OK, let's hop off this self-rediscovery train for a bit and come and visit our place on a sunny Sunday afternoon in March. The grapes on the back deck are swollen and juicy and if we don't pick them today, the birds will beat us to it.
Let's pick bunch after bunch after bunch. We can use scissors or just snap the vines off with our hands. You go up the ladder and pass them down to me and I'll fill the bucket and after a while we can swap. Let's sing and laugh as the grapes explode in our hands and the juice runs down our arms. The grapes are warm, the day is filled with sunshine, life is gorgeous.
When we've filled our buckets it's time for the fun part!
Let's tip all those gorgeous grapes into a cut off drum, stalks and all. Let's hose off our feet and jump right in. Let's stomp on all those grapes and make juice baby!
After we've all taken turns stomping and the grapes are feeling squooshed, it's time to strain the juice out. If you reach down into the barrel and get a cup full, I'll pour it through the strainer and into the saucepan.
Yep, it's thirsty work this grape juice making. We're almost there now, have a drink, hose off your legs, feed the scraps to the chooks and let's go inside and bottle it up.
We're not really wine drinkers in our house, so we'll pop these bottles up on the shelf for now and bring them down as we need them for icy poles, fruit leathers, vodka cocktails and cordial.It's delicious don't you think? the perfect mix of sweet with a little hint of sour. Yum!
Thanks so much for your help, it's been such great autumn fun.
See you next week for tomato squooshing?
Big autumn love!
xx
Thanks so much for inviting me Kate! The birds eat out grapes before they even turn red the buggers.
ReplyDeletexx
Oh how awesome - i love reading about the fun you have.
ReplyDeletelooks like they had a blast!
ReplyDeleteI loved joining you and the family in that fun....have a super lovely weekend. xx
ReplyDeleteF U N !! I love this, my boys would be in their element! x
ReplyDeletethanks for taking me straight back to my childhood.
ReplyDeletemy family still make home made wine every single year back in SA.
but we moved on form foot stomping after the first season.
there is nothing like it.
best. fun. ever.
xxx
So great Kate. Xx
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful Kate, have a lovely weekend x
ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThe colour of the juice is beautiful, I wonder if the grape skins would dye yarn that beautiful deep grape colour?
I think that looks like a lot of fun for adults and kids alike. We didn't have grapes growing up to stomp on, mind you my grandmother had a grape vine at her place however we did have a big old round metal bin which was supplied by the council to put your newspapers in called "The Paper Bin" and in summer we would empty the papers out, plonk it in the front yard in front of neighbours and fill it up with water and one person would hop in for a dip/swim. I think stomping on grapes and getting squirted looks like jolly good fun and your girls obviously think it's lots of fun too. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia
ReplyDeleteThis looks to have been a wonderful day. I am trying to imagine what grape juice tastes like fresh from the vine like that.
ReplyDeleteHi Kate
ReplyDeleteThat is brilliant!!! What a great gift of life you are giving to your children. I mean how many kids get to do this? Be proud.
Xxx
Annette
My Rose Valley
PS Thanks for your message the other day. It lifted my spirit. Just what I needed. :D
PS2 Have you seen this? The best Cancer Awareness video I've seen. It made me smile and almost cry at the same time. Very emotional and absoutely brilliant.
http://faithtap.com/954/the-pink-tutu-project/#t/954/
You sure know how to have fun down there, Kate!! x
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful day filled with life! i can almost taste the juice though the pictures! enjoy these wonderful days as much as you can!
ReplyDeleteTake care, Anne
I can smell the juice! So wonderfull!!
ReplyDeleteJutta xx
What fun! I wish we could squish the juice out of our apples by treading them.
ReplyDeleteoh how wonderful! Your posts always capture wonderful magic, this looks like a simply wonderful day x
ReplyDeleteI'm yearning for a drop of that grape juice. Great helpers your kids.
ReplyDeleteI've never been a grape juice fan, but I think I'd drink this - toe jam and all! :) Beautiful pictures of a wonderful family moment!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Looks such a fun day:) thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun - and a tasty product at the end to boot!!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! I didn't know you could just bottle it up and keep it like that. How long can it keep?
ReplyDeleteOh how delicious! Having just finished touring the Barossa, I've finally gotten on board with Maggie Beer's obsession with verjuice and am drinking my verjuice straight or with soda and thinking about making martinis. Your grape juice is such a vibrant colour. I can almost taste it!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE the word "Squoooshing", it's what I do when I get new yarn. Love love love that you say it too.
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ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun. Id love to get my feet inyo some of them grapes haha
ReplyDelete* follower, love it if you followed me. http://reneehartsthis.blogspot.com.au/
Renee x
Send the girls over to BG next year, that's when we get our first grape harvest. So looking forward to all that wine!
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