Grape Stomping!

Last weekend, we finally finished picking all of the grapes.  In all, we harvested Marquette, Frontenac Gris, and a little bit of Briana.  Aaron and I spent much of the day on Sunday sorting the grapes by hand and plucking off any bad grapes before putting them through the grape crusher.  Not gonna lie, that's not my favorite job.  Kind of tedious, takes a long time, and my hands get really sticky and gross from the grape juice.  Once I finished the last lug, I made some excuse to Aaron so he wouldn't stick me with another boring job or pull out another hidden batch for me to sort. "Uh, honey.  I have to use the bathroom." 

And I went inside for 45 minutes.  I didn't really go to the bathroom, but when you are pregnant you can get away with saying that without being asked questions.   I felt gross and gooey and tired after being out all day and just as I was about to jump in the shower, Aaron opened the front door and said, "Ashley, don't shower yet!  I need you for something.  And bring the camera!"

Ugh!  What now?  I couldn't sort another grape!  But like a good wife, I went to see what my husband needed.  It wasn't fair for me to stick him with all the clean-up.  It was almost 7 p.m. and starting to get dark, so whatever it was couldn't take too long. 

When I walked out front, he had a big grape tub waiting for me. 

"I need your help to try and get some more juice out of these grapes," he said smiling.  "Can you stomp them for me?"

So, last Sunday night, just the two of us, I did my first grape stomp and broke in the new grape stomp tub.

I was ready to jump right in and tackle those grapes when Aaron stopped me. 

He had to sanitize my feet first so I wouldn't taint the grapes with my foot germs.  "Don't let your feet touch the ground!" he instructed.  He hosed them off, sprayed them with some sort of sanitizer and then picked me up and plopped me in the grape tub.

The only way I can describe the sensation is that it kind of feels like standing in the inside of a pumpkin.  Same gooey, wet, gloppy texture.  If you are the kind of person who loves carving pumpkins and sticking your bare hand in to clean out all the seeds and glop, then a grape stomp is for YOU! 

I am the kind of person who likes to clean out pumpkins....

I took this grape stomp very seriously! I walked in circles, jumped up and down, and did the running man.   

 

It was just a typical night at the Schram household.  So much for movie night and lounging on the couch.

It's actually a really good workout having to repeatedly lift your feet in and out of several pounds of grapes!

One for the baby book. 

Now that I've had my fun and broken in the grape stomp tub, I'm ready to pass this duty on to others for next year!  Who's in?