Today’s farm has a small vineyard consisting of 2 types of pink seedless table grapes and several varieties of vinifera wine grapes.  There’s also a small organic apple orchard consisting mainly of Staymen Winesaps, a couple of MacIntosh and Cortlands, a couple of Granny Smith’s and one lonely heirloom Grimes.  There’s a yearly sweet corn patch as well.

  The pink seedless table grape varieties are Canadice and Reliance.  Depending on how pretty or ugly the bunches look at harvest time, the grapes are either sold as fresh fruit or as pasteurized fresh juice at a self serve roadside stand set up at the end of the drive in front of the sweet corn patch.  Kitty also makes lots and lots and lots of jars of jelly in any imaginable combinations with “grape” as the base.  i.e. Grape Apple, Grape Mint, Grape Cider, Mulled Grape Cider, plain ole Grape!  And since the grapes are pink so is the juice and the jelly.

  This year the sweet corn variety “Gotta Have It” is being planted.  It’s a bi-color.  Some folks want yellow sweet corn, others insist on white, so we give ‘em both on the same ear!  The corn is not sprayed so it comes with its own “organic” worm.  The corn is also offered for sale at the stand.

  Bel Aire Farm is also home to Endless Endeavors Rabbitry.  Kitty is a licensed all breed rabbit judge.  Yes there are such things as rabbit shows!  Kitty currently raises 5 breeds of rabbits specifically to show.  Unfortunately not every animal is a show specimen, but rabbit is a heart healthy food.  It has 0% cholesterol and less than 2% fat and is an all white meat.  You can cook it any way you cook chicken, turkey or pork, just at a lower temperature and a bit longer.  Of course where you have rabbits, you also have rabbit manure.  And by jove! rabbit manure is the best fertilizer around.  Higher in nitrogen than any other “natural” fertilizer and it can be applied straight from under the cages without burning.  Of course composted is better.  Yes the manure is offered for sale too.  By the handful, the bucketful, the bagful or the truck full.  Along with the manure come WORMS.  Red Wigglers, “the Cadillac of worms”.  Red Wigglers are excellent compost worms.

 

 

 

Today’s Farm

A row of Reliance table grapes.  The grapes are about the size of peas and not yet visible in this photo taken in the month of June.  The mountains in the background are Little Pisgah to the left and Potato Hill in the center.

Two more rows of Reliance grapes. This photo was also taken in June.

Two nice clusters of Reliance grapes just as they are starting to turn color and ripen up. This stage is called varrisant.  Leaf damage is due to Japanese Beetles.