Harvest! Grapes

Grapes have ripened already. It's a bit early, but we've had really hot weather since May. These are my favorites. Since we have such sweet grapes in our vineyard garden, I almost never buy grapes. I can wait until ours are ripe for the picking. Harvest has begun!

Grapes, Glorious Grapes

Some things are worth waiting for...

Our little vineyard, which we barely cultivate, has been amazingly good to us. Just a little patience and we get the greatest grapes. I really love the dark grapes which grow by the sidewalk.

The other day my husband climbed up on the wall to get me some clusters of them. They are sweeter than candy. The only candy that competes, as far as I'm concerned, is chocolate-covered mint. But I'm a "mint freak."  Maybe that's why I like to brush my teeth a few times a day.

This year at the suggestion of a neighbor who makes wine out of our grapes some years, I watered the vines when it was dry in the winter. The grapes are a bit better. Just don't forget that the Shiloh area is one of those most suited in the entire world for growing grapes. Gd made Shiloh for grape growing. But since the area is filled with construction dust from the roadworks being done, I can no longer nosh on them when walking by. But after a good rinse...

Patience....

Thank Gd for the blessings of our grapes, which grow so plentifully in our garden. But they aren't yet ready for "harvesting." I must admit that I've had a few so far, really dark ones, just for a taste. And they are sweet and delicious. But it's a waste to pick the red ones until the entire bunch is ripe and dark. And it's a total disaster to pick the green ones when they still look solid and waxy. They only ripen on the vine.

When I was checking them out the other day, a song from one of my favorite musicals, Dreamgirls, kept going through my mind... "Patience..."

Summer's Ending

There are just a few grapes left on the vines, and they're pretty sweet. Last sweet taste of summer.

The leaves are drying out, too.

And the days are getting shorter, the nights and early mornings are colder. I don't need the airconditioner on any more, and sometimes I turn off the fan.

At night I throw on a jacket when I go outside.

Yes, summer is coming to its inevitable end. We must plan for rain, Gd willing, and embrace it...

Growing Grapes, Report

Our grapes are growing but still far from edible. The neighbor who shares them with us for making wine has now covered them with netting and added some wasp traps.

I've also been asked to water them periodically, every few weeks, which I've done. Now we still have a couple of months to wait until they are ripe, delicious for eating and winemaking.  Further reports to follow, Gd willing.

Some Changes, Hope it Helps

Nothing to worry about. That green thing snaking around my front garden is an old-fashioned hose for watering the garden. It was bought ages ago and hadn't been used for years. I was surprised to discover that there don't seem to be no leaks. The gardener who had worked on our little vineyard, and is also the vintner of the wine made from our grapes, has been after me to water it during the dry summer months.

And since I've also invested money in getting the rose bushes separated from the grapevines in front of the house, I started watering them, too. I  hope that the water and the fertilizer the gardener had added will give us more and more beautiful roses.

We're also planning on planting bushes around the back of our property as a "fence," and it occurred to me that since we'll both be home a lot more in the future, it really doesn't pay to invest in a "watering system." There's no reason we shouldn't just use the hose. We can buy one for the other side of the house.

For a very long time, I didn't pay much attention to the garden, but now it's time for change. What do you think?

More Garden Cleaning, Should Make for More Roses and Grapes

I think when it comes to vines, less makes more. Let's see if this great pruning really works. For a decade or more the grapes and roses were mired in a mess that prevented both from flourishing the way the should have. So, a neighbor took the initiate and offered, OK for money, to do this massive pruning which we really should be doing annually.

I'll keep reporting as the winter progresses on the roses, and then in the spring we'll see the beginnings of the grape clusters, Gd willing.

Grape Update- What's New in The Vineyard

As many of you know, I consider the fruitfulness of our little "vineyard" as proof that the Shiloh area is the spot Gd created for grape-growing. With less than minimal care over the years, the three vines planted about twenty-five years ago have produced a very impressive amount of absolutely delicious grapes. The key is patience. They are late-ripening ones.

A few years ago, a neighbor made a deal with us and used our grapes, there were still plenty left for eating, to make a nice white wine. And this year, he plans on doing it again. He even covered the vines with some netting he had.

Gd willing, I'll let you know in a few months what happens. And I've also told the gardener who cleared out the "forest primeval" that I'd like him to hang the vines this coming winter. That should give us a better, larger and easier to harvest crop of grapes. Now a whole section is tangled up in the rose bushes, which also need care, cropping and pruning. And on the other side the vines are slithering on the ground among the weeds.

Ripening Grapes, Delish!

It takes patience, but it's worth it. We have the most delicious grapes growing in our little arbor/trellis/pergola outside. The only problem is that they are all, all three types, ripen very late in the season/summer.

Just now,  at the end of July (and the Jewish Month of Tammuz,) are the grapes beginning to be edible. It doesn't pay to pick them early, because they just don't taste good and will not ripen off of the vine.

Our grapes are totally organic, and the only water they get is rain. (The first few years after planting we had watering system, but after it deteriorated, the rain sufficed.) That makes them extra sweet. A neighbor who once picked a nice quantity from them to make wine for both our families, is thinking of bringing a net to cover them from the birds and wasps. Then he'll try making wine from them, again.

I don't know the technical wine mavin term, but a sign of ripeness for green grapes is when the grapes look rather translucent, rather than waxy. The red/dark grapes must be dark to be ripe and sweet.

The Forest Primeval...

When I was a kid in New York State (and City) public schools we didn't have to memorize all that many poems, but there's an opening few words that are etched in my brain:

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic...

Evangeline
A Tale of Arcadie
 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

from the 1893 Cambridge Edition(Originally published in 1847)

That's how I describe my garden, "The Forest Primeval," which has grown wild.

Gd willing, at some time soon, I will be able to have a garden of some beauty and control. Decades ago I did spend time and invest in my garden, but somehow, especially once my sons left home I just couldn't handle it, and this past winter I decided that enough was enough.

Last Sweet Taste of Summer

For weeks it has looked like our grapes were finished, but yesterday when I was hanging wash I saw a tempting bunch and took a picture and a taste.

Yes, they were sweet, the perfect end of summer treat.

Last Taste of Summer

There aren't enough good grapes for a proper "harvest," but I did enjoy a nosh from these that are better than the sweetest of manufactured candies.

Next year, all the grapes here and all the fruit, vegetables etc in the Land of Israel will have the holiness of Shemitta. We won't have private ownership and will be able to take from everyone's garden, just as much as we need, no more. There are neighbors waiting for these grapes.

Finally Some Grapes in the Garden

This isn't our best crop/harvest, but at least we can finally eat some.

Will Our Grapes Ripen this Summer?

So far, although the stores are full of delicious grapes, and most people who grow them are able to pick from their very own vineyard, ours looks rather retarded and pathetic. Grape season seems far away, and the pool is already open.

It's not like there's no sign of grapes, it's just that I wonder if they'll ripen before winter returns. Can we turn this into a very symbolic story? I guess there's no end at this point. This is some sort of great test for me. Don't you think so?

At leas there are obvious signs that the grapes are growing. Summer should last as long as needed.

In The Garden, This World and The World to Come

My grapes and roses seem rather intertwined. 

The difference is that there are already roses blooming, but the grapes won't be grapes for a few months. We have late grapes, which grow, ripen and sweeten only at the end of the summer, G-d willing.