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Smells like bread baking down here in the cave. Monday we harvested grapes, that is, we harvested some of them. This year’s crop far exceeds anything in the past and just picking the west row we had 140 pounds, more than enough for the five gallons of wine I make. And even at that we only picked the low handing fruit, so to speak. We left a lot of grapes on the vine for whomever or whatever wants them. As for the east row, we’ve left the bird-blocker netting on it for now. I want to compare the ripeness of those grapes in a couple of weeks to the the ones we picked this week.
The last few years we haven’t had as many grapes as we need for five gallons of juice for various reasons. This year’s bounty I believe can be attributed to several factors. Probably the biggest reason is the moisture we got last year. But the vines are just that much more mature and there are a couple that were planted to replace vines that died so they are younger than the originals and are just now hitting their stride for fruit production. We were able to get the vines covered early enough to avoid much loss to the birds and we’ve been diligent in spraying the grapeleaf skeletonizer larvae which in past years have taken a heavy toll. Finally I like to think I’ve gotten better at trimming the vines for maximum fruit. No doubt all of these factors contributed to the vines producing more than the rule-of-thumb one gallon of juice per vine. By the way, there are only four vines on the west side, the side we picked. The unpicked east side has six vines. If you want some grapes, and they are delicious, come by week after next and you can pick all you want.
Tuesday Kari helped me with the crush. She’s been doing that for several years now and we have developed our technique to the point where we get through it pretty fast. Wednesday I tossed the yeast and things are beginning to happen. When I tested the brix (sugar content), I found I didn’t need to add any sugar. We were two to three weeks later with the harvest this year and I think that allowed the grapes to increase their sugar. I’m looking forward to tasting the wine a couple of years from now.
In other news, Abigail has been on the road this week. The Rebels played a Midland team in Midland on Tuesday and will go back to Midland to play another team this evening. Tascosa is in class 6A and the rest of the Amarillo/Canyon and Lubbock schools are 5A so now that district play has started, they get to ride the bus the four hours or so to Midland/Odessa/San Angelo to play away games at other 6A teams there. Don’t seem right.
Mowing the tall grass on the southeast yesterday I scared up a cottontail. There is at least one frog hanging out in the lily pool. I guess Mother Nature causes frogs to instinctively disperse to prevent overpopulation and to perpetuate the species. Just seems like such a long way for such a small frog to go.