cook

One of the things our new neighbors on Old Ranch Road pointed out when they stop their trucks and suvs to greet us was our grape vines.  "Your concords are very good," they all said. This was back in April when the vines had barely any fruit.  I counted close to fifty mature grape vines on the property.  I decided to water the thirsty looking vines periodically and give them some food to see what happens. Even though they had been neglected for sometime, maybe two years, they produced tons of fruit.   Sweet, juicy and fragrant fruit.  And I found out we not only had concords but also muscat grapes.  The birds and deer were trying to get to them before us but everyone got a fair share of the harvest.  

I picked the grapes right before leaving for Japan and took them back to Los Angeles to give to my friends.  The grapes contain seeds and their skin is on the thick side but they have darn good flavor. It's hard to go back to eating industrially grown grapes again.  The muscat is the sweetest of the bunch.  Look how fat the fruit is.  I wonder what will happen when we give the vines proper pruning.  

The grape vines are growing along the fence. There is a row of blackberries growing parallel to the grapes but they need some serious love and care to bring them back to health.  That will be my job.