# This years fruits



## Arne (Jun 11, 2016)

Been spending a lot of time on the old prayer bones. Have picked almost enough strawberries for a 5 gal. batch. Still a few more to go. 
My few elderberry bushes are all flowered out. Think there will be plenty for a batch of wine if I decide to make it. Many folks rave about how good it is, but to me there is an off taste in it. Think it might be the tannins. All the really dark wines seem to have that same taste. I have some chokecherry aging right now, think I will try and at least knock that taste down some. If that works, the elders will get picked for sure.
Our little pie cherry tree is loaded. The cherries are just starting to get a bit of color and the robins are already at it. Going to have to move the net from the strawberry patch to the cherry tree. Long as we don't get a hail storm should be good pickin. 
The little currant bushes are loaded this year also. Last time they were that way I started picking them but the chiggers were so bad I finally just let the birds have them. They are a lot of work picking, takes a lot of time, but they make a great wine. 
Looks like the crab apple tree will have plenty on it this year also. We had lots of timely rains so everything is producing. Keep the storms away and there will be a basement full of carboys at the Johnson house this fall. Good luck to all of you with your winemaking. Arne.


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## Stressbaby (Jun 11, 2016)

I'm excited about our berries too. I won't get enough haskaps or jostaberries for a batch, but the blackberries and elderberries are loaded. I'm going to mix them all up for an "Estate Quadberry" this year.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 11, 2016)

Yes, Looks like a pretty good year. Picked 15 lbs of blueberries off of 2 bushes the other day. Only 9 of my 31 bushes are old enough to produce but soon, soon, another 2-3 years and I'll be sitting on a stool picking berries every day. Just ran the brush hog around the black raspberry vines in our woods so I can start picking those. Blackberries shouldn't be too far behind those. Wife normally picks the wild berries but she is helping daughter and son-in-law move so I'm on my own for a couple more weeks. Gave up on our sweet cherries this year - let the birds take them - had rotator cuff surgery so the netting and picking would have been impossible. Did get the netting over the blueberry patches though. Funny thing is the birds are screaming at me while I pick the blueberries - guess they feel entitled to have them too - not going to happen.


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## cintipam (Jun 11, 2016)

Scooter, we have birds screaming at us picking our blackberries too. They are mockingbirds, the boldest birds I've ever seen. Hubby thinks its funny that the blue colored birds go for the blue colored berries, and red colored birds go for the red berries. Cardinals robins and a red headed wren sticks to our goumi and tart cherry trees, mockingbirds go for the black berries and wild black raspberries. At least the cardinals are polite, but those mockingbirds actually dive bomb us.

Pam in cinti


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## Arne (Jun 11, 2016)

cintipam said:


> Scooter, we have birds screaming at us picking our blackberries too. They are mockingbirds, the boldest birds I've ever seen. Hubby thinks its funny that the blue colored birds go for the blue colored berries, and red colored birds go for the red berries. Cardinals robins and a red headed wren sticks to our goumi and tart cherry trees, mockingbirds go for the black berries and wild black raspberries. At least the cardinals are polite, but those mockingbirds actually dive bomb us.
> 
> Pam in cinti



Bring your tennis racquet and give them a suprise. Had to look up racquet in the dictionary, either racquet or racket. Computer says racquet is wrong, but Dictionary says either way. Small things amuse small minds I guess. Arne.


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## cintipam (Jun 11, 2016)

Funniest thing I ever saw happened maybe 10 yrs back when hubby and I were relaxing in the backyard maybe 40 ft from the blackberries. We were almost snoozing, including our cats, when a bluejay came down out of the sky and pecked one of our sleeping cats on top of the head quite hard. Cat woke up, shook himself off and tried to figure out what was happening. Bird kept divebombing him, so hubby (a student of wildlife shows) pumped up his breast, put his hands on his hips and started flapping his arms all the while cawing loudly and charging at the mean old bird. Bird soon gave up and flew away, but I have a memory I'll never forget of hubby coming to our rescue.

Pam in cinti


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## Julie (Jun 11, 2016)

This is a good year for anything growing! My vines are 6 year old and I am getting a pile of grapes this year. My mulberry tree is loaded but I am not holding my breath on getting any, between the birds and coons there isn't enough for me!

