Grape Harvest, Canning Grape Juice & Planting with Benjamin!
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00:00 them to make some grape juice but I really just wanted to give you a
00:02 progress report on how they're doing. You can see them right behind me they just
00:06 they're looking really healthy. They clearly love their lives in this
00:09 location. There are four vines, one planted between each set of posts. They
00:14 get full sun all day long. They get drip irrigation very consistently every other
00:19 day and they've responded really well to that. So the two I have on this end
00:23 they're the Niagara white seeded grape and the two down here are red suffolk
00:27 which is a red seedless grape, a really good table grape. Getting in here closely
00:31 look at these. Oh my gosh the smell I can't even describe to you guys what it
00:37 smells like out here. It smells like grape juice and that's what made me
00:41 actually purchase a steamer and think about canning my own juice. These two
00:46 Niagara grape vines came from Mateo in Pennsylvania. He packaged them up, I mean
00:51 they were in big pots too with soil and everything. He wrapped them up and shipped
00:55 them all the way from Pennsylvania to Oregon and they arrived to us looking
00:58 pretty good and we got them in the ground and I have to say I'm just so
01:01 happy with them. I was thinking in the beginning of doing all seedless grapes,
01:06 all table grapes, but I'm really thinking this is going to make the best juice.
01:11 I've done a little bit of research on this variety and they actually call this
01:15 one the white concord. You know concord grapes a lot of time are used for grape
01:19 juice but for white grape juice this is a really good option. They're also a
01:22 slip skin variety just like a concord meaning that the interior like the
01:27 flesh of the grape and the skin they separate very easily and the skin of a
01:31 grape can kind of have a bitter note to it so if you're using it for juice and
01:35 wines and things like that oftentimes you want a slip skin type grape. News to
01:40 me I did not know that but just the aroma and the air I just know it's gonna
01:43 make great grape juice and I'm planning on doing this with no sugar I just want
01:47 it to be straight grape juice in our jars. I just brought a couple baskets
01:51 out I'm not sure how many pounds will actually get off these vines but I mean
01:55 you can see some of them are turning into raisins that's why I thought oh for
01:58 crying out loud I got to get out here and get these picked and usually they do
02:03 ripen about mid to late September and we're mid-september now so or just about
02:08 mid-september so right on schedule they feel really good. Clearly they need to be
02:12 pruned too I should mention that right away and that's not something I'm gonna
02:15 work on until they're probably dormant. I think at the time that we prune these
02:18 and I'll explain all of that when we do it I think we might add a middle guide
02:23 wire. You can see we've got this one up tall I think this one's at about five
02:26 feet and then this one is at about two. I don't know hindsight I probably would
02:32 have put them a little closer together but we do have room for a third rung so
02:36 if we want to train them to go you know three levels I think that we can do that.
02:40 Here are the Suffolk Red aren't they gorgeous? I don't plan on harvesting
02:46 these today we've just been coming out here and eating these like in our
02:50 evening drives and the kids love it so I think I might leave most of them on here
02:53 and we'll get them cleaned up pretty fast. Look at these trunks already. I
02:57 thought these had died over the course of the winter too. It took them forever
03:02 to break dormancy. Oh my look at this I really need to train these. Sometimes I'm
03:08 thankful a few things slip through the cracks because if you give plants long
03:12 enough oftentimes they will surprise you and these certainly did. So I've got
03:16 my Falcos and just a few baskets in here and I intend on harvesting all of the
03:22 Niagara's. I think we might tackle some planting too I know I've been doing an
03:25 awful lot of canning lately but grape juice is new for me and I'm gonna show
03:29 you the steamer in there. I have been canning peaches along the way and I
03:32 haven't filmed any of that so anyway I feel like it's been a big canning year
03:36 but let me get these all picked.
03:43 Oh my gosh look at that. Gorgeous!
