Today my Dad and I started the first step in wine making. Ever since I can remember, our family has made wine. One of my first memories is of cleaning the labels off bottles in the huge clawfoot bath tub that's in the basement store room. That's been many years ago now!

He's made everything from bananna, rhubarb, chokecherry (my favorite), orange, crab apple and more. Dry and sweet, sometimes even champagne.

I made him promise that he was to teach me how to make wine and carry on a family tradition. The whole process just fascinates me -- he was like a wizard making exotic potions when I was little, now I know how yeast works and how it eats the sugar -- as well as how to make a batch of wine so strong and tasty that it will sneak up on you and bite you in the ass!

So today we picked crab apples and pears. About 12 gallons of pears and 20 of crab apples. My parents have a mini orchard planted on the property, and unfortunately our nice apple tree in the back yard froze a few winters ago. But there are apple trees that will replace it some day.

Making wine is a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to learning.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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