Bringing In The Sheaves

 

Ok, so maybe it’s not exactly sheaves I’m toting around, but look at this crop!

 

 

 

We started harvesting our grape and apple crop a few weeks ago and it is everywhere in our house. We only have three apple trees and two grape vines, but I couldn’t imagine having more than this. The grapes we have are tiny (maybe a problem with our willingness to prune? It just hurts to cut up the vines!) but even though they may be small they are mighty! They have an amazing amount of flavor. The best way to describe it would be to say “bright”. Yeah, I know, how can something taste bright? Well, these are, they light your whole mouth up. We’ve washed, plucked (sounds more like a chicken), boiled and mashed them and have made several pitchers full of juice to making jelly. The apples have been split between making jelly, apple butter, and pie filling. Mmmm, mmmm. I love the harvest.

Here's the grape mash. It had an interesting aroma, very woody. I presume it was because it was hot and the grape seeds were adding to the smell.

 

 

 

 

 MmmMmm good. Honestly, I didn't know home made jelly would taste this good.

 

 

 And some apple butter to boot

As the harvest has gotten slim and our determination to weed and trim has waned, the zinnias have started taking over. We left them spread through the tomatoes and green beans to attract insects, and the butterflies are feasting now. Yeah, butterflies aren’t really the main insects that we were going for, but they are nice to have around at the same time.

 

Little Winston, showing off his belly. I think he prefers to see the world upside down.

 -M