S3E19: YMI Talking to Elaine Pivinski from Franklin Hill Vineyards

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Today’s episode features the incredible Elaine Pivinski of Franklin Hill Vineyards.

Elaine walks us through the early days of starting one of Pennsylvania’s first wineries, the challenges she worked through, and the passion that kept her moving forward. It’s an inspiring look at the dedication and vision behind Franklin Hill’s success.

You won't want to miss this one, check it out here!

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

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Over the years. I study women who want to start businesses, and I could tell who has it and who doesn't. Not always, but you have to feel your gut. I did a talk at Cedar Crest on starting a business, and the first question was, where did you get your data to start this business? Where did you get your training to start a business? How did you know how to? And I said, my stomach, my gut. And if you really listen to your gut, your your intuition inside, it'll tell you right or wrong, but we don't listen. Yeah. And I knew inside when I had to be a single mom. Welcome to YMI Talking. A podcast where the guests are so good you'll wonder why the host is even talking. In each episode, you will hear one of the leaders of the Lehigh Valleys vibrant business hub. They will tell you the keys to their success, the mistakes they've made, and what they have in store for the future. Here is the host of YMI Talking from YMI Insurance, Jimi Honochick. All right. That is me, Jimi. Again, we are here with Emily Ellis. Hello? Hello. How are you? Good. How are. You? I am great. This episode with Elaine Pivinski from Franklin Hill Winery is awesome. So good. It was too good, actually. It got deep. It got deep. I don't. I'm not a deep person. I know I'm gone. I'm just shallow as you can be. I'm a little puddle. And she was an ocean. And I think she drowned me with all of her awesomeness. Like, it was just. It was really, really good. So good. Yeah. It was so good, actually, that we forgot to shout out our sponsor. We did. So I'm going to shout them out right now. Z craft, curators of taste. They've got a promenade location and an airport location, and you should go get coffee there or sign up for their catering services, which are great. Yeah, you definitely should. Yeah, they're very good. Good. But I don't want to waste any time because of how great this episode is. You. If you like laughing. If you like crying. We did both of those. Yes. So I don't want to talk up too much, but it really was that good. Elaine is so impressive. Just the story of where she came from to how she got where she is now. The story of her determination and her fight for women's rights. Just. Everything blew me away. I could listen to her forever. Yeah, I said, hey, come on. Podcast, I like wine. And then it was like, wow, I signed up for so much. Yeah. And it was absolutely great. I love every minute of it. And you will too. So let's jump into it. And having a good time. I don't think I know about anything. Nothing, exactly. And a land of ski. The owner. The founder of Franklin Hill Vineyards. She is basically the queen of that. I mean, she's got a winery. She is always smiling, laughing and having a good time. And I could not be happier to have you here. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Let's talk about. Well, you know what? Usually I start with some softball questions, but we're going to get right into it. What is your favorite wine? Vidal blanc. Oh, I don't what is a white wine? It's a white wine. Okay. I grow it in my vineyard. Yeah. And I've. It was hybridized at Cornell University. And I finally, after 40 years, learned how to make it better. When we harvest it, what happens is in the past, you ferment it, and then as you're fermenting it, we keep it whatever temperature the room is. And now we decided to chill, ferment it, meaning bring it down to a lower degrees. The slower fermentation is the the fruit is ignited in the wine. So even though it's on the drier side, you get a lot of fruit, which. And it doesn't have oak on it. Yeah, that's kind of nice. So wine that you want to have at the end of the day to forget the day. Yeah. I love talking to wine people because I am the least knowledgeable person. I go, oh, this tastes good. I like it a lot. But then I hear you and I hear all those notes in the characteristics. Did that was that something you had and loved before Franklin Hill, or was that something that you came to love with Franklin Hill? I'm a Polak, I drink beer. I do. I knew nothing about wine. As a matter of fact, I joined the American Wine