We are midway through August and the grapes are thriving. We have a few weeks to go before we start our first round of harvest for wine and raki. We have four varieties of grapes in our vineyard including Çilek, merlot, hafisali pink and yellow pictured below from left to right.
We anticipate at least three large barrels for the first round and we will be smashing with clean feet (LUCY style) when the time comes so stay tuned in the next few weeks as we document how to make wine and raki step by step.
Update on the garden we harvested all of the garlic, onions, herbs, baby and baking potatoes and planted cabbage and leeks. We are still producing cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, egg plants, pumpkin, peppers, corn, cantaloupe and watermelon. We are starting to think ahead and plan more strategically to combat our long dry spells on where, what, when and how we plant next year. Plants that didn't produce well this season were our climbing beans, blueberries, strawberries, asparagus, spring leeks and some peppers. The science of soil, water and sun for maximum growth in our dry climate is an adjustment and for me it is still new since the only thing my family ever grew were pumpkins on accident.
The fall fruit trees are full with the quince and persimmon trees needing additional support because of the loads of fruit weighing it down and the olive, jujube, and pomegranate trees are doing very well with harvest in the next two months or so. Plum, mulberry, thana and pear trees did great and we are looking forward to our new cherry, peach and apple trees next year. And last but not least our figs are glorious. Several dozens are picked each morning just to keep up with a half dozen mature fig trees, we have four different kinds of figs. They are so delicious!
August is also wedding season here, we have attended two of five. Once we have attended all five I will blog about the experience, culture, food, music, dresses, and dancing. And let me just tell you this now, they go BIG.