I, Kim, spent nearly two months stateside visiting friends, family and completing a small book tour.
Meanwhile Art kept the homestead up and running. He managed our fig trees collecting, sun drying and canning several hundred figs. His green thumb in the garden planting additional garlic, onion, cabbage, and salad greens. We're still producing melons and tomatoes from the summer garden. He made a round of thana (cornelius cherry) raki and collected the kimchi (jujube).
Our bounty of grapes has over succeeded all expectations. Art managed two rounds of picking and crushing grapes before I returned. He pulled over 250 liters of wine and a fair amount of mushti (sparkling grape juice) from the first round of collection.
I arrived in time to help with the third and final round of hand picking and crushing 700 liters of grapes sealed to ferment for the next few weeks. And plenty of grapes left on the vines to eat and enjoy. We also secured three oak barrels for 170 liters of wine along with the glass decanters we use to store before bottling.
And that isn't all. It is officially pomegranate season here. And we have already started collecting, juicing and freezing bottles for the winter and spring.
And olive season. Art climbed the ladder and picked each olive. They are soaking now.
So what's next here at Homestead Albania. Well we have quince and persimmon fruits still ripening. A few green apples to pick and the bounty of cabbage to enjoy. We ordered several pomegranate trees to replace the few that did not take in the orchard and also ordered blueberry bushes to plant.
And book three in the Ember in Time Series will be released in November.
Cheers my fellow humans. Stay safe and stay well.
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