Spring is on the way with Wine and Berries.

Its nearly spring and I'm excited for the next phase of our weather.

I'm thinking of warm meadows, flowers, burgeoning plant life and the birds that will come as well.  This little hillside gem would be a great place to experience the arrival of spring but alas it is just a picture for now. I have to find this vale.

My grape vines need a little trimming and I was going to do that last fall but an Italian friend of mine said to wait until about now to trim off the extra branches in case it got really cold over winter and it did. Now though the sun is providing lots of warmth and I'm afraid if I trim them now they'll start to leak if the sap is running. I'm going to risk it though because I've found a vintner that makes incredible wine from all kinds of fruit. My Valiants will make a delicious dark red so I'm excited about that.

I got 250 bunches last year (double the previous year) and we boiled it down to make about 6 litres of concentrate and that should make at least a dozen bottles.
Here's some of the goodies he gave me last year.

Yes, there is a pear mist and a cucumber melon mist that are both delicious and cooling to the palate. I had a bottle of the LE16 Cabernet over the weekend (well, Saturday night.) and it was spectacular. I can hardly wait to taste the Valiant product.

The garden will be next and the Missus has been planning and plotting for weeks now so it should be a dandy.

We planted a few Hascaps of Honeyberry bushes a couple of years ago and they are coming along well. We've had fruit for the last two years and they are an extremely hardy bush. They're the first to bloom in the spring and the last to go in the fall. They are originally from Siberia and thus their toughness and ability to survive. Oh yes, the Bohemian Waxwings love them too. Little

Growing on the vine.

bandits!!

Here's some of my grapes about mid-July. They start to turn colour about the first part of August and we harvest them in September even after a couple of light frosts. The frost seems to add a little more sugar.

The harvest - Valiant Grapes 2017

I'm just back at my blog after a long absence but will be posting more regularly now as the season goes on.
I hope you enjoy some of my content and invite you to comment or ask questions. I'm always open to sharing information.

All the best with your spring and summer adventures.
Here's more information about the Hascaps from Prairie Plant Systems. https://www.ppsfruittrees.com/pages/haskaps
and the University of Saskatchewan. http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

Enjoy!