Arne a few years back, I made a chokecherry, elderberry, cherry wine. Dear Lord was that ever good, it ended like an elderberry smoked cherry wine. I would love to duplicate it but I'm not thinking that wil happen!


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## Scooter68 (Jun 12, 2016)

Used to live in the Wash DC metro area. Remember a mockingbird making the news there because he/she was dive bombing people - left a few wounded along the sidewalk there - Apparently it was defending the nest. 

They are certainly not timid birds. 

And Yes I notice the same thing Cardinals are the primary bandits that take our sweet cherries and the little bluebirds are the ones I find trying to get past my netting around the blueberries. 

Picked between 18-20 cups of blueberries in the last 4 days. Things will slow down now as the most mature bushes (Except for one) are not producing as much this year as in years past. But now I need to suit up in long sleeves pants etc and wade into the Raspberry patch. Of course this week the temps have climbed into the upper 80's and 90s.


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## hounddawg (Jun 12, 2016)

as you know I don't know much about making wine, but drinking it is a totally different story, elderberry is ok, BUT if you make some place a few bottles back an ear mark not to be opened for ten years , then you will have truly tasted a proper elderberry wine, I grew up drinking 10 year old elderberry wine from a elderly man that made only elderberry an muscadine wines the old ways, all his wines were bottled in 1 gallon jugs, he sold younger wines to help out beer, cig's, foods an so on an so fourth, I went to the line in them days I drank a half gallon of either whiskey or vodka daily , not to mention tons of smoking erb daily, only in my last few years (10) have I came back down to earth , but I always fetched his beer for him an never charged him, so he started giving me a gallon or 2 a week of the ten year old stuff, I am not lying it tastes like the nectar of the gods, even though I believe in only one, I kick my butt all the time for not learning more from that old man, since I only started fermenting a couple years ago, and I was given a year an one half to live, unless the lord calls me, I plan in 8 more years tasting my first proper elderberry in close to 30 years,,, or you can set 10 bottles back each year drink a bottle you'll not believe the difference each year,, to be honest it's hard to tell much difference between 8,, 9,, an 10 year old stuff but you can tell slightly, I miss both that old man and his wines an stories, them were truly the better times,,,,
Dawg::
Richard 






Arne said:


> Been spending a lot of time on the old prayer bones. Have picked almost enough strawberries for a 5 gal. batch. Still a few more to go.
> My few elderberry bushes are all flowered out. Think there will be plenty for a batch of wine if I decide to make it. Many folks rave about how good it is, but to me there is an off taste in it. Think it might be the tannins. All the really dark wines seem to have that same taste. I have some chokecherry aging right now, think I will try and at least knock that taste down some. If that works, the elders will get picked for sure.
> Our little pie cherry tree is loaded. The cherries are just starting to get a bit of color and the robins are already at it. Going to have to move the net from the strawberry patch to the cherry tree. Long as we don't get a hail storm should be good pickin.
> The little currant bushes are loaded this year also. Last time they were that way I started picking them but the chiggers were so bad I finally just let the birds have them. They are a lot of work picking, takes a lot of time, but they make a great wine.
> Looks like the crab apple tree will have plenty on it this year also. We had lots of timely rains so everything is producing. Keep the storms away and there will be a basement full of carboys at the Johnson house this fall. Good luck to all of you with your winemaking. Arne.


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## Arne (Jun 12, 2016)

Julie said:


> Arne a few years back, I made a chokecherry, elderberry, cherry wine. Dear Lord was that ever good, it ended like an elderberry smoked cherry wine. I would love to duplicate it but I'm not thinking that wil happen!



Did you keep good notes so you can replicate it? More like probably not, just cleaning the freezer and threw everything in. Probably the way I would of done it. In fact I have had a couple of really good clean the freezer wines and the notes are pretty much nonexistant. Arne.


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## Floandgary (Jun 12, 2016)

cintipam said:


> Funniest thing I ever saw happened maybe 10 yrs back when hubby and I were relaxing in the backyard maybe 40 ft from the blackberries. We were almost snoozing, including our cats, when a bluejay came down out of the sky and pecked one of our sleeping cats on top of the head quite hard. Cat woke up, shook himself off and tried to figure out what was happening. Bird kept divebombing him, so hubby (a student of wildlife shows) pumped up his breast, put his hands on his hips and started flapping his arms all the while cawing loudly and charging at the mean old bird. Bird soon gave up and flew away, but I have a memory I'll never forget of hubby coming to our rescue.
> 
> Pam in cinti


Puhleeze don't say that he calmly strutted over and pecked the top of your head!!!!


