Finally!

My quest to grow concord grapes like my Grandma Mary had has taken several years to complete. 

Four or five years ago, I bought and planted my first grape vines, then we got hit with a heat spell that cooked them within days.

In 2023, I decided to try again. Mom and I found some old tires on the side of the road to use as planters. I stacked 'em up on top of some cardboard to use as weed barrier, filled 'em with dirt, and planted two new grape vines. I built a trellis out of an old hog panel and t-posts I found in L.E.'s cat barn. I named them Grandma and Grandpa Grape, in honor of my grandparent's grape vines. I managed to keep them alive all summer and was optimistic going into winter. I knew they'd go dormant, and I knew my grandparents did absolutely nothing to them over the winter months, so I believed that if I could get them nice and healthy through the summer, they'd be fine over the winter.

Spring of 2024 came along and I didn't see too much in the way of signs of life. I panicked and bought two more vines to plant as replacements. I didn't pull the other vines, thinking that if they'd die, at least their roots would be good fertilizer. Within weeks, Grandma Grape started sprouting leaves, and I had two healthy grape vines in her tire. Grandpa Grape didn't look like he was going to wake up after the winter, but when I planted his companion vine, I hoped that by digging around next to his roots I'd stimulate them and they'd wake up. Weeks went by, and I was certain Grandpa Grape was well and truly dead, but then, a little sprout popped up and within days another sprout popped up. Grandpa's original vine was dead, but he was sending up new sprouts! By the end of the summer, all of my grape vines were doing really well. 

This spring came along, and I was confident that the first winter was the hardest on the grapes, so I fully expected that they'd wake up - and I was right! I also knew that, at the earliest, three summers is what it would take to get fruit. I was cautiously hopeful that I'd get some grapes this year. June came along, and baby grapes started appearing. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was going to get grapes this year, from both (okay, all four, but they've grown together in each of their respective tires - you can't differentiate between them now) sets of vines!

I've been waiting, and waiting, until the time was just right. I've been picking a grape here and there, popping it into my mouth, just waiting for the time to be right to pick a couple of small bunches. On Friday, the 23rd, I picked my first three little bunches. One went to L.E., who has been waiting right alongside me, and the other two went into a couple of very small bottles of kombucha.

First grapes!

My goal, since I started making my own kombucha has been to use things I've grown to flavor it. It was hard to give up my first few grapes to a batch of kombucha instead of popping them right into my mouth, but I did.

When I was looking for a climbing vine to help fill in the space on the trellis between my grapes and my kiwiberries, Jay suggested honeysuckle. Honeysuckle evokes childhood memories for him, so I was happy to oblige. I mean, my grape vines are 100% based on childhood memories, so I couldn't complain. Then, I realized that I could use honeysuckle to flavor my kombucha as well. Do I know what honeysuckle tastes like? Not at all. I've never drank the nectar, but Jay has when he was a kid and the memory makes him smile. While I was making my small bottles of grape kombucha, I decided that I'd make him a couple of small bottles of honeysuckle as well. I waited until sunset, then ran out and plucked some flowers from the vine.

I had no idea how many of the grapes or honeysuckle flowers to put in the bottles, so I faked it. I squeezed the grapes between my fingers to release the juice, then dropped the whole thing into the bottle. I think I had about eight grapes for each eight ounce bottle. With the honeysuckle, I was even more at a loss. I don't know what it tastes like, how potent the flowers are, anything. So I dropped about a dozen flowers into each eight ounce bottle and hoped for the best.

They've been sitting on my counter for two days now for their second fermentation, and will go into the fridge tonight. I'm excited to try them tomorrow.

While I was on a high from using things I grew in my kombucha, I thought, "why not try cucumber"? I'm not a fan of straight cucumber anything, unless I'm just eating it, but cucumber and watermelon is a good combination, so I cut up half a cucumber and added it to my watermelon kombucha. I had better like that combination, because I made a whole half gallon of the stuff! I guess I'll find out when I bottle it this evening before putting it in the fridge. 

Wish me luck that my kombucha, made from stuff I grew, turns out okay.