“Hey, Mom! We found these really cool berries that were hanging in bunches. I thought they were elderberries at first, but they aren’t. What are they?”
Those words changed the course of my afternoon! As I looked at their buckets I was surprised to see that they were full of wild grapes! Big bunches of wild grapes!
We grabbed more buckets and went to explore. I have never seen wild grapes so plentiful! My daughters and I spent over an hour on the edge of the gravel road cutting wild grape bunches off the vines growing wild on the bushes in the ditch.
Then we spent another hour plucking the grapes from the stems while watching old Andy Griffith Shows and laughing. Finally they were ready to be washed well and cooked to make juice.
We sealed the jars with flats and rings and put them in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
When it was all said and done, we ended up with 9 pints of wild grape jam, 2 hours of talk time with my daughters, and memories that will last longer than the jam!
Now that was an afternoon well-spent!
Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees 