation, he has really learned how to use the land to its utmost potential; something that this family clearly is striving to do as they all work together.

Though it is still small in the big picture of agriculture today, Wind Dance Farm is a great expression of one family working together tendency to live out their dreams on the land they live on and love. And their local community also benefits from the organic crops and olive oil the farm produces. In such a modern world that has a to distance families, this family has found a way to stay connected, work together and really treasure what they have been given. So much potential still exists on this family farm, and hopefully it will continue to thrive and cultivate the dreams of many more generations to come.