October 11, 2001

September is an important month for many Bulgarian families. It is time to harvest the grapes that they have so carefully been preparing and watching. These grapes will be turned into a great source of joy for the following year, a year’s supply of homemade wine and rakiya! Rakiya is practically the national drink and heck wine, everybody’s got to have their own, homemade wine here in Bulgaria. We have been the receivers of over a dozen bottles from our host family and others in Silistra and we can’t complain. The wine is usually delicious and the rakiya is usually one heck of an experience. Strong to say the least! When my mother visited last winter we were quite surprised when she took quite a liking to it, she is not the drinker, but loved it. So anyways, September is for harvesting.

A few weeks ago, the librarian invited us to her village. We were happy to accept for we knew we would be put to work. We were glad to finally be taking a part in the action rather than only in the end result, the consuming. We went on a beautiful Saturday morning when the sun was shining and there was a beautiful breeze. Maria and her husband picked us up in front of our block in their rambling old car. Their field of grapes was just outside of Silistra, up the hill and past the largest cemetery. We made it there successfully and hopped out with bucket and bags for the grapes. Maria had prepared a light breakfast which we ate standing up while we gazed at the field. After breakfast we were each given a bucket to begin.

We began pulling the grapes from their main stems and throwing them into the buckets. Some of the grapes were tougher to pull off than others, but it was not difficult at all. It felt so good to be standing in the sun and working. We realized how long it had been since either of us had participated in manual labor, other than cleaning of the apartment. It just felt wonderful! I am sure this task becomes mundane or even a pain to many who participate in it year after year, but for us city folk novices it was great! As the bees were buzzing past our ears, the sun was beating down on our backs, as we felt the breeze, time flew by. We had finished 4 rows in about 2 hours. We dumped all the grapes from our buckets into several trash bags and heaved them to the car. The trunk was full to the brim with bags and buckets of grapes as we all loaded ourselves in. Unfortunately this is the only part we were able to help with. We would have enjoyed seeing the whole process, but I think we may have slowed Maria and her husband down, so we returned to our apartment with a present from them. A huge supply of grapes that easily could have lasted us two years!

I woke up the next morning worrying about what we would do with all these grapes, because I admit I don’t consume fruit regularly and I am a picky nerd who complains of the seeds inside. We came up with a solution. Grape juice! After searching for recipes online we found one and set to work. The end result was delicious and we enjoyed it for two weeks and are ready to make more.

-Kate