By Tom Baideme
September 2011
What a start to harvest time
What an array of sight and scent
Beginning with the glow of gold Niagaras
With the waif of ripened fruit
Then next thing brought in dark Fredonias
With that certain look and smell
Seems darker than the standard Concord
Near off the spectrum to almost Black
Then begin the run of Concord
Steady on for weeks on end
Maybe stop after Sunday next
to clean up for the kosher crew
Three more weeks and maybe longer
With what seems to be better than average yield
Maybe stretch to late October
To get all the berries off the vine
So, here I sit and stand and walk
Pandering past my tanks of juice
Tossing in the silt by hand
To give substance to the juice within
Then onto the filter wheel
That keeps on churning day by day
Filtering the blood of harvest
Till the last tote come my way
So it seems to go so far
Steady on till all’s complete
End of season once again
Till another harvest comes around