Society in the early 70s to learn about wine, because every weekend you'd go to someone's house and they'd have wine and you got to taste it. And that's how I met my first person to teach me how to make wine. He was a amateur winemaker, always got gold medals throughout the United States. So I hired him just to show me how to ferment. Had a rack, had a filter, and he was very good until after a year, I knew what he knew, you know, and I was bigger, you know, we were commercial. He was just a home winemaker in the basement. Not just he was a home winemaker in the basement, which is where it all starts. I love that. Where did you start? Where is the beginning of a long story? My story begins where you owe me a thank you. Yes. And because in the 60s, there was no Planned Parenthood yet. Or. Or birth control. Yeah. So we girls had to worry about ourselves. And we got married very early, and I married an architect son from Montclair, new Jersey. So I thought I'd have my life set. And we go to Woodstock at 19 years old. And at Woodstock? Yes. Oh, I'm so jealous of everything in your life right now. That's incredible. So, on our way home, he said to me, I don't want to take over my father's firm. He was going to architect school. Let's live up here on a commune. I'm 19 years old. I'm in love. Yes, and I don't share well. And I'm greedy and I'm possessive. I don't take my clothes off. I don't belong in economy because I'm. I'm too, you know, controlling. And I can't share that well. So I said, well, let's live off the land on our own. So we started looking for land. Now this is 19 years old. We started to look for land, and we found a beautiful farm in Lower Mount Bethel Township in Pennsylvania. We were from Montclair, so we were from new Jersey, and we came over and sure enough, it was up for sale for $50,000. It had 35 acres and a small three room farmhouse from the 1800s. Wow. I know that the dream of the 60s, we we went to our parents and said, you've got to buy this. Yes. We're 19 years old. We had no money. Yeah. So our parents gave us the down payment. They did. Downpayment. Well, you know, what was it, 10% of 50,000, right? Is it that bad? Yeah. So. And then we bought it. And then I looked at him and I said, did we buy Colorado by any chance? Because when you come from Jersey, 35 acres. Yeah. Right. Colorado. So we, asked around to Penn State, Rutgers, Cornell. Cornell came back and said, I love where you live. There's no vineyards. Would you wait five years while we get cuttings at a nursery in New York State and supply you with an acre to grow vines? We said sure. So we waited. And in 1975, we put the first planting in a French American hybrid wine grapes that Cornell suggested would grow in the Lehigh Valley. Yeah, and we were also hippies. So we heard there were people like born again Christians here that maybe don't drink. And they they're not going to maybe they'll poopoo us. So we kept it very quiet and we opened up, in 1982 because it takes five years to get a crop. We opened up with the help of the American Wine Society's, you know, amateur winemakers. And in three months, we sold out. So the Lehigh Valley drinks. Yes, we do that. So we doubled the, capacity, and then it just kept growing. But what I forgot to mention, and this is in the 60s and 70s, when we bought the farm, women were not allowed to buy land. In that time, we were not even allowed to be on a mortgage, nor could we be on a credit card without a man's signature. But you accepted that this was 1971, 1969. So, with that said, everything was in his name and it was okay. That's the way it was. And so I worked the farm and he taught school. But the marriage started to fall apart, and he left. And at that point, it's another thing is there was no cell phones or there was no computers. So you went to a bank with your coupon book, and that's how you paid your mortgage through a bank. So I had insight after he left that I was never going to go to the teller, go to the person who approved loans, and I would make an appointment, and I'd sit there and I'd say, hello, I'm Elaine Pinsky, I'm paying my mortgage, my name's not on it. And I'd tell them my sad story and they say, oh, okay. Month after month after month. Sometimes I think when I walked in, they ran away because they didn't want to hear my story. But I did that for year after year. And then the big break came in 1986. So we opened the winery in 82. He left in 83. So in 86, Ruth Bader Ginsburg really pushed the law of I did not to deny women a mortgage. So I went back to the bank and I said, I have proof. You see it. My name wasn't on it, but you know that I paid it. So I said, am I eligible for a mortgage? And so he