Rural Life in the UP of Michigan Some stories about life on 160 rural acres in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Over the years, I’ve walked by the chokecherry trees on our property, grabbed a handful, swished them around in my mouth until I got down to the pit, and then spit them out, exactly as the plant wanted me to. I can’t say I’ve gone out of my way to harvest them. Let’s say it’s an acquired taste, and that they get their name honestly.

However, the primary fermentor is now free, and the tree by Franco’s kennel has been tantalizingly lush with fruit this year. So Alice and I each armed ourselves with a large coolwhip (mmmm coolwhip) container, and picked a batch. I decided to use the primary fermentor to make a gallon batch of chokecherry wine.

I guess one thing you could say about me that is also true about my son, is that we’re not afraid to try new things. But gosh, sometimes when you jump into a new area, the basic lessons can be learned the hard way. I’ve spilled lots of stuff all over the place when equipment I’m unfamiliar with reacts in unanticipated ways. Tonight’s adventure wasn’t too bad. I had to rack the raspberry wine tonight. Alice helped, and once the siphon fills with wine and starts rushing into the new secondary container, lots can go wrong. Tonight things went ok, though, and both batches are on their way. We won’t have any results to try with either of these for a year and a half or so. If I’m still blogging then, and I haven’t reported back, please call me to task!