Sept. 2nd, 2003

I'm letting the grape juice cook in the hot water bath a little longer than usual because it wasn't really boiling when I put it into the jars. I have about 10 quarts or so from the grapes we picked today. I only used about 2 quarts of water if that much to get the cooking process going so the juice is nice and strong flavored. I really dislike weak watery juices.

I'm looking at electric meat grinders on e-bay. I don't want to drive 15 miles and pay .20 a pound to have the venison ground this year and Shad isn't here anymore to use the hand grinder. Kyle said to go ahead and get an electric one and he will loan me the money. Which really means he is buying it for me as he usually refuses to let me pay him back for anything. The one I'm considering is a Tasin TS-108 for about $120 give or take a bit. Mary, Horseshoe, anyone else who butchers venison, do you have an opinion here? We will possibly also grind turkey, pork, beef, etc. occasionally too. Probably do 3 deer a year or so. Maybe not all at once but total will likely be around that. We have a rinky-dink Rival one that won't even grind raw turkey or rabbit much less venison. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

We have ended up with a total of nearly 7" of rain since last Wednesday. Best of all is the way it has all soaked in to the soil. Holly estimated it was muddy nearly 2' down.

Am I repeating myself here? I just turned off the stove so will go to bed. We don't even have all of one side of the grape vine row picked yet. Hopefully will do twice as much tomorrow as we did today. Jack does help with the picking from the vines which makes it go so much faster. But picking each grape off the stem is what takes so much time. There seems to be a lot of spiders on them too. Also some lady beetles and some bugs I don't know the names of so a good washing off is needed. I spend hours sitting on the stool in front of that kitchen sink. I also need to put the solids thru the sieve to get the pulp and can it for spreading on toast, etc. I don't add anything to it as Jack can't have the sugar and I don't need the empty calories even tho I sure like sweets. Shad's little sister showed up with a high blood glucose level a few weeks ago too so her mother is trying to keep her off sugar as much as possible.

I just heard a lid ping so I know the jars are starting to seal. I just love that sound. Jack has said that in past years when I did so much canning he could sometimes hear me say in my sleep that so many jars had sealed or not sealed because I listened for the sound in my sleep.

GOD bless and keep each and all of you.