I grew up in grape country close to Lake Erie. Every time I see the commercial for Welch’s on television it reminds me of home. For those of you who do not understand the term, Concord grapes, let me help you. They are not like those California seedless grapes that are available in grocery stores around here.

Concord grapes have seeds, but you eat them. You squeeze the skins then swallow the insides. If you are making a pie, jelly, or juice you leave the pretty blue skins on the grapes. They give the finished products their beautiful purple color.

Now I find out those luscious grapes that I grew up with are full of antioxidants. I never thought about the antioxidants, I just knew they tasted good. You do not need to drink wine to get the antioxidants. Pure grape juice has them too.

My mother told me that someone brought her a basket of grapes when she was in the hospital after my birth. The nurses scolded her for eating them because they went right through me since she was nursing.

Years ago when I was teaching school in a small community near here I found a lady who did not eat her Concord grapes like I did. I laughed when I saw her and her pile of pulp heading to the garbage. She only ate the skins!

I remember a big truck coming into my neighborhood to pick up the ladies who picked and tied grapes. The farmer picked them up in the morning and brought them home in the afternoon. My friend’s mother used to ride that truck during grape season.

Spring work was tying the new sprouts up on the support system in the vineyard. The reason for the typing was so that the grapes got the maximum amount of sunshine. The more sun they got the sweeter the grapes. Grape sweetness is measured in something called brix. The farmers are paid by the sweetness of the grapes.

In the fall the ladies picked or should I say cut the grapes off of the vines. They each carried their own favorite harvesting tool. Once you got used to feel of the cutter, the process went faster.

When I was in high school I got to try my hand at harvesting grapes. It was hard backbreaking work. Our French teacher owned a vineyard. He hired the club to harvest his grapes on the weekend. He had the cutters for us to use. The French Club members went to his vineyard for a couple weekends. Although it was hard work we had a lot of fun.

There was a processing plant near our high school. They processed grapes and tomatoes. Depending what they were working on the aroma changed. They made grape jelly and catsup. We always knew what they were working on.

About 20 years ago I had the privilege of riding on one of the commercial grape pickers. When I left grape country they were just gaining in popularity. My husband and I wiggled and jiggled around the vineyard as the machine shook the grapes off the vine and deposited them in a large bin. We took a lot of pictures because I was writing articles for the newspaper.

I had visited the farm several weeks before they were ready to be picked. I knew the farmer would not have time to talk when the harvester was at his place. Farmers work together to harvest since the machinery is so expensive. I think they own the machine cooperatively. They rotate to all of the farms until all the grapes are out of the fields.

The year I visited the grape farm I learned a great deal that I did not know. The growers are paid by the sugar content. They do not get paid until the harvest is complete. The pay scale is set by the quality of the harvest. It may be close to a year before the farmer receives his pay. For years the local vintners sold their products locally. Welch had a processing plant in Westfield, N.Y. There was also a plant owned by the Bedford family – the one near my high school. That was eventually sold to Kraft foods. Kraft built a new plant and processed grapes and tomatoes for years.

It takes a certain soil and a certain climate to grow quality grapes. Chautauqua County New York has just what is needed. It is known as the “grape belt” because conditions are ideal – most of the time. I remember a few years back when the vineyards were hit by a killing frost in the late spring. It was sad to ride through the area and see the fields bare.

Now the farmers are taking charge of their harvest in a different way. Many of them are processing and selling grape juice for local wine makers. I think they probably are able to increase their margin of profit by doing the processing on their own.

There is a grape research station center not far from here; in fact there are two different centers. There is one in Portland, N.Y., and one about 15 miles east of Erie. If you are interested in the production of grapes look it up or take a little field trip with your family to explore a specialized industry that has its roots in our own area. Sorry, but you just missed the fall program at the Portland facility. Keep it in mind for next fall.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net