Kris and I don’t grow a lot of our own food, but we grow enough to make a difference.
In the fall of 2004, the year we moved into this house, we planted a row of grapes. Using only a shovel, I tore into the sod, double-digging a row about three feet by thirty. One of our neighbors had collected and split an old telephone pole, so he gave us some of these massive logs to use as posts for our arbor. We strung up plastic-coated clothesline for support wires. Another neighbor let us take cuttings of his grape vines, pointing out the plants he thought were best.
For three years these vines have grown and branched at an alarming rate. This year, for the first time, we allowed them to bear fruit. We’ve marveled as the grapes have swelled and ripened in the heat of the late summer. Over the past week, we’ve begun to eat them. Today I spent a part of the afternoon joyfully harvesting great juicy handfuls of fruit. This first year’s crop was only thirty pounds, but we know there’ll be more in the years to come.
It only gets better, though: supplementing our harvest with fruit from a neighbor, Kris has been making grape juice. Using a hand-me-down steam juicer, she’s produced 33 quarts, half of which is purple (from Concords) and half of which is white (from Niagaras). It’s delicious — far better than any store-bought juice I’ve ever tasted. (And no sugar added!)
Our total cost for this? Just a lot of elbow grease. The only real expense has been on canning supplies, and most of those can be used again!
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Oh MAN! Don’t use old telephone poles in your garden! They’re treated with toxic creosote. Get rid of it!
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts85.html
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Was going to say the same thing about creosote. The stuff is linked to cancer, FYI. Get rid of the telephone pole, especially around your food.
Scott Kustes
Modern Forager
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Creosote warnings noted. I’ll look at alternatives. Thanks, guys.
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No sugar added? I hope not. Grape juice alone already has twice as much sugar as Kool-Aid, and only a little less than Pepsi.
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Fun!
I remember making juice years ago in a house we rented that had a few grape vines. You’re right, the juice was much better than any store-bought stuff. Same goes for the jelly I made from some of the juice.
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Alright JD, I’m digging the grape juice, but when are you going to start making wine? Making homemade wine has always been something I’ve wanted to try. I’m not a wine scholar, but I do enjoy it, and it might be a fun and inexpensive hobby to branch out and try. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive starter kits, or you could go the improvisational route and just search for help online.
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I didn’t know about the creosote, but that’s good info. Good luck with the grapejuice! My mom used to make jams and jellies from berries in the fields by my house. Some of them were quite yummy!
Mr. Micah and I have been trying to save money in the beverage dept by mixing up 1 gal of powdered milk and combining it with 1 gal of fresh. Doesn’t taste quite as good, but not enough of a difference to stop.
That’s for us non-juice drinkers.
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J.D. —
At the risk of causing a disturbance, I humbly submit that:
1) the telephone pole came down because most of the creosote had already leached out
2) there is very little lateral transference of leachate. This was established in research regarding using (arsenic salts) treated timbers as garden edging. Leachate travels in a pear-shape.
3) by the time the creosote gets to the grapes, it’s not creosote anymore.
4)There is a PEL* for creosote. You are nowhere near it. You are not in constant contact with it nor are you breathing it 8 hours a day.
Bill
*Permissable Exposure Level
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Just make sure you have an electric juicer! I made about 15 quarts of grape juice by hand once, and besides it tearing up my hands (and then rubbing grape juice into the scrapes), it was all full of sediment and therefore tasted pretty nasty. Next time I’m just gonna buy it from the store
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Great. Now I have to add “steam juicer” to my wish list! Meantime, we’ll be making a batch of backyard grape wine from our own grapes this coming week. We did grape juice (with an old Juiceman Jr.) a few years back, but wine just sounds so much better. Oh, and the following week? Hop harvest!
Now, if we could just get our schedules to sync with the one day all of our plums turn ripe at once.
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Plant some garlic. As it develops, a large portion of the garlic we buy in grocery stores comes from Japan. Heard on the news that shipments to the U.S. are stopping because of safety concerns, & California no longer grows enough to supply the nation.
With so much produce coming from overseas, where there’s no regulation and no way of knowing how much of what was sprayed on it, it might be smart to grow as much of your own as you can fit in your yard.
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I bet the creosote is what makes it taste so good. And probably what caused the grape vines to grow so freakily fast. I think everyone should put telephone poles (and possibly railroad ties) in their gardens.
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VERY cool! That juice looks great!
