2013 was the first harvest that Jackson was given a tool for removing the grapes! He was very excited.
This was the first year that Abigail was able to use the tool (refractometer) for checking the sugar within the grapes.
The grape juice is squeezed on the screen. You hold it to the light and look in the opposite end to read the sugar content.
Isabela was happy to just be in the field.
We harvested for two weekends. Once for personal consumption and once for the market. The grapes hung on the vines until the second week in September this year, a couple of weeks later than normal. A rough year getting the sugar where we wanted it because of the rainy cloudy days without the sun’s nourishment.
My girl helping me
Sweet as sugar. She usually is just happy to be
Jackson truly is one of the hardest workers I know!
Jackson with one of our favorite blessings…Janice…our vineyard neighbor.
We decided to make our own grape juice for the children.
We loaded up the truck with our grapes to take home
Jackson emptied about 400 pounds into the crusher.
The grapes were crushed and then added to our press. We took the juice and canned it. Our first big canning project!
Isabela tried to take a bite of the leftover skins!
The community sign that announces we are open for business!
Harvesting with Nana
And Aunt Amy Jo
This day is our hardest all year but because of family, one of the most blessed ones!
Isabela picked the grapes one by one
Happy to put her grapes and juice in a holiday bucket
Love our help
Nana and Jayden
Brooke joined our day of work
Elijah enjoyed using the tool to cut the grapes
We love our cousins!
We love harvesting our grapes.
Papaw really does enjoy carrying all of those buckets, especially with Jackson helping.
Bins ready to roll out….
Additional bins ready to roll out . . .
Papaw ready to roll out too . . .
Morning of delivery . . .
Jackson watching out for yellow jackets . . .
Too much fun!
We were happy to have Nana join us for this experience.
1/2 ton macrobins dumping into the crusher/destemmer . . .
We were able to watch the entire process. About 10,000 pounds of grapes were unloaded, emptied, de-stemmed, crushed into juice, and put into the containers for the waiting. It’s an awesome thing to watch start to finish…especially if you’ve babied the vines and grapes ALL year!
Thankful Papaw was able to help us for our early morning delivery.
Thank you three sweet birds for helping us work in the vines all year long. You were always helpful in everything we did and humble to be in the field with your family. Each of you are a tremendous blessing!
Just like your Daddy, always try to be extraordinary with something special…
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