Looking ahead to the autumn grape crush she walks her vineyard!
Discusion King of the North Winemaking
Posted on 08/19/2023 5:24:58 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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King of the North Grape:
A hardy blue grape excellent for juice, jelly and wine making. Vigorous, productive vines are resistant to common grape diseases and insects. Fruit is medium size, juicy, tart, borne on tight clusters, and ripens early September. A labrusca riparia hybrid originally found in an old neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin.
https://www.jungseed.com/product/J30220/651
Currently out of stock, but you can easily get them in the spring for planting.
“A labrusca riparia hybrid originally found in an old neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin.”
Fun Factoid:
Specifically, the Greenbush Neighborhood, close to the UW football stadium, where all the Italians settled back in the day, using this grape to make their own ‘Lambrusco.’
Comfrey does technically contain toxins, but they are in tiny amounts, and it takes large doses over a long period of time before it starts to do any damage. So, unless you’re eating comfrey-leaf salads every day, you’re probably safe.
That said, if you already have liver problems, there’s a chance comfrey might aggravate them.
I generally reserve comfrey for things that are not ingested. It’s amazing on burns, and I make a tooth powder that’s half comfrey root, that works better than toothpaste.
Ellendra; That is interesting to know!
I also read on a link for a European Gardening site that there are something like 20 varieties of Comfrey including a wild variety. They seemed to imply that the wild variety might be a problem.
https://wineparadigm.com/norton/
"The Norton grape (Vitis aestivalis) is the oldest cultivated American grape. Dr. D.N. Norton of Richmond, Virginia first grew the hybrid in 1820 and produced wines through the late 1800s. During this time period, Norton wines were highly valued in both the US and Europe. Today, farming of the Norton grape is concentrated in Missouri, where it is the official state grape although the largest norton grape vineyard (69 acres) is said to be in Middleburg, Virginia. The grape is highly adaptable to local growing conditions, as it is durable, hearty and nearly immune to all disease. Vintners value this grape for its ability to produce high-quality, dry table wine. Described as intensely ‘grapy’ in flavor, the Norton is similar to the concord, but slightly less sweet. The Norton grape has a small, but strong following and many vintners express an inability to produce sufficient crops to fulfill demand."
https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/norton-grape/
https://doubleavineyards.com/norton-cynthiana
Just looked at the weather forecast. Highs will change from 100 to 80 by Sunday.
Came home today and the mater plants looked wilty which was not unexpected so I watered but noticed some tomatoes ripened during this 96-100 degree heat. I had picked all that showed the slightest signs of ripening a few days ago. Talk about troopers.
Chadwick Cherry is my first official favorite, crazy as they/I are.
Looking ahead to the autumn grape crush she walks her vineyard!
Discusion King of the North Winemaking
Perfect!
Steam Juicing? Never heard of it. I'll have to look into it.
This is one of the older items on my amazon wishlist.
No juicing ability is my excuse for not growing any canning type tomatoes or any determinate for that matter. I suppose I could do stewed whole or quartered tomatoes. Easy enough to heat in water and slip the skins off. I have figured on having a row or two of paste tomatoes in the tunnel.
Our biggest tomato use is sauces, Mainly pasta sauce and also BBQ sauces and not chunky sauces because my autist doesn't do sauce with chunks. God forbid it be little chunks of onion. He will separate them and drag them up on the edge of the bowl. If it takes an hour to eat a bowl of spaghetti because of that, so be it. I think it's a texture thing because he's fine with whatever was cooked with them in it so it's not the flavor.
The kids and I went out several years ago picking blackberries and I made wild blackberry jam without a juicer. Lot of work mashing and shoving through a small sieve to get juice out of them.
I do plan to grow grapes too and Norton sounds like a good one. My buddy grows several varieties and made wine a couple of years ago but also manually crushing/juicing them. I work in one of the many MO wine towns and drive by vineyards on my way to work.
Today is the day I “gird up my loins” & wade into the garden. We have had such brutal heat, I have stayed out and worked on projects in the house (4 knitted shawls, set up a new Chromebook for mom, pickled some cherry tomatoes, prepped jalapenos for jelly, etc). Mom has picked tomatoes as she needed them, but there are still many on the vine.
Currently:
- the pepper bushes (all of them) are breaking down because the branches are so loaded with peppers
- the spaghetti squash probably has 10 that need picking & it’s still blooming, plus there are some tall weeds in the middle of the patch that should be removed. There is a baby bunny that has taken up residence in the patch - great place to hide from the young red-shouldered hawk that is hanging around
- the dahlias have broken branches that need to be trimmed off
- the old dead cuke vine needs to be cleaned out
- last but not least, the tomato patch ... ripe need picking, rotten need to go on the compost pile, & I need to get some netting up since the crows have figured out there’s enough room in that particular spot for them to fly inside the fence & get to the tomatoes
- the areas that don’t have shingles down under the wood chips need major weeding - it’s a jungle in spots
Whew! Then comes dealing with the produce i.e. canning (including about 45 jars of jelly & that’s before the figs come in!), freezing, making up dishes to freeze, etc.
It’s so dry right now, I don’t have to mow the fields, but the yard/entrances may need it this weekend. The mower needs servicing badly & I just got the battery wires to replace the multiple ones with corroded terminals on mom’s golf cart. Our ‘road trip’ truck is in the shop getting a new AC $compressor$ & might be coming home today ... mom’s car has 4 new tires & the 23 yo old PU passed inspection & got an oil change .... all the vehicle stuff has happened in the last 2 weeks. The guy at the repair shop & I are on good terms at this point - he may be getting jelly for Christmas!
