Home cookin'

 Last summer, we harvested a bumper crop of grapes. We ate a lot, gave some way, froze some and dried them into raisins.

When we made our apple cider last fall, Stace was excited to later use the press for future grape juice.

The girls filled a bowl with 8 1/4 pounds of grapes, which Stace washed and then mashed with a potato masher, with Cora's help.

After simmering the juice and smashed grapes, Violet helped Stace scoop the mashed pulp into the cheesecloth. We're now ready for pressing!

 The girls got to help with this part, too.

The results were simply outstanding. They produced three quarts of yummy grape juiciness. Not quite enough to experiment with fermenting... maybe next time!







Also Sunday, Stace used homegrown tomatoes and apples and our own sun-dried raisins to make chutney. He was quite the culinary artist all day long! The chutney also is very yummy, and went very well with a chicken pot pie we had for dinner.