A Little Fruit of the Vine...

We've talked about doing it for a long time, and last July (2012) we actually did...

Bob and I walked down to the fence row where the grape vines covered a tree and we picked the ripe fruit.
Just plain ol' wild mustang grapes...
The kind you have to pop out of the skin.
Then you have some choices: You can either swallow the seeds along with the "meat" of the grape or kinda eat around them and then spit the seeds out...(In case you've always wondered:  Grapevines do NOT grow out of your ears if you swallow the seeds.)
And then, the juice (or is it the grape skins?) start to make your skin itch.  Lovely.

But lovely it is.  Bob and I both have fond memories of this kind of wild grape.

My grandparents (Roy and Sadie Ragsdale) actually had "domesticated" some of these grapes.  They grew along a grape trellis in their back yard.  It was WONDERFUL to be at their house when the grapes were ripe.  We grandkids would pick and eat them the whole time we were there visiting.  Now I wonder if our grandparents really were OK with us picking and eating their grape crop.  We caused a terrific reduction in their harvesting!   But I guess they could have/would have stopped us if they minded too much.

Bob's memories consist of the grandkids picking the grapes from the wild and bringing them  home to their Oma (Lydia Dornhoefer). Oma would then can the grape juice and serve it later as a special treat for the grandkids.  (Adults would have iced tea; the kids were served grape juice.) Bob remembers her adding sugar and water and the juice from a lemon to a quart jar of preserved juice.  Yum, Yum! What a treat!

Way back then (goodness! that's my life I'm talking about!  Since when did I earn a way back then??) having juice to drink was not the common event that children know now.  Even if our parents had the money,  there just weren't many juice choices.  Bob says that at his home, the only juice served was orange juice from a can of frozen concentrate, but that was only occasionally (maybe once a month). Now it seems as if the many varieties available can take up a whole side of an aisle in Wal Mart.  There are so many choices (regular, organic, or light) and so many blends of different fruit and vegetable juices... Holy cow!

Anyway, Bob and I picked grapes on July 7 (The rule of thumb is that grapes are ripe for picking around July 4.) I googled how to can grape juice and I used my grandmother's (Sadie Ragsdale) juicer. (The wooden "masher" is now stained purple.)

Our little outing and google research made it possible for me to successfully can 4 quarts of grape juice.  I learned that it's quite a job to strain out all the grape pulp...it might even be impossible for the layman (i.e. not a professional processor) to get all the solids out.  I also read that great grape juice critics actually enjoy drinking "thick" grape juice better than the ordinary "smooth" type of store-bought grape juice that the rest of us drink.

Ira and Kelley were the first to try out our concoction. They were at the house shortly after Bob and I had this little adventure.  Sweet Kelley always seems so interested in old-time ways and paraphernalia.  She and Ira both joined us as we partook of the fruit (juice) of our endeavors.  They both approved!

Well, Kelley was at our house on March 9 as we celebrated Rachel, Josiah, and Bonnie's birthdays. She asked about the WellsBros reaction to the grape juice.  I had to admit we'd never had the chance to make the offer to them.

So, on March 11 --(not that the date is important..it's just that I happen to know it!) Rachel and I fixed an afternoon snack of homemade grape juice, frozen "sugar" peaches from the last year's first harvested crop of peaches from the new trees, and honey graham crackers. (No, the crackers were not made at home.)  As you can see from Micah's expression, our homemade style of grape juice was a hit with the WellsBros also.

But none of the boys actually finished their grape juice, even though I believe they truly enjoyed it.  Our (Rachel's and mine) hypothesis is that the juice was still a bit strong (too concentrated) for them to drink all of it.  This is the recipe I used for reconstituting:

1 qt canned grape juice (going one last time through a strainer)
Juice from 1/2 lemon (I cheated and used about 3 T of Real Lemon juice from a bottle.)
Approximately 3/4 c sugar
Water & ice to finish filling a 2 quart container.

When "the guys" drank it, the ice was only about 1/2 melted, so therefore, it was still a bit on the "strong" side.  It wasn't actually diluted to the 1:1 ratio for which I was aiming.

Rachel ended up taking the left-over juice home with her.  The plan is to use it as the communion juice at their worship next Sunday.  Just how awesome is that?

The verdict of our wild-grape picking and serving of the acquired juice:
 I believe we'll do this again.
(The Lord willing and a good grape crop!)  :)

Old Things Used in New Ways...but for the same reasons...

Back around 1971, my mom, dad, my friend Pat Kenner and I made a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was one of those "4 days and 3 nights in our lovely resort-give ya $50 to spend-just gotta listen to our 30 minute sales pitch" 'free' vacations ... (My dad was one that just loved to string the sales person along...get him to thinking he had a sale for sure, only to say no at the last.)

One of our little jaunts into town included stopping by at an estate sale. I had no idea what an estate sale was. We just sat in some red velvet covered chairs and they showed some trinkets, furniture, jewelry, etc. and an auctioneer did his thing. Well, surprise of all surprises, my Dad bid on and bought my Mother a diamond ring! Pretty cool!

But this barely-turned-17-year old girl was not to be outdone! I wanted a diamond ring, too! I had been working at Safeway for a whopping $2/hr. (and yes, that was a whopping sum back in those days...) By golly, I was going to try to buy me one, too. And I did. My ring was quite a bit like Mom's, but was--brat that I was--just a little bit bigger, and therefore, better, of course!

I did enjoy wearing my ring (and wore it constantly during the few years that I lost the solitaire diamond out of my engagement ring and the time when it could be replaced)...but I'm sure I didn't enjoy it as much as my Mom enjoyed wearing hers. She wore hers all the time until she literally wore it out. (The gold in the band wore thin and broke, therefore causing one of the little side diamonds to fall out.) She also let Stephany wear it between the time that Donnie proposed to her and when he could buy her an engagement ring. The ring had quite a romantic significance during it's tenure in the Conner household...

But the romance in the life of mom's ring lives on past her...

On December 23, 2010, Ira and Kelley Cook became engaged. It was the culmination of their Christmas date-week. (I'll let Kelley and Ira tell their own version of that special week.) Prior to the actual engagment, they got to "open" their stockings. Inside Kelley's stocking were these two gifts:






The ring is (yep, you guesses it) Mom's ring that's been repaired and coated with whatever you coat rings with to make them have a silver color rather than the yellow gold that it is originally. The earrings are made out of the two biggest diamonds of my ring. Isn't that a lovely addition to the story? I would be happy to hear some more lovely, romantical additions to this saga up in Heaven. Nice reunion, I'm thinking....



(PS--Sorry I didn't think to get/ask for "before" pictures...)