04:09 Okay guys I just finished harvesting this first vine right here and oh my
04:14 gosh there were so many grapes on just that first vine and they were coming off
04:18 in huge clusters. I am so surprised one and pleased and it smells so
04:27 freaking good here right now. Oh our kitchen is about ready to smell
04:31 delicious. I'm gonna wait on that second vine I'm gonna get through this see how
04:35 it goes and the grapes will be fine. That second vine has more leaf cover on top
04:40 it's just this first one it was kind of getting to me I felt like I needed to
04:43 get those harvested because a lot of them were exposed to Sun and they were
04:46 starting to like kind of sunburn a little bit so I think that that second
04:49 vine it'll be just fine we'll come and harvest that sometime later this week
04:52 and probably do the same thing that we're about to do. So let's head to the
04:55 kitchen and get these all in the steamer. It takes about an hour in the steamer to
04:59 do that so that gives us time to come out and do some other things. All right
05:03 the grapes are inside as well as a basket of tomatoes I still need to
05:06 figure out what I'm gonna do with and here's our setup I've already sterilized
05:08 the jars and the lids are all clean there's our water bath canner which we
05:13 will be using I can't remember how long we have to process it but we'll go over
05:16 that and then this is the steamer right here and you can just use a big stockpot
05:19 if you want you don't have to have this sort of thing in which case you put the
05:24 grapes in in water and let them simmer and then you have to use a sieve and or
05:28 some kind of filtration to filter off all of the kind of cloudiness and of
05:32 course all the grape skins and all of that this makes it a lot easier so let
05:36 me take it apart for you you can see the top part here is where you put all the
05:39 grapes this is the collection the juice collection tray right here and then the
05:45 bottom one is the one you put water in so we're gonna put water almost to the
05:48 top down there then we will leave this one empty we'll put this one on we'll
05:54 put our grapes in here almost to the top and then you can see right here we've
05:58 got a tube that's clamped at the moment and when this is done which I'm
06:02 following a recipe off I think seasonal homestead we'll link it down below for
06:06 canning this but when the juice is ready you just put this tube down in your jars
06:11 and release the clamp and it fills up your jars however you need to and all
06:14 the filtrations already done and that just seemed like the way to go to me
06:17 just to purchase one of these knowing that you know I've got these great vines
06:20 and I'm gonna probably want to be doing this every year so it's nice to have the
06:24 right pot huh the right tools for the job Aaron agrees and here's a few of the
06:29 other things that I've been working on you know we did the marinara a few
06:32 batches of that we've got the diced tomatoes at the bottom there here's some
06:35 of the peaches that I just canned raspberry jam in there and then of
06:40 course you know the lightsaber you never know when you'll need one oh it's broken
06:44 half a lightsaber so a couple of things that I read about with the steamer here
06:51 you don't have to remove the grapes from the stems unless you plan on using the
06:56 skins for jam or I don't plan on using the skins once they're all steamed and
07:00 done I'm probably just gonna give them to the chickens in batches what was the
07:03 other thing oh you can add sugar to the juice if you want to if your grapes are
07:07 a little bit tart in which case I think somebody was saying you could add one to
07:11 two tablespoons per quart of sugar or you know just to taste so we'll you know
07:16 see how this goes my intention is to not use sugar and it might be that if I left
07:21 these on the vine I know if you leave grapes on the vine till like the very
07:25 last minute they do sweeten up so we'll see how it goes today they just smell so
07:29 dang good but let's get this process started so we can get back outside and
07:33 get some other things done
07:35 and that's it so we're gonna have this on a low like rolling boil for an
07:58 hour and then we're going to bottle it up and we made it through the first
08:01 basket I think we have two more batches which I think this is supposed to do
08:05 about three quarts of juice so we should end up with about nine quarts I think
08:09 we'll see okay it has been one hour so I've got a glass right here I just want
08:14 to release a little bit into a glass so I can taste it to see if it's sweet
08:17 enough and I want to see if it's cloudy or just what it looks like I brought one
08:20 of our little side tables in here make it a little easier but there's our cup
08:25 we're going to release right here just a little bit oh my goodness look at that
08:36 it's pretty clear okay here we go
08:41 mmm that's good now it's hot so I'm gonna give it just a second let it cool
08:47 down I'll taste it again that's sweet though don't what it looks like in here
08:51 oh that's hot duh oh look at that they're all cooked oh well maybe you
