Grape Juice

I planted a concord grape vine on a trellis next to the front door a few years ago. For the past 3 years i've let the thing sort of run wild, clipping the ends off when they started pushing their way into the house (ha). Two years ago, i picked some of the grapes and make jelly. I didn't know what I was doing, but followed a recipe. I dont really like grape jelly, so I just gave it to my neighbor. She seemed to love it. Fine. Last year, Eliana and I sort of ate some of the grapes. The thing about concord grapes is that 1) you can't eat the skin really, and 2), the inside of the grape is a like a ball of hard jelly in which there are a ton of little seeds. So, the only way to really eat a concord grape is to suck the jelly ball out from the skin. Then squeeze the jelly through your teeth, separating it from the seeds. Yeah, it's TOTALLY ANNOYING..... why. did. i plant. a. concord. grape. vine.

Anywho, this year, I pruned so that the vines didn't go everywhere, and it sort worked, and I ended up with an ok yield. I don't spray or feed them or anything and find that the grape clusters are favorite places for spiders to build webs and creepy other insects to hide out. It's gross and makes me really hate that thing. I was jumped on by a spider once.... and a pincher bug thing pinched me on the pinkie finger. I swore so loud i think the whole street could hear. It HURT!

I picked all the grapes today and made grape juice. Mixing it with some soda water makes a yummy sparkling fizzy drink! I hope the kids and I will be able to drink it all in the next few days and I can close the books on this year's concord grape harvest. Eh.