Grapes, Grapes, and more Grapes!

So, last year I had my first canning experience. I spent a day canning peaches and decided that day that canning is not something I will ever be doing at my house, or by myself. This year my mother in law asked if anyone was interested in helping can grape juice. I have been stealing grape juice from them for years so thought I should do my part to replenish the stock. ( I had also been told that it was a lot easier than peaches!) So I went to my in-laws house last Thursday, along with my niece Alicia. We spent a while picking grapes from the rows and rows of vines in their garden. Meanwhile, Baylee and my nephew Caden were planted at the buckets eating them as fast as we could pick them. I am not exagerating when I say that Baylee probably ate well over a pound of them. I kept trying to get her out of them but then she would just hide in the vines and pick them herself. She is such a cute little pig! So then it came time to make juice. The process goes something like this....wash a sinkful of grapes three times, put them in the steamer contraption thingie, wait about thirty minutes, get a jar of juice, wait 15 minutes and get a jar of juice, wait 15 more minutes, get a jar of juice. Empty the steamer and start again. I quickly learned it is NOTHING like canning peaches. There is a whole lot of waiting and it is a long process. We spent 11 hours that day and got 34 jars. We also went back up on Tues. and spent another 7 hours or so and got about 20 more jars. It was fun to spend time with the family and learn how to make it. I also have a whole bunch of the best grape juice ever. I will definitly can again, but only with fun company and someone to entertain the kids. This is a look at a small portion of the vines we picked grapes from. And yes that is Baylee getting into the grapes.

Giving me her cutest smile because she knows she got caught!

"I can't say cheese right now. I have a mouth full of grapes!"

Still getting into the grapes...........

Finally deciding she might as well just sit down and get comfortable.

Alicia demonstrating the fine art of squeezing a really tough metal clip and trying to keep the hose directly in the bottle.

Grandma took Aidan for a walk down the street to feed the horses carrots! Thanks mom, for being such a fun and entertaining Grandma!

Aidan on his walk with Grandma! He decided canning isn't his thing.

This is probably about one fourth of the grapes we actually bottled. By the way, those containers are a lot deeper than they look from this view.

The fruit juice of our labor!