Earlier this week, the little babe declared that we have not been in the woods for a while. So later that afternoon, keeping one eye on the sky (we have had thunderstorms every day for a week straight), we entered the woods, just she and I - no dogs, no camera. After finding a red Pilated woodpecker feather, she decided that we needed to pick up the pace and go "skiing", so she found sticks for ski poles and away we went. We jogged along the paths, stopping at each intersection so that she could decide which way to go. We were only in the woods for about half an hour, but we arrived back at the car sweaty and happy. She apparently had so much fun skiing, that she requested that we go again the next morning. So after walking the dogs, we headed back down the street, this time walking to the wood's entrance. We skiied some more and then walked home along the shaded bike path, about two miles total. Along the path we passed some wild grape vines that had a decent amount of ripe grapes. We had passed the grapes on previous walks, but didn't have any free hands to collect them. Since this time we didn't have any dog leashes to hold, I stopped and pick several bunches and said that we could make grape juice.
We do not buy juice of any kind and so the little babe has never even had grape juice. I do not even like it. But I think that some things are worth doing for the experience alone, and so I made grape juice. At least, I made a liquid from wild grapes. Since I only had the small amount shown above and because I know that most homemade grape juice recipes would call for a ton of white sugar, I just did my own thing. After rinsing them, I heated the grapes with some water until they softened and started to burst. Then I used a fork to squash out more juice. I then strained them and added a bit of honey. The resulting "juice" is pretty tart, but cut 50/50 with water, it is fine. I do not recommend anyone using this method, but it isn't really the taste of the juice that was important. The little babe learned that nature provides us with edible gifts that we can use to provide for ourselves. She learned to identify wild grape vines and to know what color they are when ripe. And she learned two rules of foraging - make sure you are not on private property (unless you have permission) and always leave some of the good stuff for wildlife. And since she has never had Welch's grape juice, she doesn't even have anything to compare it to - she just thinks it is pretty cool that we made our own juice!
If you make grape juice and have a favorite method, I'd love to hear about it for future reference.