Fall Harvest

The month of September has been absolutely gorgeous in Michigan. We have been trying to embrace the weather while we can by taking long evening walks and advantage of fall activities. Saturday was absolutely beautiful weather wise so we headed to a local apple orchard where we picked a half bushel of apples and hade some cider doughnuts. We've been using our little harvest for apple crisps, lunches, and snacks. We're not sick of them yet.
From our own backyard we have a large patch of Concord grapes. Last year the birds got to them, but this year we decided to take advantage of our little crop. We are making wine out of our grapes this year. We talked with some elderly people from church that have been making wine for years and found a hobby shop called Cap 'N Cork which specializes in making homemade beer and wine. The last weekend of September we invited two fellow wine loving friends from church, John and Leanne Stallman, and made our elementary attempt at wine production. By the way there was no grape stomping involved. Overly simplified, you make a sugar water solution and pour it over a third to hall full jug of grapes. You need special corks to keep the system sealed but not explosive (air is let out, but not in.) Over a month's time, the sugar eats the yeast of the grapes and produces alcohol. Then it takes a month to separate the sediment and let the wine age. Hopefully, by the time I'm ready to imbibe our homemade vintage will be palatable. We'll keep you posted.