That’s all, folks ... coffee is finished & I am off to the ‘jungle’ ... “lions & tigers & bears, oh my!” - no telling what’s hiding in there.
Happy Hunting! :)
“Steam Juicing? Never heard of it. I’ll have to look into it.”
You’ll never go back to any other way of juicing. I just love the thing. It’s great for making my V-8, too. Just put all the mixed veggies in the colander pot, and the steam does the rest for you.
It takes about 30 minutes or so for a full colander basket of grapes to be juiced, stems included but earwigs removed, LOL!
The only casualties so far are 3 super heavy duty garden hoses that ‘kink’. They are being replaced with 100’ lightweight expandable, burst proof hoses - they look like snakes! No hose reel necessary - I hate dragging hose off the reel & having to wind it up again. I also have new water wands to replace the sprayers. I tried a water wand last night - no leaking & I love the spray options. They are heavy duty & were on clearance for $10.50 😁 I might actually enjoy watering in the future - with the current setup, I dread it.
I was going to give away the heavy duty hoses, but the thought occurred: the somewhat buried hose line along the fence to the garden needs replacing (has several leaks) & the 3 old hoses should do the trick. Instead of burying them, I will run them along the bottom board of the fence.
Another project - just what I need LOL!
Beau was doing some mowing with the HUGE mower attachment on the skid steer. He ran over one of the sets of hoses, but he fessed up and repaired them the next day. ;)
New/decent hoses and wands are such a luxury! I have the ‘Flexzilla’ hoses. They’re not cheap, but they don’t kink and come in 100’ length. They’re also that bright yellow-green color; easy to see so you DON’T mow them down.
https://www.flexzilla.com/water/garden-hose/
My climate is not a good climate for them. Still....The "Clancy" potatoes are poking up above the medium surface in my pots. (I cover them) These and the German Butterball plants have looked pretty thin and ratty all summer. I have not seen any butterballs poking up, but keep watering and hope they perk up once the hot weather backs off. (Or die and I will move them somewhere for the skins of the tubers to thicken. (I have some pots with Sweet Potatoes and they should be OK so long as I keep watering.) I suspect the realistic result of this will be that I have some German Butterball Seed Tomatoes I can Plant early next spring and Clancy "Small Potatoes" to roast at Thanksgiving. (Earlier than this year!)
OK, Local record broken.. 103F (should I cheer?) https://radar.weather.gov 8/25/2023 2:55
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm. Sunny, with a high near 103. Heat index values as high as 110. West wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Then tonight, A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 76. Heat index values as high as 107. Southwest wind 3 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Tomatoes from my Little garden, 96 lbs Heirloom varieties so far this year. About $500 value Grocery Store Equivalent Cost, a figure that I use to justify to "Herself" the monetary outlay for my annual gardening. (Best tasting varieties this year Thorburns Terracotta, Annas Noir, and Old German; Most productive; Sweet 100, Amish Paste, Chefs Choice Yellow, Jaune Flamme, and Homestead 24.) Have 5 bushes filled with green Burpee long keeper tomatoes waiting for cooler weather to redden up!
CNN had a video article about this earlier today, but I decided that preferred the one from new weather in Iowa! here is the CNN link. if interested.
Lots of storm clean up in west Michigan and a good portion of the lower penninsula without power including us, since about 9 last night. Winds of 100 plus recorded, I saw one report of 165. We still have no power and they bumped out estimate til tomorrow. Since 9 last night less than 1% of people have had it restored. Lots of downed trees and live wires. We’ve got lots of branches down but were luck no big ones unless they are down on our trails. Garden fared pretty well a few tomatoes and peppers picked by the wind and my pole of Chinese long beans was bent over. Looks like most will recover. We actually had to get in the basement for an hour as the sirens went off for tornado warning, we could hear the hail hitting the glass. Thank God we have a generator now although we turn it off at night. Think this one will be a couple more days at least. News said worst storm in 50 years.
I just came in right before 5. I’m red as a beet & borderline heat exhaustion (again). A cold wet washcloth on the face & around my neck has helped, plus I added 1/8 tsp each of Himalayan pink salt & potassium to a glass of coconut water with ice & it’s SO good. Coconut water is not really sweet, but the added salt makes it taste sweeter.
The new water line to the garden is in and no leaks - yay! I had to use 2 pieces of hose & needed a female connector. The first one was plastic & blew apart under pressure when I opened the hydrant ... very dramatic! I had a brass connector so substituted that one in & it worked great.
Dear, dear dad .... thought I was going to have to go to Lowe’s for hose pieces, but doing a scavenger hunt in all his stuff in the garage, I found a box with what I needed. I also found a “battery changing kit” - box of baking soda, wire brush, & spray to protect the terminals, just what I need for changing out the battery wires on the golf cart. If I look around hard enough, I usually find dad has what I need, or something that will make do.
I did pick a couple of tomatoes for mom, but the sun is out full force so I will have to wait until it gets low enough behind the trees to put the garden in shade before I can go out again. The one thing I am determined to do is get that dead cuke vine outta there - looks terrible.
So sorry for your troubles! Good shell and driftwood picking along Lake Michigan?
Hope they get power back to you soon! Please keep us in the loop!
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