said, yes. So he gave me the mortgage, tears flying, you know, like, wow, I own something after I've done all the work. And, I bought the farm for my children's father, but the mortgage, the interest was 16%. And in 1985 he said, but I own something and I never heard of mortgage anyway. So just one more hurdle. So that's how I started. So I reclaimed my birth name, and I made myself the first woman owned company. And then I became the first female winemaker because there wasn't. You were always the wife of a winemaker, but never the winemaker. Yeah. And then more came after that. So, I did march for women's rights in 1974. Oh, my gosh. After we bought the farm. And I realized that something's wrong here. You know, we have to have a voice, and, we still have to have a voice, and I'm still marching 47 years later, and, it's sad right now. Yeah, it's very sad. All right, I'm going to go. I'm going to go back to positive. I'm soaking in literally everything you said there. There's so much to unwrap. I don't even know where to go. I'm a little dumbfounded. What an incredible story. I mean, I'm just going to start there, like to go from Woodstock, which we're going to hopefully, if we have time, dive into more, be like 19 years old. This is what I'm blown away by you, 19 years old and married. And when I'm 19, the decisions I were making were not very smart. Whereas you are, you know, really considering you're reaching out to universities and trying to start a farm and use the resources that you could have. I just I'm impressed by your, your knowledge and your ability to just go out there and get what you want. Like, that's that's very impressive. And they continued through the whole story to, you know, the mortgage and, and just walk me through where that comes from. Like, is that something just. You were. Intuitive. Yeah. I, you know, over the years, I study women who want to start businesses. And I could tell who has it and who does it. Not always, but you have to feel your gut. I did a talk at Cedar Crest and starting a business, and the first question was, where did you get your data to start this business? Where did you get your training to start a business? How did you know how to? And I said, my stomach, my gut. And if you really listen to your gut, your your intuition insight, it'll tell you right or wrong. But we don't listen. Yeah. And I knew inside when I had to be a single mom, I thought of two things. What if I failed? What would happen to me? Well, my father, I could always go live with him, you know? Okay, so the kids would be protected. And then, number two, I'm healthy. I'm not going to die. And I had a mortgage to take care of, so I had to take care of, to do it, and I liked it. I like gardening, I like getting dirty. I like working the. And I wasn't raised a farmer. My father was an engineer. But, intuition, like, you kind of know if you want it. And I could tell you too, how many women I meet today that want to be entrepreneurs and own their own company, and they just don't have that it factor because they think it's a little it's maybe it's a little too easy, or when you want to run a company and have people to work for you, you've got to be an outstanding, kind person to them. You've got to work harder than them. I always say I don't like it when my staff or my children work harder than me. Yeah, and that's a great way to live because, you know, instead of pushing it or offend, well, she shouldn't work as hard as we do for her. And all this. No, I do, yeah. And that's how the intuition and so by example. Let's talk about your team because it is an impressive team I know that you employ I think 33 women and that's 90% of your staff. I mean just this concept of empowering women obviously isn't theoretical to you. You're out there marching and you're putting it in your business. Talk to me about the team and how you've built this team. Well, it started, early in the late, let me see. Late 70s, a local girl on the street was looking for part time work because she was a young mother, younger than me. And she wanted to have a job. So she started to work for me 44 years ago and hasn't left yet. Her name's Bonnie Fischer. Yeah, and she was the mechanic. She was very good and loved to get dirty, and she loved to break from racing to twins. So another thing is, when my children get on the school bus, I needed women to help me get a little time so I would follow the school bus and watch the women that went back in the house after there were rural. Yeah, I didn't know you had a long driveway, and then I'd knock on their doors and I'd say, hi, I'm late. Pinsky I'm running Franklin Hill, but I need help during the day. And I noticed that