I have a large selection of healthy perennials that I would like to trade for small wine making supplies. I need: several gallon glass jugs (cider/wine) bungs and air locks hydrometer and floating thermometer chemicals: sulphite, pectic enzyme, nutrient Must be someone within reasonable driving distance of Barrie, ON or able to meet halfway. These things are too costly to mail.

Hi, I have a couple of questions regarding Mulberries: 1. I read that Morus rubra (the US native mulberry) only grows to 20' in the northeast - that it only grows to 50 or 70 in the south or mid west? I live in NJ and hope that the tree is a small one (as in around 20'). 2. Will the taste of Morus rubra's berries be significantly worse then the commercial M. alba x M. rubra hybrids, such as 'Illinois Everbearing'? 3. I really want(ed) to stick with the native variety (M. rubra), but don't want to significantly compromise on taste - could I graft a M. rubra limb onto my non-native M. alba x M. rubra hybrid (sapling) so that I have both varieties - I'll actually end up just keeping most of the tree M. rubra and only a single maintained limb of the original hybrid. 4. Will grafting the M. rubra onto the M. alba (x M. rubra) rootstock minimize the risk that M. rubra often experiences of root disease (spread by M. alba)? I figure that since the roots are not M. rubra's (at least I think they don't use M. rubra to do grafts) this would be an advantage. 5. Is M. rubra self-fertile - some sites say yes - and some say that it varies. I guess if it's female, the M. alba x M. rubra self-fertile limb would fertilize it. 6. Do you think that a 10' tall and wide Mulberry tree provides all the fruit one would want; if so, I might keep it pruned small. Thanks, Steve

The cool temps could have slowed it down. I have made wine in a cold basement that turned out fine, it just took a lot longer with a much slower fermentation. No bubbles in the air lock, but it did make down to a 0.9... on the hydrometer, finished. Test it before you toss it. If I had a wine that wasn't making, I would first add more yeast and yeast nutrient and get it to restart before tossing it. You don't want pectin in wine. Pectin will keep your wine from clearing. I add pectic enzyme, from the wine supply store, to eat up the pectin in the must of any wine I make. I wouldn't add any acid or other juices to lime, unless it's white grape juice for a little body. Lime juice will have enough acid already. I would add pectic enzyme, 1 tsp per gallon, to lime wine, but that's the only thing I would add. Here is a simple recipe you can use: 1- one gallon of limes, with or without peels (depends on how much flavor you want) boiled in a gallon of water. Let sit in boiling water in pot with lid on over night. Next day: Strain with sterile strainer into sterile primary, leaving about 1/2 cup in pot. makae absoslutely certain that every utensil and tool you use is sterile. I dip everything in sulphite and rinse to sterilze. 2- Pour this 1/2 cup into sterile glass cup and heat in microwave until very warm. With sterile spoon, stir pectic enzyme into this until dissolved. Pour this into primary and stir with large sterile spoon. 3- Add about 2 pounds (not cups) of reg sugar (or corn sugar for a smoother wine) per gallon and stir well. (Should read about 12-13% possible alcohol with hydrometer.) 4- Sprinkle yeast (approx 1/4 to 1/3 packet of wine yeast per gallon or one whole packet for 5 gallons) on top and stir again. Loosely cover with lid and let sit for about 5 days. Stir and rack into secondary and add air lock. You can make almost any kind of wine with this recipe. Add acid blend from the wine store to anything not citric, 2 tsp per gallon of must. Wine is really very easy to make and hard to mess up, provided you are careful about sterilization. If you want to use sulphite (campden tablets), add them the next day, after straining the limes. Leave it to sit for a another full 24 hours before adding anything else. The Campden tablets have to stop working (after 24 hours) before you add the yeast, so if you put them in, you have to wait yet another day to add the yeast. I don't use sulphite. My wine is organic and sulphite free, but being so, has to be stored in cool temps 24/7/365.

sheryl - would it be possible to dry those tomatoes for wine making? I know how tough it is during the season when everything in the garden is ripening all at once. I'm always amazed when I talk with the folks on the Harvest Forum about ways to "preserve" their garden produce. Also - the maneuvering to freeze, can or dry stuff - depending on storage space. I'm always "organizing" my freezer, fridge and pantry to make room for the new arrivals. I'm on my 3rd batch of lime wine now - a great crop of them this winter. It gets a little easier each time, and with experience a lot better tasting. I think I can squeeze in one more round before they are gone. A lot of the juice has been frozen in ice cube trays. We use some for drinking limeade, and a lot is used in making jellies and fruit cannings. By the way - I never hear about limits - seems to me the gov't restricts individual alcohol making - but don't recall the details.