200 Hundred Bottles of Wine on the Wall....

Well, my days of vintress are over for a wee bit. The bottling is done, thanks, in no small way to my friends the Ts. Without them, it never would have happened. Also Dave G was a great help. Even Josh helped cork, and Monica was the eagle eye checking for mold in the bottles. We had everyone working either sorting bottles, checking bottles for mold, dunking bottles in bleach water, emptying bleach water and putting them in the dishwasher, filling bottles, corking bottles, and labeling bottles. We had quite the assembly line, all to the rockin' music of Billy Idol, and did this all in about 5 hours (of course that doesn't include the two solid days of prep work to get to this point!). We were all very happy about the time change. It was a perfect evening for the extra hour to show up.

Then to top it off, the T's came back Sunday evening to help with the last of the cleanup. They are my Rescue Rangers. That is a true friend....sacrificing when you've already gone beyond the call of duty. They again brought Billy Idol and so we cleaned to some fun music and enjoyed some of the fruit of our labors. It was all good tasting wine. My favorites are the 2003 Cabernet, the apple wine and the plum wine. I still have 25 gallons not yet bottled , but they are fine waiting a while.

Now is the time to move on to making cranberry wine, some mystery beer (I have malt and hops from a while ago but forgot what I was going to make so it will be a surprise), and get ready for a very busy season between now and the first of the year.

So mucho thanks my dear friends, the Ts. You are the best!

Now it is on to my ordinary life, which is really quite a delight to me. I just have to figure out what to do with these 200 bottles.......;)

The Joy of Wine, The Joy of Friendship

There is a reason Jesus chose making VERY GOOD wine as his first miracle. In the spirit of being more Christ like, I have been making wine for the last 8 years. :) Altho I will obviously never make wine as good as his, it is a fun process none the less.

Tomorrow I am throwing a "Please Help Me Bottle My Wine" Party for my dear friends who are willing to give up part of their Saturday to help me bottle somewhere between 25-50 gallons of wine. Yes, that is correct. Gallons. Somewhere between the first batch of wine I made with my dear friend Dave (which, in our excitement, we bottled wayyyyy too soon and it started exploding, but I digress), and now, well, let's just say it took on a whole new dimension. I ferment whatever I can get my heands on. Tomorrow we will be bottling a 2003 Cabernet, a 2003 Syrah Port which came from my own vines (a wine I thought would be very bad but turned out to be ok and made, hopefully, very good port), plum wine (maybe port too), pomegranate wine, and apple wine. I'm thinking it's too early for the honey mead and way too early for the 2004 Cabernet, Syrah, and White Syrah (my experiment, not too often done here in the US but popular in Australia) to be bottled.

I can't even make beer....I have no more carboys. And it has just seemed overwhelming to get it all done, thus the party. I am always looking for a great excuse for a party, and this is as good as any. And it's cranberry season, time to start more cranberry wine.

So today, among other things is a day of getting ready. Sorting bottles, making labels, buying chocolate. Mike (my 14 year old) says we need to run the chocolate fountain I recently purchased at Costco, during the bottling. It's of the way inexpensive variety. I hope he's not dissappointed. And buying cheese. And bagguettes. And getting all sorts of snack foods so we can eat and bottle all day. And taste wine, of course.

Then I will be done for a while. Except for the two gallons of limoncello which is ready today. Glass anyone?

Persimmons and Pomegranates

I love fruit. Especially the expensive ones. And I hate paying for them. SO, my solution.....plant as many trees in my small city lot so I can enjoy in season fruit whenever I can (usually year round here in sunny southern California). Right now the more exotic fruits are in which is a nice change from bananas, apples and oranges. Persimmons, pomegranates and guavas are crying out to me from their woody homes. What treats! For anyone who has never tried these fruits, it's definitely worth the price to experience them at least once. I figure at the cost of these things, I am a rich woman. LOL.

Josh (my 10 year old) and I were enjoying pomegranates this morning and he asked why did I suppose God chose to decorate the temple with golden pomegranates. Wow. Probably because they are one of the most amazing fruits around. And they are beautiful and delicious. And a taste of heaven. And not temperamental. They are easy going, and with a little water and fertilizer, they give back so much more. Everyone should plant a fruiting pomegranate. Zones 5-24 can grow them. I have personal reasons for having 3 of them in my small yard. When I was a little girl, a neighbor had a tree. We would do just about anything for one of those delicious little pods. It was rather quite pathetic. So I determined, one day, I would have my very own. Maybe explains why I have three. :)

Persimmons (FUYU, firm like an apple) are wonderful too, just not as exotic as pomegranates. The main thing is, DON'T buy the squishy ones except if you want to make persimmon bread or something. They are not very palatable to eat out of hand. But the Fuyu are definitely worth trying at least.

So Josh, thanks for asking 'cause it really got me to thinking about what an awesome God we have and the beauty and variety that He gave us in creation.

In the Beginning.....

Most everyone I know has a blog. But it wasn't until a Sunday School teacher today said he thought everyone should bolg that I thought seriously about starting one myself. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that His Word is infallible. I believe the truth of 2 Peter1:3: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." Lady_wisdom is not what I am, but what I hope to become.

"Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes." (Psalm 119:98,99) I believe all truth can be found in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Truth that is powerful and life changing. I believe wisdom is knowing God's created order and living according to it. All struggle stems from living outside that truth (well, to be honest, sometimes it is a struggle to live inside that truth too!). So, this is where I will share my struggles and triumphs under the sun. And hopefully, in the process, will become more and more lady_wisdom.

I don't claim to be a woman of writing skills like my friend David http://whateverisnew.blogspot.com/. But everything I say will be honest. I wrestle with trying to sort through what is God ordained rather than man ordained more than just about anything else in this world. I long for understanding....how do I live under the sun in a way that is God honoring and yet shows the freedom we have in Christ Jesus? I look forward to the future communications and friendships! To God be the glory!