you're not going to a job. Could you give me a couple hours? And we started, you know, one, two, three. And then we turned out to be the fabulous five. Five women on Franklin Hill Road would drop their kids off. And after they put the laundry in, it started. They'd come with me, and then 2 or 230, they'd leave because they had to pick up the kids or, the children needed to be picked up for activities. It was great because I gave these women a purpose. And when you live in the rural, countryside, you don't have aunts and uncles that are going to take care of your kids after school. You have to be there. So that's how I started my team. And, another important issue is don't tell your team what to do when they come up to you and say, how did you want me to do this? I'll say, well, how do you think it should be done? Turn it around on them and let them be part of the decision making. And when they are, they want to be engaged in the company. It's not like they come in. You give them orders. I want you to do this to today. Know, like, how can we get on the jumbotron at Art crest? Yeah. What does it take to do that I want you're a great designer. You're a great photographer. Get me a picture on that. What is it going to take? And you encourage them. I mean, this is today's work. Yeah. Encourage them to, not be told what to do all the time. And that's empowering. Like, yes, just hire women is something. But then giving them the ability to kind of create their own destiny. And give them freedom to raise children. Yes. My kids are home today. They're sick. I remember when, oh gosh, it was measles or chicken pox was going around. And then all the kids are up in my living room because they all had it. Yeah. And then one mother stayed up in the kitchen and would give them, you know, soup or take care of them so the other mothers could work. Yeah, it was really funny. But you just did that because these were women that were good mothers. But they love working, mom. How do you go from the fabulous 5 to 33? I mean. Yeah, and there's a sense less now. Okay. Let's now. Yeah, but it's predominantly women. But I have to be so honest with you. I love the testosterone in my company. And I think that is what was happening for a while there. Women. It was a power struggle. Yeah. You know, people would come in and they wanted it more alpha personalities. And I saw that change. People didn't get along. They started talking behind people's back. They started their little groups of whispering. And women can be like that. Men can probably be like that. But I only knew women. And then I realized I sat down. I even did some coaching with them about everyone has different personalities. How do you approach them? They don't like to be put on the spot. Enough is enough. Come on. Yeah. Here. You're here for your job and do the best. I'm your person who can talk to. So when I. My son is obviously an and would check in. But he was so involved in the vineyard work he was in the office. Then I started bringing guys in and boy did that level the field because they're not going to put up with this little gossip or they're not going to be in it. And, I think it works really nice when there's, an even number, not an even number, but the women's balance, that would be the perfect word. But the main jobs are still run by the women, and the men have to. And we make a show. They're married, they have daughters. They go, oh, I'm always used to taking orders from women so often, you know that. And we make them feel empowered to, how important they are to me. That's great. Let's let's talk about Adam a little bit, if you don't mind. Social. Still, kind of grew out of Franklin Hill and is incredible. Have you been there? I have, I went before Music. Fest and it was amazing. It is. It's cool. The drinks are great. It's just a really great institute at this point in Bethlehem. How, talk to me about the genesis of Adam coming to work for you, and then kind of doing the social still. Well, I always laugh. There's a group of wineries in the Lehigh Valley, and all our sons are in it. And I can remember at a conference, they're all sitting around drinking whiskey, saying, why are we living out our parent's dreams? And that's exactly what it turned out to be. It was our dream. We started it and we drew our children. And I'm talking vine, Chris, Clover Hill, pinnacle Ridge, Galen, Glen, Franklin Hill, where, you know, Cherry Valley, we, you know, we're all dragging our kids in, but it was the parent's dream. Yeah. And, I got him involved because, he was my son, you know, he had to work, and then he started doing the farm work, and then I sent it to college in Philadelphia down in manioc, which is