I am SO excited to report that Ray, Jake, Joe and I ate our first grapes yesterday! Oddly enough, the bounty did not come from the plants we put in last year, but from the Pinot Noir grapes we planted this year.
There were 8 grapes total. Joe was with me and quickly downed 4 of the 8. I ate 1, saved 1 for Jake and saved the other 2 for Ray.
They were delicious! After tasting them, the memory of hiding in the grape arbor at my babysitter’s house came back to me. I was 8 or 9 and I remember standing on my tippy-toes to reach a cluster of grapes in her backyard.
Next, Joe and I took a stroll through the fedge. I had Joe stand by the autumn olive for scale. Below is a picture of it last year next to the picture I took yesterday. We will most likely not get any berries this year. Normally, the autumn olive fruits in the 3rd year.
It occurred to me that I have yet to give an update on our mini orchard. The apple, weeping mulberry and IL everbearing mulberry have all grown quite a bit since May of last year.
Weeping mulberry
IL Everbearing mulberry
2 in 1 Apple
And, as I mentioned in a previous post, we even managed to get a few mulberries from both trees. The birds (not the girls) got the rest.
Poor little chickens
No mulberries for you girls
Eaten by robins
a pinch of homestead 