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## Arne (Jun 19, 2016)

Strawberrys are done for the year. Going to have enough for a batch, but havn't weighed them yet so don't know how abig a batch I can make. The cherries are turning ripe, have tried picking a couple of times but they are not quite ready yet. Couple more days and If I can beat the robins off the tree should get enough for 5 and maybe 10 gal. Arne.


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## Julie (Jun 19, 2016)

Arne said:


> Did you keep good notes so you can replicate it? More like probably not, just cleaning the freezer and threw everything in. Probably the way I would of done it. In fact I have had a couple of really good clean the freezer wines and the notes are pretty much nonexistant. Arne.



15# of Elderberry 3rd's, added two gallon of hot water over top of the elderberries (had them in a bag
2 gallon of Welch's Cherry juice
7.9# of Choke cherries
peptic enzyme
yeast nutrient
Lavlin 1122 yeast
TA. .60%
SG 1.070
Backsweeten to 1.010


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## Arne (Jun 19, 2016)

Julie said:


> 15# of Elderberry 3rd's, added two gallon of hot water over top of the elderberries (had them in a bag
> 2 gallon of Welch's Cherry juice
> 7.9# of Choke cherries
> peptic enzyme
> ...



Ha, ha, ha, great job. Much better than I would of done. Well maybe, sometimes I keep pretty good records, sometimes I have been sampling too much. Freezer cleanouts are great. Arne.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 20, 2016)

You all have me fired up to do something. My wife (Borderline Freezer Hoarder) takes my blueberries and here wild Blackberries and wild Black Raspberries and stashes them in our big upright freezer. The other day while she was out of town I found a package of blueberries from 2012 - Sounds like a raiding party is in order to take out the old berries and make them into something consumable. I've already picked about 2 gallons (32 cups) of blueberries this year although about 8 cups never made it into storage bags. (Quality control has a cost - burp)
Sooo thanks for the ideas guys.


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## Arne (Jun 23, 2016)

Pitted about 2 gal. of cherries last night. Going back out and pick again here in a few minutes. Have to get out the scale and see what they weigh. Wonderful out this morning. Nice and cool. Should get a bunch picked. Arne.


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## barbiek (Jun 23, 2016)

My strawberries didn't do well this year not from any fault of their own (bunnies)
Constructing a fence now. Elderberries are doing great! Grapes are doing good. Pears are wonderful as always! And blackberries galore! My asparagus did really good this year can't wait till next year they will be fully established I only wish the harvesting period lasted longer! Peach tree is sad! I might get a couple peaches - blight my vege garden is doing pretty good. Here's a quick pic of my upside down blackberries lol


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## Scooter68 (Jun 23, 2016)

Update to earlier post - Found a total of almost 8 pounds of frozen blueberries dating back to 2008 (The old ones still tasted good when thawed out) I added in a bag of last years blueberries to bring the total to 8 pounds. (That fills my little fermentation bag and should give me about 1.5 to 1.75 gallons of must to start with. Figure with that many berries I should be sure to have at least 1.5 to 1.75 gallons due to expected lees at the end of primary. 

BUT I don't think I'll need to add any water except what it takes to dissolve enough sugar - going to aim for about 14-15 ABV (Starting SG at 1.100 approx hopefully ending at .995) so a dry wine. Flavor should be good if the berries are good just can't get more berries into a single gallon batch without some advance prep and I'm not going to spend my time doing that.

Any ideas on this. Still waiting for all the berries to thaw out in the fridge before I launch this batch. Basement temp is right at 72 so fermentation should run smartly once started. Only concern about fermentation is overflow with that much must in that 2 gallon fermenter.