Philadelphia University. And I opened one of the first retails there so that I keep him sober while he was in college, meaning he ran the whole mini and farmers market of a retail location now while he was going through college. And I can remember. Minsky's Don't Mess around. I mean, yeah. So I can remember this senior year. He came to me, said, mom, could you get someone on Sundays? I mean, the senior in college, I'd like maybe to go have one day off because he had school and the farmer's market was open five days a week. Yeah. So he brought his bicycle. Is it was a BMX or any ride his bicycle, in maniac to the store and then ride home and all that stuff. So, he got invested there and then after college, he settled in downtown Bethlehem and I said, run the Bethlehem store because we were the first ones and Music Fest in 1984, which is pretty fun. Yeah. Jeffrey Parks came to me one day in 83, and we were just started in 82, and he said, I want a music festival. And I don't know if 100 people will come or a thousand, but you're the only winery. Would you be the wines? Because we want local. The German flair, you know, and all that stuff. So we were the first wine music fest in 84, so Bethlehem was a perfect spot for me to open my one of my retail spots at the Old Horses building. You know, instead of imploding it, they really made it in a beautiful spot. So he was in Bethlehem and ran that, but I realized he was getting itchy. You know, you just don't want to sit there. He had so much more qualifications. He's brilliant in marketing. He's brilliant and seeing what's out there. And he might not want to go to the chamber meetings or to the meetings, but he knows what's going on. Yeah. You know, so he, I switched around to the vineyard manager. So then he started taking care of the most beautiful vineyards. Then in those days, we had festivals. So he was in charge of the festivals from Pittsburgh to the Poconos, running them all season with a group of girls, you know, all the time. And, then I saw his marketing skills, and then he started to say, you know what? I want to have my own legacy, mom. You know, too controlling, you know, I, you know, and that's why I said. Mom, you don't do well in communes. Yeah, right. So, listen, I, want my own legacy. And I heard the loss in 2012. We're changing that. The liquor control board was gone. Allowed distilling. I want to be the first distiller, so I bought him a t shirt at Christmas that said, prohibition is over. Thinking that would help them. Yeah. No, he gave me a ticket to somewhere, and we went and bought one of the stills because I was promised if we didn't buy it, no distillers stills would be around. Yeah. So then he started looking, where am I going? To open a distillery and searched. And with the help of, economic development, he liked edginess. He wanted like Harlem, but in the Lehigh Valley. So, he looked into Bethlehem. Yeah. And because he lived there and he thought edgy with this, you know, the steel and all the rust and and the pipes and all that stuff, which is like a vodka, you know? Yeah, yeah. So, he hooked up with economic development. Then he got with Rob De Beers and Mike Ferrucci and John Callahan, and they showed them all the buildings. And then we saw the almost closed down bank. Yeah. You know, the windows were boarded up and it was terrible. And the funny talk about a funny story. I knew Adam's idea was phenomenal. So you sent that paper out that, you cannot repeat what I'm telling you, what I'm thinking of, but that the nondisclosure. I wrote it all up because I was going to share it with these men, and I didn't want them to take it over. Yeah, yeah. And I gave it to Mike Peruzzi, and he signed. And immediately I said, Mike, you didn't even read it. He said, I'm a team of 50 lawyers. Do you think this would really hold up? Yeah. So and he said, but I want this to work. Yeah. I want this to work. And sure enough, with his help and our help, we carried it out and we made it, a distillery. And it was great. And we brought it back to its natural grandeur of the original. Like, we got away with the lot, like the stairway wasn't as wide as it should be, but it was a historic building. Yeah. So we started learning how to distill. That's just, it was just the most amazing day when the store was put in place. And then we opened at Christmas time, and sure enough, people said, well, gee, I need a piece of bread if I'm going to drink whiskey, you know, I need that. And then he started with a flatbread. Oh, I want a salad. Oh, I want a sandwich. And then before you know it, he was voted best restaurant last year. Yeah. In the Lehigh Valley, which is tough. They're wonderful. There's so