Grape Juice: Take I

We were surprised to discover many of our grapes were already ready last week.  These are wine grapes, we don't drink wine but they are sweet and juicy enough for juicing.  I admit we've got lots to learn, both about viticulture and food preservation but I had my first go at it on Saturday after Paul and the kids picked a large basket of grapes (I think there were probably 28 lbs in there).

I consulted with facebook friends, google, experienced sisters, my mom, MSU extension pages and a Ball food canning book with great anticipation.  The helpful clerk at Downtown Home and Garden noted both my enthusiasm and nerves as he loaded the van with purchased canning supplies, he wished me luck and handed me a flyer for an up coming jam competition.  

My kind neighbor from church Hermana Gonzales (who we are so blessed to be living across the street from) joined in the experience. 

She helped separate the grapes while the girls smashed them.  We told the girls of the European tradition of squashing them with your feet, I think they were tempted.  

Earlier that morning I had stopped at both a garage sale and a thrift store and luckily found one old wooden pounder at each stop.  I got them originally for making sauerkraut but found they worked perfect for the grapes.

This is the most messy and labor intensive way to process grape juice.  I have since been convinced to purchase a stove top steam juicer. 

After mashing the grapes I simmered them, I did this in three different batches.

Then strained them in cheese cloth.  Paul walked in on the process and wondered if it was worth the effort.  Hermana Gonzales quickly assured him that this work of our hands shows gratitude to God, more so than driving down to Meijers and buying a $.99 bottle of grape juice.  

I appreciated that perspective and also reminded everyone that this was more about learning a process than gaining a product.  We only ended up with 4 liters of juice from this batch but gained enough experience and confidence to go forward with more adventures in not just grape juice but all sorts of food preservation.

It was suggested to let the juice sit for 24 hours in the fridge to let all the sediment settle.  I did not have room in my fridge so we simply simmered it again then went right to bottling.  That was the most intimidating part for me.  I used the 1 liter Weck juice jars because I thought they were pretty and because I thought they'd be easier to pour.  But from what I read I was nervous about getting a good seal.  Peter cheered me on during the process and included in his bedtime prayer "please bless that the bottles will seal properly".  

Peter also chatted with me about all the crops he hopes to grow next summer.  He made some interesting observations about how different this juice tasted from grocery store juice.  He said it was like nothing he'd ever tasted, I don't know if that means he liked it or not but I think he liked that we made it ourselves.

I'm happy to report the bottles did seal.  You only need 2 clips but I used 4 (just in case).  

The clips are removed once the bottles are cool.  In the morning the boys said it looked like bottled blood.

James was a little sluggish getting out of bed and off to church so I gave him a quick shot of the juice.  I believe the strength and pungency woke him up.

I am also told this tastes great mixed with Sprite.  I think we ought to try that, along with bottling as much grape juice as we can this summer.

Out my Kitchen Window

I love that I can watch the kids out my window and love that I caught this very active little boy in a still moment. 

A Summer Fair

Where many have already gone back to school, it is still summer here in Michigan.  Knowing what temperatures lie ahead we celebrate it as long as we can.  And one of the best ways to celebrate it is a summer fair.

We spent most our time checking out the livestock.  This beautiful cow's name is Oreo and she is due to have a baby in just a few weeks.    

I thought this was a clever brooding set up.  

The pigs were a little stinky but very friendly.

Maryanna said this rooster was very pretty but would rather buy a bunny.

I think we all are itching for a few barnyard animals now, the kids are even enthusiastic about planning what crops they'll plant for next year.  Hopefully we can find a 4-H group near by to help guide them.

The boys were inspired by the wood carvers.

And Peter was impressed by this mini-fig collection on display (don't think we'd even need a 4-H group to compete in this one).

Here is Colors the Clown with her hedgehog and hairless guinea pig.

It was helpful to have older cousins along and helping.

We shared plates of elephant ears and funnel cake with cousins.

Then cheered on all the cars in the demolition derby.  

The kids were all sticky and tired and ready to go home by the time it was dark, a sure sign that it was an event worth sharing with them.  

Everything Grows

A generous pile of basil from the garden of a kind neighbor.

A sunflower amongst the weeds in our untouched summer garden.

Some surprise squash right out of our compost pile!

Maryanna's bangs.

And mommy's tummy!

How excited we all are as we prepare to welcome a new baby this coming winter.  I recognize this as a great joy, responsibility and blessing, and I am humbled.  

It is hard to believe I am almost half way there, I can barely remember those dark days in June where my head was spent under a pillow for most the day then pop out at 10:30 pm only to make crazy requests of Paul like a grilled cheese, tomato, avocado sandwich or hot miso soup and gyozas take out.  The kind man provided and never complained as I neglected household duties in the face of constant Netflix streaming.  

The boys are hoping it'll be a brother and of course the girls are already convinced it is a baby sister.  But we're not going to find out this time, we'll wait for the surprise.  

And now you all know why I made chicken liver pate', I was just craving it.    

Sound of Music Singalong

For Maryanna's birthday we got to participate in the Sound of Music Singalong at the historic Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.  It was suggested you come in costume for this event so we did the best we could.  My sister in law Eva and Peter were the most authentic ones there dressed in real Bavarian costumes.

They were invited up on stage to parade their costumes before the show.  Eva looked just like Maria with all the little ones trailing behind her.

We enjoyed the gold leaf pipe organ before the show.  

Then sang our hearts out with the crowd as the words of all the songs appeared across the screen.  Clara really belted it out as did my nieces and that was a joy, Maryanna was admittedly pouty as she thought she should be the only one singing on her birthday.  

