Tag Archives: John S. Quarterman

Spigot frog 2025-09-24

This frog likes the water spigot post by the tractor shed.

It looks like an American green tree frog, Dryophytes cinereus or Hyla cinerea.

-jsq

Sunrise over Woodhenge, Fall Equinox 2025-09-22

Here’s the sun rising over Woodhenge on the Fall Equinox.

Sunrise over Woodhenge, 2025-09-22 jsq for OPF

In Merrie Olde Englande they go to Stonehenge for this seasonal event. Here, we go to the arbor where we get the grapes for eating, jelly, wine, and vinegar. We call it Woodhenge, because it has wood posts. Continue reading →

Fuyu persimmon 2025-09-15

This one wasn’t quite ripe.

Fuyu persimmon

Gretchen dehydrated part of it for later snacks.

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Beautyberries almost ripe 2025-09-14

You can eat beautyberries now, but they will be riper in a few weeks.

Beautyberries, Callicarpa americana

They’re no longer mealy, and they have some flavor. They’re ripe enough to be made into jelly.

But in a few weeks they’ll be in full flavor. Even better then for eating or wine-making.

Callicarpa americana is native to the U.S. southeast, from Maryland to east Texas, plus Mexico and parts of the Carribean.

No, it’s not the same as pokeweed, which Continue reading →

Grape vinegar 2025-09-09

Update 2025-09-22: Sunrise over Woodhenge, Fall Equinox 2025-09-22.

I asked what can we do with the grape husks?

Gretchen looked it up and started grape vinegar.

Grape vinegar, Scuppernong, Muscadine, Vitus rotundifolia, sugar water 2025-09-09

These are the husks from the recent wine-making.

Scuppernong is a large variety of Muscadine grapes, Vitus rotundifolia. They are native and grow wild here. These ones we grew on our arbor, which we call woodhenge. They came from our neighbor the late Barney Ray.

Continue reading →

Grape wine into carboy 2025-09-09

Update 2025-09-11: Grape vinegar 2025-09-09.

Here’s how Gretchen gets the grape wine into the carboy: with a strainer and a funnel, plus a wood spoon to smush them.

Strainer and funnel

The grapes had been in the buckets for a while, with water and champaigne yeast to start fermenting. Now the wine will stay in the carboy in the cool room for quite some time.

-jsq

Grape pie 2025-09-04

Update 2025-09-10: Grape wine into carboy 2025-09-09.

What better dessert?

Grape pie

Scuppernong is a large variety of Muscadine grapes, Vitus rotundifolia. They are native here and grow wild. These ones we picked from our arbor, which we call woodhenge. They were given to us by our late neighbor Barney Ray.

-jsq