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## Arne (Jun 24, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> Update to earlier post - Found a total of almost 8 pounds of frozen blueberries dating back to 2008 (The old ones still tasted good when thawed out) I added in a bag of last years blueberries to bring the total to 8 pounds. (That fills my little fermentation bag and should give me about 1.5 to 1.75 gallons of must to start with. Figure with that many berries I should be sure to have at least 1.5 to 1.75 gallons due to expected lees at the end of primary.
> 
> BUT I don't think I'll need to add any water except what it takes to dissolve enough sugar - going to aim for about 14-15 ABV (Starting SG at 1.100 approx hopefully ending at .995) so a dry wine. Flavor should be good if the berries are good just can't get more berries into a single gallon batch without some advance prep and I'm not going to spend my time doing that.
> 
> Any ideas on this. Still waiting for all the berries to thaw out in the fridge before I launch this batch. Basement temp is right at 72 so fermentation should run smartly once started. Only concern about fermentation is overflow with that much must in that 2 gallon fermenter.




You havn't started the ferment yet. Get a bigger primary fermenter. Now is the time to go larger, not when it gets going and goes over the top and you are sitting there saying "I wish I woulda." Good luck with it, Arne.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 24, 2016)

_"You havn't started the ferment yet. Get a bigger primary fermenter. Now is the time to go larger, not when it gets going and goes over the top and you are sitting there saying "I wish I woulda." Good luck with it, Arne."_

Yeah I have a couple of 5 gallon food grade buckets I've used for 3 gallon batches, Sorta hate to have all that head space but... it's only for the primary time and I could just go ahead and fit the lid during primary with a airlock. Should have plenty of oxygen to get started that way even with a lid on. Yesterday evening a lot of the berrys were still frozen so I've got time to mull it over. Thinking about a bigger bag too, Had two smaller ones but one has started to rip and this one is really overly full so if I go to 5 gallon bucket a larger bag will work just fine.


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## Stressbaby (Jun 25, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> Update to earlier post - Found a total of almost 8 pounds of frozen blueberries dating back to 2008 (The old ones still tasted good when thawed out) I added in a bag of last years blueberries to bring the total to 8 pounds. (That fills my little fermentation bag and should give me about 1.5 to 1.75 gallons of must to start with. Figure with that many berries I should be sure to have at least 1.5 to 1.75 gallons due to expected lees at the end of primary.
> 
> BUT I don't think I'll need to add any water except what it takes to dissolve enough sugar - going to aim for about 14-15 ABV (Starting SG at 1.100 approx hopefully ending at .995) so a dry wine. Flavor should be good if the berries are good just can't get more berries into a single gallon batch without some advance prep and I'm not going to spend my time doing that.
> 
> Any ideas on this. Still waiting for all the berries to thaw out in the fridge before I launch this batch. Basement temp is right at 72 so fermentation should run smartly once started. Only concern about fermentation is overflow with that much must in that 2 gallon fermenter.



Just my 2 cents, but I think you will be adding a lot of water to get 8# of berries to 1.5 gallons total volume. My experience is more like 12-13# of fruit for each gallon. YMMV


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## Stressbaby (Jun 25, 2016)

We picked 10# of blackberries yesterday plus 10# of blueberries.
The goal is 30# blue, 60# black, 30# elderberries...we'll see...


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## Scooter68 (Jun 27, 2016)

"Just my 2 cents, but I think you will be adding a lot of water to get 8# of berries to 1.5 gallons total volume. My experience is more like 12-13# of fruit for each gallon."

Well it actually took 7 cups of water 2 of which were simple syrup. Ended up with a hair over 1.5 gallons. Got out an old fashioned Ricer/strainer to crush and press out they juice from the blueberries then adjusted the SG a little. Starting fermentation tomorrow with 1.100 SG and PH of 2.14 ABV should come in about 14% if I ferment down to .990. Dropped Campden tablet after testing pH and SG. Tomorrow the yeast starter drops and with a basement temp of 72 degrees we should be bubbling nicely by Wednesday.


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## cozmogeek (Jun 28, 2016)

Our raspberries have been crazy this year. We got at least 3 times as many berries as last year. I have frozen enough to make 3 gallons of raspberry wine. We have a couple blueberry bushes too but there don't seem to be enough berries on there to really do anything with. Last year we got no blueberries so hopefully next year it'll be better.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 28, 2016)

You can get a decent wine with 4-5 lbs of blueberries. IF you backsweeten a little.


