Saturday, September 21, 2013

Harvest Time Stuff

    Fall has arrived. Cool nights and crispy days under blue, blue skies are here. We love it. One of these afternoons we hope to pack a dandy supper and a tablescape and eat supper by the lake near to where Elv is working. I have dreams of setting up the camera and catching some memories while everyone enjoys the leisure of evening by the lake.
    In other news, our internet has been down for a week. I read three books this week. Good stuff. Besides harvesting projects and sewing. I miss the ready communications with the Jenny and Lisl the most. But Lisl called this morning and made up for her part of it by visiting for a long time. Jube is putting sounds together, she says. Otherwise, I'm sorry, about the loss of the one phone that actually rings at our house as well. Tell me, are we so important that one week off the grid so to speak is such a bad thing? I sincerely doubt it. If you REALLY must get us, please text one of us. We always get those texts.
    The garden is finishing with a flourish of illions of Roma tomatoes. Each week we can up a few more jars of them.  There will be plenty for us and Carolyn both.
    And with zinnia to my hearts content. I thought the rabbits were never going to leave them alone so that we could finally get flowers, but we are enjoying many bouquets of them on our table.
   We are harvesting grapes and juicing them. So far we have 15 quart.  These grapes are not your regular domestic Concord grape...not at all. This is a wild variety that pretty well takes over wherever a start decides to grow. For the almost 27 years that we have lived here we have enjoyed the wonderful screen the vines create.  The fruit thereof is quite tangy and sour.  I tried to make jelly different times but it ended up runny and awful.
 But we have been enjoying the juice with plenty of sugar stirred into it.
 The birds like them, too. Robins talk and scold quietly in the depths.





Then Noah found a neighbor's crab apple tree full of apples for us to pick for sauce and jam. He wanted the sauce. We want jam. This was fun.

Last Sunday evening we were invited to Noah's for a sing and campfire. It was just nice to gather around a fire and sing all the favorites. Jake is a big blessing to all of us with his enthusiasm and guitar.
    Have a wonderful Sunday.

3 comments:

  1. I don't know about those grapes, but based off of how mine look when ripe, I think you did them a little soon. I know that if you didn't take out the green, and greenish looking grapes before steaming them, they would add to the tartness. Nice pictures!

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    1. Well Gabe, we did a final batch of the grapes this week, two weeks later than the rest.These last did not appear to be any riper than the former. In the meantime I had helped Susan with her order of grapes for juicing and was reminded of the big difference in the two varieties. If you know the difference between wild blueberries or strawberries and their domestic counterparts, then you will understand the difference in these grapes. The juice from these wild grapes is pinker in the jar than that of the the tame grapes. In the glass after sugaring and pouring onto ice it is decidedly purple/pink, and a bright, tangy taste on the tongue. When you come to see us, we will have you decide what you think.

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    2. Yes, we did take the little green ones off before steaming. Just so you know.

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