The entire audience was given confetti poppers that were let off when Maria and Captain Von Trapp finally kissed.  That was really fun.  The whole event was really fun, every time I looked over at Eva she was both singing and cracking up, as was I.  

Before the show we celebrated Maryanna's birthday at Ben & Jerry's where the kids shared a Junior Vermonster sundae.

Maryanna also redeemed her free birthday cone because there is nothing like "sugaring up" on a birthday.  This was memorable celebration!

New book, new dress with no space to sew

Marie' sent me this new sewing book from Japan the week I was moving.  All I could do was look through it once then pack it in a box.  But with a little girl's birthday approaching I had to pull it out and find a way to sew even if I had no space to sew.

My plans are to set up the sewing station in our basement.  But right now the basement looks and feels more like a dungeon so I'll have to wait until we can paint and get new flooring before setting up.  I don't mind sewing in the basement because I'm a very messy sewer and down there I can leave it out undisturbed.  For this week though I've set up right in the heart of the home in our living room, it was messy and I think that motivated Paul to start working on the basement.  

It was tricky cutting and tracing on the floor with children running and crawling on top of everything.  For that reason I made a few errors along the way.  George did something funny, I had my little bowl of pins on the floor and he was sitting quietly for quite some time.  Maryanna discovered he was taking the sewing pins and poking them into his diaper like a pin cushion.  It gave me the shivers when I saw it but he was fine and quite amused.  I should have learned to keep the pins up high after last year when Henry had several sessions of acupuncture and would stick my sewing pins in his arm and head every time they were left out.  That really gave me the shivers.  Anyways, I really need my own sewing space and hoping it will happen before the end of the month.  

Here is the dress I got done for Maryanna's birthday.  It is a two piece dress but can be worn with or without the top skirt.  Maryanna picked the fabric out from my stash, it is a lovely yellow calico cotton that my sister in law Gemina sent me from B&J's in New York last year.  It was my favorite design from the new book and I'm happy that both Maryanna and I love it.  She has worn it two days in a row now.

This dress is hanging in the girls bedroom and I'm just itching to paint it.  Or maybe I'm just itching from all the mosquito bites, either way the mosquitoes are still bad and I'm spending more time indoors than I like so I may just get started on the painting project.  Here is the dress on, and I'll post more with her birthday report.

Chicken Liver Pate

This post may not be pretty but I promise it is yummy.  Clara was completely straight faced as she watched me handle the livers, here she is mashing together a bit of cloves, fresh nutmeg, all spice and cinnamon for the recipe.   

Last Spring I enrolled in an online cooking course for reversing food allergies and chicken liver pate is now one of my favorite dishes.  Cooking with liver was definitely outside my comfort zone so it was nice to have the online support of the cooking class, I may have never otherwise tried it.  I'm glad I tried it because it was simple to make, is dense with nutrients and tasted delicious.

So if you have the guts.....start with 1 lb. chicken livers.  I get my from our cow share farmer who pasture raises her chickens and does not feed them GMO feed.  I probably wouldn't make this with just any chicken liver, find a good source, in the near future I hope to be raising our own.  Here's what they look like:

  

Be sure to rinse them, pat them dry and cut off any veins or extra fat.  After that put them in a food processor with 1 large egg and process for about 30 seconds.  Meanwhile melt 1/2 cup butter in the food processor (good pastured butter), let it cool a bit then add it to the mix along with 2 tsp Celtic sea salt, a bit of pepper and a pinch of the spice mixture mentioned above.  Pour into well greased ramekins and place in a baking dish filled half way up with warm water (like baking a flan).  Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes or until firm.

Let cool and chill over night or serve at room temperature with crackers.  I did not have crackers on hand so I used a romaine leaf and it tasted great!  

George ate it by the spoonful and finished off half a ramekin, this growing boy probably needed it.

Not everyone was eager to try it though.  When I consulted with Eva's mother about making this she gave me some really good advice.  She said make it as a very special dish just for yourself and when the kids see how much you are enjoying it they may ask for a taste........but only give them a little taste and remind them it is a special treat you made for yourself.  Eventually they may actually beg for it and you will eliminate the step of having to beg them to eat it.

Revenge of the mosquitoes

Our lovely days of napping outside, running through fields, fishing and hanging laundry came to a halt last Saturday as huge swarms of mosquitoes hatched and forced us indoors.  Above is a giant one that made its way inside and met its fate face to face with an orange fly swatter.  These are called gallinipper mosquitoes and were featured in the local news this week. 

I don't know how to explain how bad its been.  Just getting (running) the kids into the van they each suffered at least 10 bites on their faces.  Paul stopped by a neighbors to chat about the problem and found she was cutting her grass bundled in a hooded windbreaker for protection.

Even staying inside we are getting bit.  This is worse than Bear Lake and even worse than my days in southern China.

But we are fighting back with the fly swatter.  I use to train my children to carefully carry insects outside and let them live, but since moving to the farm my ways have quickly changed.  A few weeks ago I was commanding the boy to squash Japanese beetles with their bare fingers and this week it is swatting as many mosquitoes as visible.  Peter has gotten quite good at the swatting and even George is takes a few turns.

Paul was lucky to have spent last week in Phoenix were there was not one in site.  This week he will be experimenting with a garlic oil spray that is suppose to help tame mosquitoes.  

As for the kids and I, we took a trip "into town" to escape from the mosquitoes and enjoyed a  giant banana split.

I'm also upping their vitamin B and experimenting with different remedies like emu oil and purification oil for the itchy bites.........and as for the walls?  They are covered in squashed mosquito guts so I'm going to have to paint soon.