The Grapes of Wrath...a tale of the vine!

There's a story behind this picture...and you know me and stories!

 Once upon a time a man planted a grape vine. He actually planted several, but alas, only one survived. In the back of his mind he had hopes to produce wine, however his wife had hopes of grape jelly! The vine grew and eventually produced some clusters, but only on occasion did it produce anything worth using or that the wild critters didn't eat. Since it's production wasn't worthwhile it was forgotten by the man, but every few years the vine would produce just enough grapes for the wife to make jelly...and she was happy! Many years passed and time allowed weeds and grasses to grow up around the vine until one day another man noticed it hidden while weed-eating the fence row. He grabbed his clippers and cut back all the dead vines and duct taped (yes, it was duct tape...it was all he had!!) the trunk where it had broken and split. Once again the vine was forgotten until this man and his wife moved into the house where it was planted. The weeds and grass were kept cut around the vine, the ground was loosened and fertilized too, and to their amazement, as the Spring progressed, the vine produced a few clusters! The new man didn't care about wine, but the new wife had visions of jelly and she waited with patience for the grapes to turn....and they did!

The moral of this story is that it is true! The grapevine was planted over 40 years ago by my dad and it has managed to survive with very little care all these years to produce...you got it...the grapes in the picture! I cooked up those grapes along with some apples, and turned the juice into jelly! My dad had plans for an orchard here years ago, so along with the grapes he planted fruit trees, however over the years the trees also died out, all but one and they never produced much of anything. This year the apple tree was loaded, but only a few of the fruits survived on the branch for me to make juice from. And while it never really became an orchard, the area was always referred to by both of my parents as just that. 

There were many dreams and ideas my dad had hopes for and talked about for this home I now live in. Many things stood in his way, but a lot of those things were of his own making...the dream was there, the will to see them through unfortunately was not always there. As I walked the area this past Spring it seemed I could see and hear him talk about "the orchard" he had planned and I've decided to try and fulfill his dream. We've began by planting some peach trees and blueberry bushes. We have more grape clippings coming and next year I hope to add another apple tree and maybe a pear. I don't know that my efforts will ever come to pass any more than his did, but I'd like to think he's somewhere smiling down on my determination to try. 

~Patti