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## cozmogeek (Jun 28, 2016)

Scooter68 said:


> You can get a decent wine with 4-5 lbs of blueberries. IF you backsweeten a little.



They're just starting to get ripe so I'll see what I can get from them. I have a feeling my wife and kids are going to eat them all 
I could always supplement them with some berries from the store.


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## Scooter68 (Jun 28, 2016)

Avoid 'store bought' blueberries and go to a farmers market or a local seller. Store bought are picked earlier that what you or I would pick and haven't reached their peak in flavor or sugar content. They will work but you are probably going to need at least 6 lbs to get a good flavor. BUT - Hey I have 31 plants and with just 9 really producing this year (Others too young) I have been enjoying the eating part more than the thoughts of making wine. 
Either way it's a win-win or is that win-wine?


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## Arne (Jun 29, 2016)

Think I am done picking cherries. Have about enough for 10 gal. of wine or so. Picked some for pies and deserst last night. Plenty of cherries left, think the robins are going to get them. Got half the currants picked yesterday, will get a 5 gal. batch out of them when I get the other half picked. About time to go to the lake and drink some of last years wine, will worry about this years when I get back. Arne.


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## hounddawg (Jun 29, 2016)

I got 10 gallons cherry fermenting , but no cherry pie, so if your better half wants to send a begging man a slice of homemade cherry pie then HERE I IS,,,
Dawg::






Arne said:


> Think I am done picking cherries. Have about enough for 10 gal. of wine or so. Picked some for pies and deserst last night. Plenty of cherries left, think the robins are going to get them. Got half the currants picked yesterday, will get a 5 gal. batch out of them when I get the other half picked. About time to go to the lake and drink some of last years wine, will worry about this years when I get back. Arne.


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## Arne (Jun 30, 2016)

hounddawg said:


> I got 10 gallons cherry fermenting , but no cherry pie, so if your better half wants to send a begging man a slice of homemade cherry pie then HERE I IS,,,
> Dawg::



They are in the freezer. Probably come out about Thanksgiving or Christmas. You are more than welcome to come on over and have some. Kind of a long drive for a piece of pie and as much wine as you can hold. Got a spare bedroom so you can drink as much as you like and not have to drive someplace to spend the night. Later, Arne.


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## Stressbaby (Jul 2, 2016)

Yesterday we picked another 10# blueberries and 35# blackberries. Up to 20# blueberries and 45# blackberries...


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## cozmogeek (Jul 2, 2016)

I got a good price on "day old" blackberries today at the farmer's market. After removing all the bad berries I ended up with 16lbs. I think I'll turn that into 3 gallons of really tasty blackberry wine. The wild berries near me are starting to ripen now too so I'll be out picking those any day now I'm sure. We probably got 20lbs of raspberries from the small patch in our yard this year. The weather has been perfect.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 4, 2016)

Sounds about right 5 lbs per gallon makes a good and strong wine, using much more is a waste of blackberries that could be used for more wine or cobbler.

If those are red raspberries all you need next is some peaches - then next year you can have red white and blue (Ok purple) wine for the 4th. Or get some blueberry wine started.


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## cozmogeek (Jul 7, 2016)

The wild blackberries around here are finally becoming ripe. I picked 1.5lbs yesterday.. now I just need to do that a few more times so I can make a small batch of wild blackberry wine to compare to the farm berries. I was only picking the REALLY ripe ones that were falling apart when i pulled them off the plant.


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## Arne (Jul 8, 2016)

cozmogeek said:


> The wild blackberries around here are finally becoming ripe. I picked 1.5lbs yesterday.. now I just need to do that a few more times so I can make a small batch of wild blackberry wine to compare to the farm berries. I was only picking the REALLY ripe ones that were falling apart when i pulled them off the plant.



LOL, get em before the birds do. Good luck with it, fresh fruit wines are usually the best. Arne.


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## cozmogeek (Jul 8, 2016)

Arne said:


> LOL, get em before the birds do. Good luck with it, fresh fruit wines are usually the best. Arne.


I plan to! I grabbed another 2.5lbs yesterday. I figure a week from now it'll be a lot easier since I won't have to walk 2 miles to find that many ripe berries. I was aiming for enough to do 1 gallon but now that sounds like not enough so I might try for 3 instead.


