The fall is a busy season around these parts. School is back in session. Sports are in full swing. I go back to work --- and the garden is exploding! It's a love-hate season for me.
But, with that said (or complained) I do love to reap the garden rewards. This year we finally had a small grape harvest.
The birds always got to them in the past. So this year I put mesh bags around them to keep the birds out. And it totally worked. But I wasn't prepared for the other pest - wasps. They ate their way into the bags and began draining the juice of the fruit. I've been told grapes are best picked after the first frost. But we couldn't wait any longer. The wasps were creating raisins.
So we picked most of them and came away with two big bowls filled. The first grape jelly recipe I came across said to peel the grapes... and ... I walked away from the idea. Instead my friend lent me her vintage fruit steamer and taught me the easiest thing to do ... make grape juice!
Full confession - I'm a lazy homesteader. I'm a lazy cook and lazy prepper. I don't enjoy recipes with a lot of steps and I easily shy away from labor intensive processes in the kitchen. All exciting recipes in our house belong to my husband. So, when I was told I could put the entire bunch of grapes in the steamer - stems, leaves and all - I was in. I could do this! After several hours of steaming we came away with 8 quarts of beautiful fresh grape juice. Now sealed and on the shelf for future use.
The Fall is a time for learning new things. Education has been on my mind lately. But not necessarily book learning - rather, life learning. I love this quote - even though I do not take it to mean we will not fail. Failure is part of our journey to success, if only we learn from it. I wish you all the glorious success our Father has in store for you!
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