08:58 can't see that sorry hold on clean that up
09:03 whoo oh yeah they've like reduced by more than half and they've all broken
09:09 down oh that's so awesome now we just have to see how many jars this makes so
09:14 let's get this all done and then we can start getting them in the water bath
09:17 canner
09:22 so you just hold that little clamp open until you've got about a half inch of
09:34 headspace here oh my gosh look at that oh my goodness okay I got carried away I
09:43 need to taste this again now it's cool
09:47 that's so good so good and it's so easy okay let's see if it fills up two more
09:53 quart jars
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10:19 so it did indeed make three full quarts and this little bit right here which I'm
10:26 gonna drink and the longer I let it sit the more I mean I don't know how much
10:32 more you could get out of the grape setter in here they're pretty broken
10:36 down at this point so I'm gonna lift this up though because I'm interested to
10:40 see how much water is left at the bottom because that was pretty important in the
10:44 instructions I said you do not want that to go dry so fill it almost to the top
10:48 oh it's still about half full good okay looks like we've got a full rolling
10:55 boil here in our water canner so I reread the recipe because I wanted to
10:59 see how long to process them and they said to leave a quarter inch of head
11:02 space so from the top of the juice to the top of the jar I thought it said
11:06 half inch so I fixed that I added a little bit more and then wiped the tops
11:09 off so I'm gonna put my lids on and then we're gonna process in here for 15
11:13 minutes and then we will turn the heat off let them sit in the water for five
11:17 more minutes and then we'll remove them so they'll be in the water for a total
11:20 of 20 minutes
11:22 Oh
11:50 all right guys it is a new day I got completely caught up with our canning
11:54 project and some other cleaning projects inside last night that one harvest that
11:59 one vine worth of grapes made a 12 quart jars of juice and I didn't do any extra
12:05 filtering I just put the juice straight from the steamer into the jars and
12:08 processed it the next batch I might send through you know some people will send
12:13 it through coffee filters just to take out anything but you know I checked the
12:17 bottom of all the jars and they look really clean maybe a tiny bit more
12:21 cloudy toward the bottom but not much I think they look really good I mean look
12:26 at that I don't know if you can see it get it in some more light here but it
12:30 looks just fantastic and tasty huh bud yeah so sweet I was drinking some of the
12:37 leftovers because it made a little bit more than 12 quarts there was just a
12:40 little bit left at the bottom of each batch and so I was drinking that and
12:44 sharing that and it's so so sweet I had to cut mine with a little bit of water
12:48 so this is almost like a grape juice concentrate no sugar needed for sure but
12:54 every single jar sealed and looks beautiful and I'm just so excited about
12:59 it I might take some of this juice and make some jelly out of it I think that
13:03 would be a really beautiful jelly so definitely I think the steamer is the
13:07 way to go because the other way just sounded like a lot more work you know
13:12 doing it in a stock pot and I mean definitely worth it if you just want to
13:15 try it out I once not investing I think the steamer was like $89 or something
13:20 like that but I figured that it was a good investment going forward knowing
13:25 that I have these great minds and I'm gonna want to do this from year to year
13:28 so anyway a successful project I'm really happy with that now we're gonna
13:32 head out and do just a little bit of planting are you coming with me to
13:36 protect me whoa that is that is a scary face you'll protect me for sure and
13:41 here's what we're gonna put in the ground today Benjamin do you want to
13:44 share what you picked I picked these three there a butter and sugar Siberian
13:50 iris yeah they bloom like this so they grow three feet tall by three feet wide
13:56 and they give us this really nice grassy texture and these beautiful buttery
14:00 yellow blooms and they bloom in mid spring good choice it's almost fall
14:08 right now yeah Springs after winter yeah yeah and then we have the cumulus
14:15 saguaro cypress from Isley so this one one and a half feet tall by one and a
14:20 half feet wide so just like this little boop shaped evergreen okay you got it
14:26 okay yeah that's a good idea and then we do have another ginger wine nine bark
14:34 with these grow five to six feet tall and wide and this one is looking about
14:38 like the last one that I planted which is doing really well but Benjamin I
14:43 think that I've got a spot over by the pond for this one should we head that
14:46 direction okay I really need to get our peaches the rest of our peaches
14:50 harvested and get those processed that needs to happen like today or tomorrow
14:56 nope it's daytime they're one hour behind us so like right now it's I think
15:01 830 in the morning so it's 730 in the morning over there so it's earlier so
