Hours planting: 0
Hours weeding: 0 (Don did weed once, but it wasn’t for an hour.)
Hours tending: 0 (I think. Don, did you tend?)
Hours picking: 1 (two people together)
Hours cooking, squishing, squeezing, draining, straining, canning and sweating: 4
(These 4 hours: all Don. I washed up pans, dishes, utensils, whoohoo.)
Quarts of grape juice: 13
Jars of grape jelly to come: 150 (hours expected to make the jelly: 4?)
We won’t eat enough toast or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to consume it all ourselves. Want some? We'll gladly give you some.
We might also sell some at our upcoming yard sale in October. What would you pay for a jar of home grown organic homemade grape jelly? At this Web site it’s $5 for a 10 oz. jar. We don’t expect to get rich, but the empty jars cost about $1 each, and sugar and pectin another 50¢ each. We were thinking $3?
Maybe we'll have our first roadside farm stand! If you stick with us, this might turn into a little farm economics lesson.
But in case you were wondering, we’re not in it for the money.
27 comments:
If by tending, you mean looking at the grape arbor and thinking about: putting in the three new posts, stringing three lines of new wire for the grapes to grow upon, making sure the japanese beetles go away, chasing the racoons away from the concord grapes, pulling out all of those tall weeds that covered our hair with tiny seeds while picking, trimming the ten foot rose bush growing in the middle of the arbor, cutting down the three mulberry trees that insist on growing in the middle of everything, then NO, I didn't do much tending. About the only thing I did, was I watered them three times during our drought and when I mowed the yard, I mowed the vines that were trying to escape the mess of the arbor! I do love making grape jelly!
Ha, well, that's more than I did. I think you watered them more than that, Mr. Watering Man.
I will help you with the jelly, and I promise to wash the pans and wipe the counters. And I will definitely EAT the jelly. Yum.
You see, you taught me that story about the little red hen: "and who will help us EAT the bread?" so I'll be sure to help out.
I am coming over. Will bring some peanuts....
Britt-arnhild, you and your peanuts are most welcome, I'll be waiting . . .
wow! what a process and way to capture it in photos- simply fabulous. Wish I lived closer so I'd could bring the wheat.
the semi transparent grape is precious, beautiful pictures Ruth.
most rewarding, most satisfying, experience.
How is wine made ?
i don't even know the difference between jam and jelly
Empty jar one dollar ?
With honey it is one dollar here
at Ooty
They call themselves 'The last forest' Small scale, They have posters painting grim picture of our future. You get scared and buy everything from their shop. i bought honey, bought a beeg bottle of honey for 100 rupees in Coorg, for my sister. that is the best honey, natural from the forest.
i think i have not sold anything in my life. if you give me a brick of gold to sell, i'll bring it back to you in the evening. scratching my head i say, no one wants to buy this from me. i think i am a bad salesman.
Yum!
Are you taking mail-orders?
It's so fun seeing pictures of you and Uncle Don:)
Oh how I love this from start to finish, Ruth and Don. Make sure you take pics at your yard sale. Why not compromise and make it $4/jar...and maybe 3 jars for $10! :) HA! I think I'd make a good salesrep for you.
Theresa, that would be fun, but then we'd have to make the bread. Couldn't you just bring the bread instead?
rauf, did you see the spider there in that photo of the transparent grape?
I don't know yet about wine. We're thinking of trying it next year, but I've had homemade wine, and I confess I wasn't impressed. Don't know if I want to work that hard for bottles of turpentine. Maybe somebody has a secret.
I think the difference between jam and jelly (Don knows better, he's both the farmer and the farmer's wife, I'm just the lady of the manor) is that jelly has more pectin, which makes it firmer. Jam spreads easier.
I knew I'd get a rise out of you with that $1 empty jar, hehe. Coorg honey, I will try it someday.
We won't put you on sales then. Let's see, how about taking the jars out to l'atelier, taking their portrait and creating a brochure?
RK, if we take them, will you come?
Yes, well, this is what we look like now, it's been too long, dear girl. :)
Boots, hahaha. And I knew you would BE the entrepeneur you are. We might just "play it by ear" as they say, and see how fast it "runs out the door." I'm sounding like that guy in "12 Angry Men" who's a salesman.
i do i do!! that is absolutely amazing, how fun. i can't believe you got 150 jars! i agree with Aunt Boots - $4 a jar, and 3 for $10 is perfect! and then see how you do. if they don't sell, you can always lower the price!
i'm afraid i have to ask for a mail-order too! how sad. i would love them hand-delivered. or maybe picking them up myself.
i was eaves-dropping the other day, and heard a gal talking about her weekly visit to her mom's house. ARGH! i wish i could do the weekly visits to the farm!
lovely photos mommy.
and...you and papa are so adorable picking grapes, i love it.
oh yes Ruth, spotted the spider there, quite big one, tall lean and hungry. Within their community there must be cassanova spiders, tall dark handsome kind, female spiders would adore them. some romantic kind some dumb kind whom the female spiders marry finally
Lesley, we didn't get the jelly done yet! We're guess-ti-mating that we'll have 150, based on the recipe. Still have to get that work done. So you agree with Aunt Boots on the price. Good idea to start at $4 and see if they sell.
Let's see if we can work out a fall NY visit, my girl, and if so, we will be packin', the jelly that is.
rauf, hahaha, women spiders marry the dumb ones, eh? I don't know if I like what you're implying . . .
:D
That's a sneaky mail-order system!
Hello Ruth
wonderful, worderful pics...
for about three years I lived in a cottage at a heritage working ranch in out Okanagan valley - we had grapes up on the hill - I could go on and on, but I will say that a vineyard is about one of the mnost beautiful sites and places to visit - how fortunate you are to have your own
All that jelly!
I used to freee and used in pancakes when I run out of bluberries
Love and joy to you both
I'll take a jar. Maybe more than one. I love toast and jam! Or, in this cas, toast and jelly! Yum.
RK, we're sneaky people.
Angledust, that sounds like a valuable 3 years, you must have learned a lot. And the vineyard sounds so picturesque. Ours is one strip with maybe four grapevines that are old and well established, and as you see, we have to do very little tending. I almost feel guilty. They are very good to us. There is a lot of pleasure and satisfaction receiving and sharing their gifts. Real farmers work so very hard for these rewards.
We use Don's jams and jellies on pancakes and in yogurt too.
Thank you so much, and love and joy to you with all my heart.
Heath, you will be getting some. That reminds me, your dad said you took the birdhouse to Sapphos when I was gone. Please, please bring it next time?
Hi Ruth,
Very very interesting to see... almost all of the process of grapes ,and what to do with them. In this case I am/was too much of a country person ( I grew up in big cities), we do live NOW in /near forest but I do know nothing about "how everything grows", My hus does, he's doing the gardening....
So its good for me to see by your blog about the "how' etc.
Bye greeting from the RED country girl:)
JoAnn, this is new to me too. I didn't grow up with canning or preserving in the house, although my mom did it before my time. I was the last of 8 kids, and I think she was too busy and tired by my time. Don has this in his blood somewhere, and he loves it all so much he even does the work after getting home from teaching 3rd graders all day.
I'll trade you a certain disc for a jar...
Peter, I see how you are, hehe.
Does that mean we have to finish the jelly before you'll give it to me? Drat.
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