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## cozmogeek (Jul 20, 2016)

I've been picking berries like crazy the last week. They're super ripe right now so it's easy to pick 3lbs at a time. A couple more times out there and I should have enough for my 3 gallon batch of blackberry. 
EDIT: So I got another nearly 3lbs today... came home and weighed all the berries and I'm up to 16.5lbs. I think I'll shoot for 24 or so and try to do 2 3 gallon batches. woohoo!


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## wyogal (Jul 23, 2016)

*Raspberries just ripening in the mountains*

We just started picking our raspberries 2 days ago (Jackson WY Z3.5-4). They are delicious and if prior years are any indication we will not be able to eat them all.
Last year I made some rhubarb/raspberry, but I don't really like the result--not enough flavor. 
So I'm wondering are raspberries better with peach? plum? by themselves?


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## cozmogeek (Jul 23, 2016)

Here's the 3 gallon batch of raspberry I started last night with 14lbs of berries I grew at home. The crop this year was crazy.


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## cozmogeek (Jul 27, 2016)

I think I'm up to about 26lbs of wild blackberries now. People are asking me when I'm going to stop picking them. I'm not sure what to say. There's going to be an intervention soon if I don't stop.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 27, 2016)

Just tell them if you stop picking now they might not get any wine when it's ready in a year. They can help you pick or go without. ::


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## Arne (Jul 28, 2016)

cozmogeek said:


> I think I'm up to about 26lbs of wild blackberries now. People are asking me when I'm going to stop picking them. I'm not sure what to say. There's going to be an intervention soon if I don't stop.



Only 25? When you get the berries fermented and get the first taste bet you will wish you had started with a hundred lbs. Bet the stuff will disappear in a hurry. Good luck with it, Arne.


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## cozmogeek (Jul 28, 2016)

Well the good news is I also have 4 gallons of blackberry wine already going that I made from farm berries. Last year I only had enough raspberries to make 1 gallon and ended up with 4 bottles. After I realized how good it was I went and bought 20lbs of raspberries to go along with the 14lbs I froze from my garden. I think there might be just enough to go around.


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## Stressbaby (Aug 2, 2016)

Well today I hit the target. Have 31# elderberries, 90# blackberries, and about 45# blueberries in the freezer. Still picking elder and black but now I can relax a bit because the rest is icing on the cake.


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## cozmogeek (Aug 3, 2016)

Stressbaby said:


> Well today I hit the target. Have 31# elderberries, 90# blackberries, and about 45# blueberries in the freezer. Still picking elder and black but now I can relax a bit because the rest is icing on the cake.



Wow! I'm a slacker compared to that. I'm close to 30lbs of blackberries now. I get about 2.5lbs per picking which I try to do 4 or 5 times a week.


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## cgallamo (Aug 3, 2016)

Arne - love the OP! I am trying to grow fruit in north GA as well. This was a good year... About 60# blueberries so far.


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## wyogal (Aug 3, 2016)

The chokecherries are starting to turn, but we did have a freeze during the bloom so the cherries are hit and miss. I'm glad I have some in the freezer from last year.
This spring I planted gooseberries, and I want to have some crabapples (full sized fruit, not the bird-sized fruit). Both gooseberries & crabapples are hardy here in the RM. Does anyone have wine experience with these non-market fruits?


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## Arne (Aug 4, 2016)

@ wyogal Havn't used the gooseberries, but have a crabapple tree in the yard. Don't know what kind, but has light purple flowers in the spring. Anyway, pick 10 or so pounds, put em in a bucket and crush them a bit with the end of a 2X4. Make a 5 gal. batch of store bought apple wine and put the crabs in a fermenting bag in the must while fermenting the apple. Wakes the plain apple way up. Not as much as the jalapenos do tho. First time I made crabapple I used 4lb crabapples, put them in a bag and poured a gal. of boiling water over them. Added 2 lb. sugar 1/4 tsp tannin and yeast nutrient. When coll mashed with potatoe masher and added k-meta. If doing this now, would add pectic enzime 12 hrs or so later. Also would freeze the crabs instead of pouring boiling water over them. Would check the s.g. also, but back then didn't. Had to add a cup and a half of sugar to sweeten. Don't remember, but think it was pretty bitter. Think if the acid was checked and adjusted it would help. Didn't do that back then and only do it now by taste. Arne.
Before crushing, stick the crabapples in the freezer for a couple of days or so. They will crush up much easier.


