Over the past couple of weeks, we have been harvesting muscadines at the little farm where we do some volunteer weeding and other work, and those little Southern fruits have been a great addition to my weekday lunch basket. Hearing other people's reactions on seeing them is interesting, too. The locals all are interested in finding out where I was able to find these Southern grapes, so they can have some, too, but people from "up North" tend not to have taken to the thick skins and stronger flavor.
I am not from here, either, and it took some time to adjust, but, really, how could I not fall in love with all that wonderful fruit? The vines are nearly trouble-free, and they are very productive.The only drawback I have seen is that finding the fruit in the mass of foliage can take some time. On walking up to the trellises, not much fruit is visible. To find the most in the least amount of time, I press my face right through the foliage, as though I were snorkeling, to get the clearest view.
It probably helps that I wear glasses, which protect my eyes. Also, moving slowly, as though taking a leisurely swim over a shallow reef, helps to keep the wasps (who also are interested in all that sweet fruit) from becoming startled.
In the yard at home, harvests of summer vegetables are slowing down, and the first leaves of some cool-season crops are coming up -- even the beets!
Hope all is going well in the other gardens out there!
Yep, just finished making a batch of muscadine mead Monday night. Both our muscadine and scuppernongs are loaded. I'd be interested in alternative uses besides wines and jellies. Maybe a muscadine lemonade, a verjuice for cooking, a chutney?
ReplyDeleteJust got the winter greens in last week. That is a few weeks too late. But we roll the dice and....
So far we are using muscadines in the same ways as you. I found some recipes here:
Deletehttp://www.wenkersvineyard.com/recipes.asp
and I am hoping to try a couple of them; meanwhile, I am freezing some of the grapes for use in winter.
I don'[t know how much cooler it is where you live, but around here there is still another week or so to get some greens planted. They won't be mature at the first frost, but they will continue to grow slowly on warm days.
Hope all is well on your farm! -Amy