GoodDaughter
09-03-2008, 09:36 PM
The sun is noticably lower as it traverses it's daily arc through the sky. Sunlight now warms the wood floor in front of the double french doors instead of being blocked out entirely by the eaves. Nights are perceptibly cooler, even a couple of degrees is noticable now. Roses are preparing for a full flush of blooms, garlic chives and hardy aloes send up bloom stalks, the purple sage blooms are finally fading and a few scattered bits of color appear--not many, but for eyes trained to see them, the tupelo and sassafrass trees have tiny bits of red and orange here and there and wild persimmon fruit are beginning to go from solid green to a softer color, not quite yellow but not totally green anymore.
Canning is mostly done. The spring/summer garden is dead and gone, plants pulled up and empty beds awaiting mid-September plantings of peas and brassicas, and October plantings of practically everything else that overwinters here. Seeds are presently being planted in peat pellets and other containers, under lights.
Some fruit has been carefully frozen so that when time and temperature are conducive, wine making can begin! For me, that's one of the most enjoyable tasks of early fall. My house seems to have a temperature of about 80 degrees during the hottest part of the summer---really too hot to satisfactorily ferment delicate fruit wines, IMO, and definitely too hot for making good beer. I usually wait until the house is at a pretty constant temp between 70 and 75, and that's usually sometime in October. I have home grown plums, peaches and figs in the freezer, all of which will make wonderful wines. I am going to buy some frozen raspberries from the store this time, and make some raspberry wine. Never made it before, and I just love it. I have chosen Cote de Blanc yeast for the raspberry because it does not produce a very dry wine, which is good because I like to maintain some of the fruits' natural fragrance and sweetness. The plum I have always used a simple Premiere Cuvee yeast. I am also going to try, after some research, a batch of peach wine made with a Narbonne yeast. Never used Narbonne before; will see. *Beer will have to wait until sometime in December, when the floors are cold and I can sit the fermenting vessle directly on the floor to take advantage of the coolness.
One of the joys of early autumn is walking into my pantry room and seeing a few fermenting buckets going, lined up on the counter, air locks happily (or lazily, depending on the process) perking along, or opening the storage closet and looking at rows of jars of home canned foods, home bottled beer and wine, and knowing I did it myself.
Which reminds me, I need to order some new Grolsch gaskets tomorrow...
Canning is mostly done. The spring/summer garden is dead and gone, plants pulled up and empty beds awaiting mid-September plantings of peas and brassicas, and October plantings of practically everything else that overwinters here. Seeds are presently being planted in peat pellets and other containers, under lights.
Some fruit has been carefully frozen so that when time and temperature are conducive, wine making can begin! For me, that's one of the most enjoyable tasks of early fall. My house seems to have a temperature of about 80 degrees during the hottest part of the summer---really too hot to satisfactorily ferment delicate fruit wines, IMO, and definitely too hot for making good beer. I usually wait until the house is at a pretty constant temp between 70 and 75, and that's usually sometime in October. I have home grown plums, peaches and figs in the freezer, all of which will make wonderful wines. I am going to buy some frozen raspberries from the store this time, and make some raspberry wine. Never made it before, and I just love it. I have chosen Cote de Blanc yeast for the raspberry because it does not produce a very dry wine, which is good because I like to maintain some of the fruits' natural fragrance and sweetness. The plum I have always used a simple Premiere Cuvee yeast. I am also going to try, after some research, a batch of peach wine made with a Narbonne yeast. Never used Narbonne before; will see. *Beer will have to wait until sometime in December, when the floors are cold and I can sit the fermenting vessle directly on the floor to take advantage of the coolness.
One of the joys of early autumn is walking into my pantry room and seeing a few fermenting buckets going, lined up on the counter, air locks happily (or lazily, depending on the process) perking along, or opening the storage closet and looking at rows of jars of home canned foods, home bottled beer and wine, and knowing I did it myself.
Which reminds me, I need to order some new Grolsch gaskets tomorrow...