Plum Wine

I finally got around to processing the entire vege drawer full of plums. I cut them up, ran them through the blender, then put them in a couple of big gallon jars. It was hard to find a way to refrigerate them, so I had to put one in the ice chest. This didn't actually work very well, as it got warm enough that it started to naturally ferment.Then when I opened the lid, it sort of exploded. Note to self: Be ready to make wine sooner next year. Don't wait till the last minute.

So I cleaned this all up, and cooked it to a boil (while stirring contantly to avoid scorching) to kill the wild yeast and sterilize it. Then Rick got out the carboy, and I borrowed a little yeast from Karen, and I got it into the carboy, where it can ferment safely.

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What We're Making

Plum Wine

1 vegetable drawer full of plums. About 30 pounds?

2 lbs honey

14 cups sugar

1 lemon, juiced

about 3 gallons of filtered water

3 teaspoons of wine yeast

As noted, I had to cook the plum puree. I then cooled it and poured it in the carboy.

I mixed the honey with some water, and cooked it until it was well melted, then added this to the carboy and sort of shook it around.

Wait for it to cool to room temperature, then pitch the wine yeast and put in fermenter.

I'll let this ferment, then it needs to be racked twice, bottled, and aged at least 6-8 months. We decided we'd try it about the time the plums blossom, so we can decide it it's worth doing again.

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Meanwhile, back at the farm, Buddy checks the sunflowers.

The cosmos are a lovely pumpkin orange.

And we caught this spider making a web, with the late afternoon sun making it glow in rainbow colors.