Back in the fall, once most of the grapes had fallen to the ground or been eaten by the dogs, I decided to harvest the leftovers from the backyard. I got a couple of cups of white grape juice (see above) and a whole jug of red grape juice.
It was the first time in years that I had grown something to eat - I used to have plots in the community garden when I was an apartment-dweller and really enjoyed mucking about. So this summer we are refocusing our energies on building a garden in the backyard. We’re planting fruit trees (apple, pear, peach, cherry and plum!) and making some raised beds for vegetables. My sis is moving to Invermere in the summer, so we’re hoping to spend a few days each summer doing mass bouts of canning (her specialty) and juicing. My gramma was telling me about how they used to pasteurize apple juice and I think it’s a great way to get organic, healthy food. PLUS, there won’t be as many emissions going into the air just to get my food to my house. PLUS, a chip off the grocery bill is a good idea. PLUS, it’s really good for kids to see where their food comes from.
So a toast to self-sufficiency! A toast to my spring garden!
(By the way, you are probably wondering when I’m going to squeeze all this gardening in between the renovations… good news. The countertops are installed today, the tile guy comes back this weekend and the plumber should be finishing up next week. So we’re pretty close to being finished!)
January 18th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Yum. I love freshly squeezed juice. Your kids are going to love picking fruit.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:55 am
last fall, when my folks were visiting, we picked a bunch of appleas and wild grapes off the trees/ vines that grow in the parkland near my house. Dad spent a few days processing, and voila, apple juice and grape juice. Very tasty, and very organic… And very local. I love to garden and can, but with my small yard and lack of time, about all I grow these days are a few herbs, a few tomato plants, and a few cucumber vines. The latter I can grow vertically; we eat fresh tomato-cucumber salad all summer and in fall I dry the tomatoes (sweet millions) and use them as snacks or in soups. Even a little garden is good for kids to see how food grows and comes to the table, I think.