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What’s a steam juicer? I know I could google it, but I bet I’m not the only reader who is scratching their head.
That juice looks delish. Do you thin it out with water or drink it straight? I find I have to water store bought stuff down.
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There’s an even easier way to make grape juice than a juicer — my mom has made juice for years like this. The recipe is simple: 1-2 cups grapes (two if you like a stronger juice), 1 cup sugar– put both in the bottom of a clean quart jar. Fill with boiling water, screw on lid and ring, then process as usual, with either a hot water bath or a pressure canner. (Check a canning book for the time in your region.) Let sit for at least a week — strain the grapes out, it’s ready to drink!
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As you do cool new projects like this, I have a book to recommend: The encyclopedia of country living by Carla Emery. It’s got recipes and ideas for the cheapest and most basic way to do almost everything by yourself.
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@#15 Cindy Brick
Jd & I tried the sugar & boiling water method last year before we acquired a steam juicer. It was tasty, but too sweet for us. But you’re right– it was definitely easy!
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Have you tried to make grape jam? It’s very easy and delicious. My mother used to make all the time, besides jam from other tropical fruits more common in Brazil. Other things easy to grow in your garden: cauliflower, tomatoes, green onions, limes, etc. They all require a small footprint and little care.
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When I lived in Vermont, my landlord “gave” me seven long-neglected apple trees that were growing near my cottage and said I could do whatever I liked with them. He also gave me free use of his cider press that was stored in the barn. I had a friend who made part of his living pruning apple trees in the local orchards each winter, so I asked him to give me a lesson in pruning. I pruned my trees the first winter, and had an amazing crop of apples the following autumn. I invited neighbors and friends to bring their own apples as well and we had a cider-making party one weekend in mid September, which became an annual event. We made many gallons of cider (i.e., what Americans call cider, which everyone else calls apple juice), and some hard cider as well.
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I did grape juice and jelly this year too, by hand. It was so much work. I’ve never heard of a steam canner, and I don’t anticipate having enough grapes just yet to make a $50 purchase worthwhile – but now that I know what it looks like, I’ll keep an eye on the thrift store/yard sale circuit! I blogged about my grape experience a couple of weeks ago:
http://cheaplikeme.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/deal-of-the-week-free-fruit-and-free-vegetables/
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Fantastic idea! I’ll do the same with oranges
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Star Money Articles for the Week of September 17…
Here are some recent interesting posts from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond: Get Rich Slowly details how to make homemade grape juice. Consumerism Commentary compares financial advisors and stock brokers. AllFinancialMatters updates us on his kitchen r…
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we inherited a lovely grape vine at our new house this year, cant believe grapes grow so well in the middle of London (UK), and have just made some delicious red grape juice (no sugar). we used a potato masher and it was easy! I am just wondering how long the bottles (sterilised) will last, and if I need to keep it in the fridge. Anyone know?
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Hi
about creasote, yes it is toxic but NOT very mobile. I wouldn’t panic about it unless you were using it inside a coldframe/greenhouse. and two, i just made grape juice for a second time and they are so NOT sweet. the first time they were super good. not sweet exactly but really tasty. These are really really sour. now I have it in a pot in the fridge and need to do something with it quick. any ideas?
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I have just finished attempting to make grape juice with a juicer, never again!
Last year I washed my grapes covered them with water let come to a boil,turned them off and when they got cool enough I strained them through a flour sack.I freeze mine in guart bags , and when I use them I delute the juice and add sugar as needed, most of the time no sugar is needed.It is very good and looks a lot better than this I just made using the juicer.
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I have been making grape juice and this year used about 120kg of Shiraz. First I pick out any damaged berries from the bunches. Then rather than picking each berry off of the bunches individually (which is very time consuming), I drag them over a square-meshed cake cooler with a large bowl below to catch them.
I tried the potato masher method of squashing, but that was hard yakka, so I found it much easier to knead them with my knuckles. I am very fortunate to have a steam juicer, but if I didn’t, I think I would go for a large vegetable steamer. I found that the holes at the base of the steamer were letting too much sediment through so I used a fine meshed sieve inside the base.
I preheat glass bottles and pour the fresh hot juice into them and screw on the lids immediately. It keeps for several years without any other treatment or additives.
As each lot of pulp is exhausted I drain out the last juice in a large sieve, then put the pulp into another pot and add some water and a little cane sugar. After it has sat overnight I repeat the extraction process and obtain considerably more juice.
I hope this helps someone.
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