I've been out picking the first grapes to grow on the vines planted at our pergola here at Struan Farm. Finally they have triumphed over being chewed to pieces by the feral rabbits, which have been nowhere to be seen this season.
As previously acknowledged, John and I aren't exactly the best at training things (except perhaps for pet lambs). But the larger of the two vines is doing reasonably well, with heaps of clusters of fruit.
I was quite interested to read that grapes symbolise altruism, charity and abundance. In the Bible they are used to symbolise wrath, the anger that destroys evil. Lyrics in the well-known hymn "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" refer to the grapes of wrath, which is also the title of a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by John Steinbeck about a family who loses their farm during the Great Depression, becoming migrant farm workers. (Steinbeck also won the Nobel Prize for Literature largely due to this book.)
I can't say that there is much if any evil lurking around Struan Farm. The feral goats munching on our native tree plantings have moved on, the feral rabbits have disappeared for now, the possums and magpies move on when and if they briefly appear, and the turkeys are mostly under control. Perhaps they saw the grapes and took the hint, so this could be all thanks to those grapes and what they signify.
Or not!
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