Woodlands Grapes

The Woodlands has a great system of walking/biking paths. I have walked the paths near my house more times than I can count over the past five years, but I had never noticed how many grapevines lined these paths. As I drove home from errands Monday morning I noticed vines at every turn. How could I have missed this before? Am I really that unobservant, or maybe there are just more of them this year than other years.

Prime picking time for muscadine grapes ended about a week ago, but I put a bag in the stroller on Monday just incase we found any left on the vines when we went for our walk. I stayed on the trails closest to our house - not more than a few blocks away - and returned home with ten pounds of grapes! Most of these grapes came from a couple vine patches that were saturated with fruit. The grapes were huge and in clusters. Usually muscadine grapes only grow one or two to a cluster. The clusters I were finding had as many as eight grapes.

I did get a few odd looks as I was digging through the brush, stretching to reach the good grapes. A confused onlooker even stopped her car to try to see what was causing the yaupons to shake so violently. (I was on the other side of the trail out of sight.) A couple walkers did stop to ask what I was picking and mentioned that they had seen others picking the grapes too. I gave a brief description of what they were, what they are used for, and had them taste them. I enjoyed chatting with the walkers, but I'm hoping I haven't created competition for next year at the prime grape picking locations I found.