Last week Attila harvested all of the wild grapes from the back yard. The plants are all volunteers, and are given no encouragement or care. They flourish without our attentions. The harvest was small, the grapes were small and sharp tasting, consisting primarily of seeds, with little flesh. The grapes are not popular with the wildlife that frequent the garden, so that there is something left to harvest when the ripen.
Juice was made from the small harvest, using the steam juicer, producing about six cups of grape juice.
I wish I had known about the steam juicer decades ago! I have never seen one sold in a store, here in Ontario, or anywhere I have been. It wasn’t until videos appeared on you – tube that I became aware of them. When the one used here was purchased, there were few on the market, even online. I would not be without this wonderful domestic food processing piece of equipment.
The wild grape juice is perfect for making gelatine based gummies. It needed sugar, as wild grapes are not sweet. Every day after enjoying a wonderful lunch, Attila and I indulge in a gummy each. Each gummy contains one ounce of juice, a little over a half teaspoon of sugar, and a little over a tenth of a teaspoon of lemon juice. The gummies provide us with collagen, bit of protein, and trace nutrients.
The bubbly top is just that, bubbles created with the whisk while the mixture was a liquid, before it was refrigerated.
Our fruit fly population it at its peak right now. This situation is thanks to the ripening garden tomatoes in the basement. It won’t be long now though, before all of the tomatoes have ripened, and are either added to green salads, or blanched, peeled, and pureed for the freezer. The fly population will dissipate relatively quickly when their breeding grounds are gone.
Temperature is another aspect of life, the heat has been turned on at Mist Cottage only twice since September, and then for less than 24 hours each time. It hasn’t been on for quite a while now, and the house hovers around 19C, which for an unheated home in November seems fortunate.
We dress warmly in the house, and are quite comfortable.
Ginger on the other hand has offered a loud critique of the chosen environmental temperature. His complaint began several weeks ago. The windows were open to dissipate the radon level in the house. The indoor temperature dipped to 18C, with a breeze freely flowing through the windows, and throughout the house. Ginger did not approve. Ginger has a coat several inches thick to keep him warm. He is not cold, he is not suffering. He does not approve of temperatures below 21.5C in his house! Ginger does not approve of breezes in his house. Ginger is fussy, although he would define himself as discerning.
Ginger, caterwauling lacks grace and dignity! This too shall pass. The thermostat will be engaged as soon as the thin skinned, furless humans feel even a little chilly. It will happen!
Worldly
Weather
9°C
Date: 2:00 PM EST Monday 9 November 2026
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 101.2 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 9.3°C
Dew point: 4.6°C
Humidity: 72%
Wind: WNW 17 gusts 30 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?”
Henry Miller
1891 – 1980
I’d never thought of collagen gummies. Thanks! I really didn’t want to do some dry powder to increase collagen.
This hairless human has been chilly for some weeks now, except when the sun has been streaming in the house. So, we’ve had our heat on much of the time already, but the house is so well insulated that it might turn on only 1 to 3 times during the day.
Teri, I use one cup of fruit juice, two teaspoons of lemon juice, and three tablespoons of gelatine. I heat the juices in a measuring cup in the microwave, then slowly whisk in the gelatine, pour into a glass container and refrigerate, finally cut into pieces and enjoy. Products labelled collagen do not set, but gelatine does.
If I were chilly I would certainly turn on the heat!!! We do so much cooking and preserving, even now, that it heats up the house enough for comfort. Soon that activity will be over and the heat will come on, it is only a matter of days now.