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## CheerfulHeart (Aug 6, 2016)

Really enjoying these posts about the berry harvests. I have a good-sized patch of youngberry and raspberry vines planted by my father-in-law years ago. Vines aren't on trellises, just growing rampant at ground level. When it comes to harvesting the berries, the blackbirds I can handle, it's the nesting rattlesnakes that deter me. 

Wishing everyone bountiful harvests and great wine!


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## wyogal (Aug 6, 2016)

*Rattlesnakes are NOT friendly....*



CheerfulHeart said:


> Vines aren't on trellises, just growing rampant at ground level. When it comes to harvesting the berries, the blackbirds I can handle, it's the nesting rattlesnakes that deter me.



If you want to train those vines up, here's my advice for what it's worth. Don't try to do this completely in the fall. This fall you need to remove the canes that bore fruit this year. Do not prune canes that did not bear fruit--those are the ones that will fruit next year. Instead, use some chicken- or hog-wire to lift those new canes off the ground about 5-7". Let them sit a month or so, then lift again on to your trellis, repeat.

If you are in a cold climate, like I am, you can just cut the old canes out, & use rope passed under the prostrate canes and gradually lift them up.

Getting the canes off the ground should solve most of your rattlesnake problem, I think. Laurel


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## CheerfulHeart (Aug 6, 2016)

@wyogal: Thanks! That sounds fairly easy. I appreciate the advice!


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## wyogal (Aug 6, 2016)

*Crabapple*



Arne said:


> @ wyogal Havn't used the gooseberries, but have a crabapple tree in the yard. Don't remember, but think it was pretty bitter.
> Before crushing, stick the crabapples in the freezer for a couple of days or so. They will crush up much easier.



Yes you're absolutely right that it will be easier after freezing.

About the bitterness, though, I suspect we're not talking about the same crabapples. The crabapple trees I'm talking about and grew up with as a child made delightful jelly, natural pectin to add to other fruit, and even crabapple crisp! No bitterness. The fruit were 1.25-1.75" in diameter, and looked just like apples, just more sour.


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## cozmogeek (Aug 11, 2016)

You know you have a problem when you notice something dried on your leg and you're not sure if it's blackberry juice or blood (from the blackberries cutting you)..


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## Scooter68 (Aug 11, 2016)

cozmogeek said:


> You know you have a problem when you notice something dried on your leg and you're not sure if it's blackberry juice or blood (from the blackberries cutting you)..




Never picked blackberries and not shed blood - It the norm with wild ones. 

Or black raspberries either. Guess that's why I decided to plant blueberries.


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## cozmogeek (Aug 12, 2016)

I'm finally almost out of freezer space, which is good since the berries are just about done. At least the ones near my office anyway.


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## wyogal (Aug 17, 2016)

*Ha! Time to come help me pick!*



cozmogeek said:


> I'm finally almost out of freezer space, which is good since the berries are just about done. At least the ones near my office anyway.



The chokecherries are finally ripening, I've been picking a little every day for 3 days. Being very fussy about ripeness, and I've already put 30 lbs in the freezer. A good, good thing.

Don't you want to come visit Jackson Hole and help me pick?


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## cozmogeek (Aug 18, 2016)

wyogal said:


> The chokecherries are finally ripening, I've been picking a little every day for 3 days. Being very fussy about ripeness, and I've already put 30 lbs in the freezer. A good, good thing.
> 
> Don't you want to come visit Jackson Hole and help me pick?



I might be fruit picking crazy but that's a long way to drive 
30lbs in 3 days sounds like a lot.


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## wyogal (Aug 19, 2016)

Picked another 13 lbs today. I did have some help from #2 son who has come to visit.  
I have just found out there is an alternate fruit market on Saturdays here. (that sentence does seem really strange, doesn't it?) We have a Saturday morning "farmers market" here in Jackson, but IMHO it's more for the tourists than for the self-sustaining locals. 

This gal sells at the farmers market in the morning, and then takes all the leftovers to an open lot and at 2:00 pm sells them at 1/2 price or less. I'm definitely going this week to check it out!


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