We like to see one new fruit every year and this year it is Pitomba (Eugenia luschnathiana). The fruit is the size of a cherry, texture of an apricot, but aromatic and moderately sweet. Hoping for more than one next year.
Just before Jake's graduation from medical school we hosted him and two friends at the chalet. We went out on the big lake and brought back a decent haul of fish. I've never been a fan of lake trout frozen, then thawed and cooked in the usual way but I found a terrific smoked lake trout recipe which is delicious.
The greenhouse is at least half empty and production has been variable. We had a good crop of jaboticabas, but the dragon fruit has disappointed. We did get a couple of softball sized dragon fruit that made a delicious dragon fruit salsa.
In the vineyard, I replanted 5 Frontenac gris, 10 Itasca, and 10 LaCrescent. From the 2020 vintage, the Chambourcin is terrific, by far the best dry red grape wine I've ever made. It was eye opening for me because I almost didn't pick the fruit. I let it hang a long time, long enough that no adjustments to the must were needed. It seems that letting the fruit hang is, well, kind of important. That lesson has been remembered this year, as you will later see.
Lisa got me a drone for my birthday.
We took the drone to the chalet for Sharon and Bob's 60th anniversary party
Itasca, Foch, and Frontenac are out of the vineyard and so far, no adjustments needed on any of them. Vidal will start coming out tomorrow.
