Road Trip

This past weekend, the weather was beautiful here in PA!  I traveled with some friends to the Maas family vineyards and orchards in North East, PA to pick grapes, apples, tomatoes and peppers!  It's a lovely rolling farm that ends on the shores of Lake Erie.  They grow several varieties of wine grapes but of course the largest portion of the vineyards seemed to be blue concord which they also sell to Welch's.
We got to see the harvesting in action as the huge picking machines devoured the rows of grapes leaving behind empty vines.  I had no idea how they worked and it was awesome to see.  We passed up the opportunity to ride the picker so we could start the journey home.
The fall colors are nearly at their peak here in Central PA and we enjoyed the carpets of twead covering the gentle hills we traveled through.  The sugar maples with their flaming, almost glowing, red tops are the most spectacular.  As we got closer to the Lake, the colors were less intense.  Probably due to the milder temps coming off the water. 
I think autumn is my favorite time of year.  There's just something about the crisp evenings and fruity, musky aromas that can only be made better by the smell of a wood fire.

When we got there, here's what we found...

First stop...Concord Grapes!

Here's our truckload!

We watched the harvesting machines "picking" grapes for Welch's.

How beautiful!  The vinyards seem to grow all the way to Lake Erie!

As the machine knocks the clusters from the vine, it shoots them
through a large tube into wooden boxes on a wagon in the next row.

So, now I have my work cut out for me! 

Much herbal love,