many. Yeah. And, his wife runs the restaurant, and. Kate. Yeah. And he does the distilling. And I remember talking to Kate one time about, like, one of my first times at Social Style, and she described the process of turning it in from a decrepit bank, and she was like, it was just Adams vision. Like he could just see what this would be. And if you've been there, it's gorgeous. Clearly he's done an incredible job. Yeah, yeah it is. And it oh, it's just it's such a landmark local the location. Yeah. But you know, when he started and they had the food trail, there was three people. Wow. You know many are there now. Yeah. So that's a little hard. You know you always like competition. It's very creative. Yeah. But because you collaborate but sometimes it's overdone. Yeah, absolutely. People want to jump in and do it and it depletes. The pie is just so big. Yeah. And it gets depleted. Let's talk about the Lehigh Valley. I mean you you've mentioned it a couple of times and your ties to it. What makes it special and kind of what is your involvement in it? My involvement in the Lehigh Valley, yeah. Please remember, this is a 30 minute podcast. Well, I felt when I was a single mom and I had to venture out and trying to meet people. My drive was a mile long. I don't have a neighbor, you know? You know, figure out how long a islands. And that's the next. Yeah. So I joined the Chamber of Commerce in the 80s to meet women. Yeah. And I tell my story. And they'd never heard of a winery. You know, they never heard of me. And women support women. And that was the beginning. So I joined the chamber in the 80s, and I noticed getting more involved women, I would do the tastings, you know, it wasn't profitable, but it was getting exposure out there. And then before I knew it, I was good at events. I was good at, you know, having to mentor women in a lot of ways. And they mentored me because they were all older than me. And so they would mentor me, and I'd got along with them. And then from there, I would join, like, help out. Third Street Alliance is my charity to this day. The first day that I went out on my own was a mixer at the Third Street Alliance, and I heard little children talking upstairs and saying, can you smell that food? I wonder what's down there? And I looked at, you know, it's third Street lines in East and it's just gorgeous. Yeah. It's, a beautiful home. And I said, who's on the third floor of our fourth floor? And they said, it's a shelter. And that changed my life. I sat down there, I prayed to God. I said, because I was my children's father had just left us. I had no money coming in. I was trying to make to survive. And I said, I'll do everything I can in my power, but don't ever let me land on the fourth floor. And I didn't. And today that's my charity, because I had to choose not to land on the fourth floor because I could have no income coming in, no family close to you, raising two little kids. And you know, how do you survive? You had a mortgage, you had insurance and stuff. And today that's my charity, because I have the tools that didn't land in the shelter. And some women just. Yeah, we all have a story. Yeah. Do you feel as accomplished as you are? I mean, do you ever know I am, and that's such a thing. I think business leaders often don't feel that way. But I mean, if you take pause and look back, you've got to be impressed with what you've done. Some people tell me that. Yeah, yeah. And you know what? Sometimes my son doesn't give me any credit when I'm around him. That's our jobs. It's your job not to give you any credit. You know, I remember I got an award for a woman of influence. Yeah, woman of empowerment. And I used to say to him, Adam, could you please just show up? Because I have no one coming to me, you know, with the Lehigh Valley business. And Kate and him would always come, always come. And he was always proud of me. But, in general, his job is not to make me, you know, him, to praise me all the time. Yes, sure. You fight with your children, right? And it's a power struggle and. Okay, you asked me for one funny story, right? Or something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. When he was. Was starting to work for Franklin. Help in your power struggle, Elaine. Controlling. You know, it's my way or the highway. And one day he came to me. He said, mom, you don't let go. And he said, I'm going to work somewhere else. I have great marketing skills. He's very smart mechanically and how to fix things. And he said, I'm going because you never let me just make a decision. And so I said, all right, go to the trade show and get what you need. He said, it's about filtration. Do you know anything about filtration? I said, no, so we went to it and came back with a $50,000 well before I lunched him. Can you imagine with your. Farm, I actually spent.