15:07 they're just probably having their breakfast we've already had ours
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16:34 Benjamin and I got them all planted they look really good so now let's take a
16:42 look so the first one we planted is the ginger wine nine bark I wanted to start
16:45 out here so that we could kind of walk up to it on this beautiful new pathway
16:48 now it's in the shade right now and it's a dark colored leaf so it's hard to see
16:52 but it will be in full afternoon Sun so again this one grows five to six feet
16:57 tall and wide and having it between these two blue spruces I love that blue
17:02 and red combo we need like a great big grass like a great big miscanthus it's
17:07 got some white in it right behind I think that would be really pretty but
17:11 did I just say five to six feet tall and wide again as zone three through seven
17:15 and you don't really have to do much with these I mean you really don't want
17:19 to prune on them if you don't have to so you want to find a spot where you can
17:24 just let it do its thing which it will be able to do that here now the new
17:27 growth has this kind of brilliant orangey red and then it deepens to this
17:33 dark burgundy and then it kind of colors back up like this again in the fall and
17:37 in the late spring it's got beautiful clusters of just like the softest pink
17:41 flowers and they do really well here they can handle drier conditions once
17:45 they're established they like full Sun and they don't need a lot of fuss in
17:48 terms of fertilizer they're just a real they're a real good one to put in the
17:52 landscape planting near the pond is such a joy out in the South garden this is
17:57 where the iris went I think these are gonna be perfect right here you know
18:01 we've got those are these a double play dolly right spireas with the pink blooms
18:05 look at these and see some color it looks so pretty but we don't have a
18:10 tremendous amount for spring color I mean if you go this way I do have a
18:14 centaur a double blue lilac so that will be some spring color and then we've got
18:18 a Kwanzaa cherry right there other than that like in terms of the front of the
18:23 border this will be our spring interest we do have tulips in here as well but
18:27 that's earlier on this will be a little bit later and I think having just a big
18:31 clump of that grassy texture will be beautiful and then we could come in with
18:34 something shorter in front of it and the little cypress is just over here so much
18:38 space right here to put some fun stuff we recently planted this beyond
18:42 midnight caryopteris just behind it we've got the lemon squeeze penicillium
18:47 highly recommend such an amazing grass and the caryopteris I mean we're gonna
18:53 walk over here in a second I've got a drift of caryopteris I want to do that
18:57 in more spots in fact I might even repeat that right in here once I can get
19:01 some more because oh for late season color there's just nothing you can
19:04 compare them to there's also some echinacea right in front which are kind
19:08 of an orangey pink and then this cute little cumulus cypress and that again
19:13 will grow one and a half feet tall by one and a half feet wide it is a party
19:17 down to zone four I think negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit so anyway I can do
19:25 full sun to part shade I think it'll be happy out here it's a cutest little
19:30 thing okay we're gonna end on these caryopteris because they're just so
19:35 gorgeous look at these there are five in this drift right here and the color on
19:42 them is just amazing and so saturated and I don't know if you can see all of
19:49 the bees there are just honey bees everywhere on these blooms like there's
19:55 just four right there in that little spot nope five six seven there's
19:58 everywhere and you guys these I had to cut way back way further back than I
20:02 normally do it was kind of a weird year for caryopteris and butterfly bushes
20:06 kind of the same deal but they have recuperated very nicely we got a coral
20:11 berry just next to them so you've got the pink berries with the purpley blooms
20:16 so pretty and you guys that is gonna do it for projects for today I'm so thrilled
20:21 with the grape juice and how easy it was to can I think that was easiest thing
20:25 that I've ever can't ever having that steamer was amazing anyway I will let
20:29 you guys know if I decide on that next batch when we harvest the next vine if I
20:33 decide to filter it further to clear it up just a little bit more I don't think
20:38 in the end it's gonna matter or make a difference to the flavor at all also
20:42 we'll let you know if I make some great jelly with it because I think it'll make
20:45 the most beautiful pink jelly and of course it's always nice to get more
20:48 plants out in the ground out here so we'll be doing a lot more of that we do
20:52 have some perennials on their way at the moment I'm expecting them you know in
20:55 the next few days so we'll have some really beautiful things to plant this
20:59 fall anyway thank you guys so much for watching I hope you enjoyed it and we
21:02 will see you in the next one bye