$50,000 of the business. And he said, do you know anything about filtration? And I said, well, no. Yeah. And he said, you spent $25,000 a year in filter pads, and it's on a plate and frame filter. Yeah, it's 25,000 right there. Did you know that? He said no. He said each one of these tanks have to be filtered just three times from a two micron down to a half a micron. And he said all the labor you and Bonnie spent every day sitting and waiting for that pump to go through, doing 500 gallons of wine turned to, you know, juice turning to wine. And he goes, and then we wrap up that filter pad and put it up into the landfill, and we contaminate our planet for another 25 years. Right. He said, this has one filter, and the minute it gets clogged, you just, clean it with so and sulfur and start up again. It's automatic. I can put it on at four in the afternoon and it shuts off four in the morning instead of me sitting there. Yeah. You know, waiting for it to finish. And then all that waste in pads gave me 500 gallons of wine. Convert it to a bottle of wine at $10 is another $25,000. So within three months that. One. Machinery. And so I like em very much. And that was the change. Like the firing of, matriarch, patriarch and company family businesses. I think everyone should have a psychiatrist every week to to settle the battles of power. However, that's where I let go. And I said, it's time to let go. And now he converted the whole farm into solar. So we're off the grid. Yeah, because now when we started, we were the sixth grower, probably the ninth or 10th winery, and now there's 475 wineries. They're not like we do it. Yeah, vineyards. And you can turn the soil over, but they're there and there's part of the equation that we deal with. And Adam said, why would people we have to stand out and how do we do it? Maybe the new generation because we care about our planet. Yeah, they care about your future, your future and the fact that we're sustainable and we're taking care of the planet. Maybe people would support us more. Not. Maybe they are. Yeah. Or they see that the younger generation, definitely wants us to take care of the planet. And so we're off the grid, and I drive electric. He drives the electric line. Our gaiters are electric, and everyone says, oh, you're wasting electric plugging it in. It's powered by the sun, right? Yeah. So when it's a shady day, I'm not happy with this. Beautiful, though. And that's something I didn't really hit on. And that would be in the scene, the Pennsylvania wine scene or just the wine scene in general. What makes Franklin Hill unique? And you already, you know, gave a couple of reasons, but what would you say makes you. Guys, I think, unique is that we try to produce the our sort of mission is to produce the best tasting wines grown, produced and bottled in Pennsylvania, and that's doesn't exist anymore. What do you say. To make it a fordable? And you. Do. Yeah. And then if you go back, because my woman's story is great, but that goes 47 years ago, what am I doing today and what we're doing is collaborating social still and Franklin Hill to, for the future we're coming up with. He came up with wine in pouches ten years ago when no one was doing wine in a can. Yeah. And of course, we got systems assist, you know, because the there was too much alcohol for 12oz. People drinking it like snow. Right. We had to cut back the alcohol. We didn't know. Yeah. You know, so we did canned cocktails. He's the leading the way of rtds, three years now with, spirits at 6.5. And, we're always trying to be on that cutting edge. And, now he's getting into THC drinks with another company, and I think my story's wonderful because it starts with women's rights, and, women help empowering women. Today, we are a great, great speci women. You know, we're hard working. And I think corporate America would like to have some more women working with the. Because we'll get it done because we have to and we can multitask because we have to. And it's in our DNA. And I think our experience at the farm, the tours, brings it in. And just having a great tasting product. Yeah, yeah. What do you say to the ignorant and uncultured people who say Pennsylvania wine isn't good? Because I know that's not true and you know that's not true. And we. Hear it all. I'm sure. Yeah, because they want the Pinot noirs or, give us a chance. Yeah. We've come a long way. Yeah. And we don't expect to be. And our wines aren't $65. Any wine that, you know, and one of your clients, it's not Pennsylvania girl, right? Yes. Yeah. So that's hard to. Yeah. You know, how can I deal with sin? That is the Pennsylvania grape. When you have people getting Pinot noir from Oregon. Yeah. You know, but the law doesn't allow that. But they get away around the law. And then now we said, well, we're going to be the WA Association that can only be grown here with the 300 miles. So I can actually buy grapes 300 miles away. So that means Long Island, Virginia and New York State. They have pretty good damn grapes growing up there. If I needed. It. Yeah. That's great. I, anything that we didn't hear, like there's so much that I would still love to. Who's your favorite performance at Woodstock? Do you remember Woodstock and who was your favorite? Okay, I'll let you in on it. Yes. I never got in. No, but we we parked the car on the New York Thruway. It was closed. Right. Can you imagine? Today when you drive and you make a left turn by mistake and you get a yell at you? Yeah, yeah. We left our cars and we threw away, and we didn't care if they were there when we came back. Yeah, it was such a beautiful, way. We were against the war in Vietnam. I marched to get that. It was a foolish war. I lost all my classmates to it. Yeah. And then, we were walking and we heard ahead. The rain, the mud. Right. The drugs, lack of food, toilets. It was just a mess. And, you know, we were still sheltered, privileged kids from, new Jersey, you know, Bergen County, new Jersey. So, we as we were walking the neighborhood there, said, why don't you camp here? You could sort of hear the music. You know that stuff? Why don't you camp here? We didn't want to go home because we couldn't even get our cars out if we tried to. Right. So we all parked, bunch of punch a bunch of people all over on people's lawns. Yeah. So the funny stories. I was in the backyard sleeping, and all of a sudden everyone came running around to the tents and said, get up, get up, get up. There's a wedding, there's a wedding going on. And I. What? We all got up and in the front of someone's house on the lawn. We all witnessed the wedding and I just sat there with my sensible brain still. And I said, what is he going to think in the morning? They go. Yeah, this is really happened, you know. Yeah. And I do have to say we really started a culture movement of love and peace. And I just wish. It would continue. Yeah. Continue. Yeah. Not to get too deep. I never get deep. But I've really found my religion lately. You know, raised Catholic but never really fell into it. And just recently, it's really come back to me. And it is the message of love that really speaks more than anything to me. And I just would like everyone to kind of find that same message. Yeah, well, we don't get deep here. So you broke me. Elaine. Anything, though, before we wrap up that we should hit that we haven't hit. I think what I want to just conclude with is that I love what I do. Yeah. And I also want to give a shout out to people as we're aging. Never stop growing. And I think the reason, and I'm very proud to say I'm 78 years old, going on 80 years old. There was no. Pause. What? No, no. Yeah. Yeah yeah. And the reason is because I'm needed, I and I have a purpose and I'm very proud of it. Women don't want to tell age. Oh my God. Yeah, I shout it out from the hills. Because I'm here to tell women that are over 60 years old. Stop looking at retirement, stop stopping life. There is so much more ahead of me and I'm so excited to see what my next adventure is. And I and I'm studying different things. I'll take classes on, artificial intelligence, and I, I just want to learn more. And by that, my young people, you I want to mentor you. And you mentored me. Yeah. And we give back to each other. And that's so important because as people get old, we're we're tossed aside over stupid. And a lot of reasons we are deserving of that title because I'm with my friends and they'll say, oh, they complain about everything. Oh, I wish it was the way it used to be. Why do we have pronouns where it's life? Yeah. So I have it grow with it. Yeah. Or you're going to fall behind. So my, wish is that we all constantly look for passion and find a purpose in life. And you as an employer, never dismiss the older woman. Because I hired two women over 65 that were prominent women in the Lehigh Valley, and they're retired and they just want to come back, to be a soldier. Yeah. And a manager to some of my best workers. Yeah, yeah. All right. This was how you do an episode. This was it. Eileen. We laughed. We cried. Truly, this was my honor. And I really appreciate you coming on here. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Why Am I talking podcast. 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