April 25, and I was delighted to find stocks of rhubarb breaking through the ground in my garden. Ed, my neighbour next door, noticed me doing garden clean up. Being bored and restless, Ed came to the fence to waste some time talking to me. Ed's farmland needs more drying up time, so he is like a race horse waiting for the starting gate to open. Ed's ready and set to go. As soon as his land is dry enough, he will be off and galloping toward his seeding finishing line.
I told Ed our rhubarb was breaking through the ground.
"What do you use it for?" Ed asked.
"For fruit - we cook it, or stew it, or make a pie with it. It is also good mixed with strawberries or apples," I answered.
"Those things are okay, but the first rhubarb of spring should be made into wine. The wine is best if it ages a good while, so by early fall you have mighty fine wine to drink," Ed informed me.
I made the mistake of being interested in rhubarb wine and Ed got really excited about his ability to make it. Once Ed gets going on something, you will either be listening intently or suffering from the feeling of being trapped, as the victim of way too much information you don't want to hear.
According to Ed, the secret of his great wine is adding boiling water to the rhubarb, and the ingredients: raisins, brown sugar, orange and lemon slices and a tablespoon of active yeast. Ed informed me there is another recipe for rhubarb wine which calls for equal parts white sugar and rhubarb with some strong tea and yeast, but it isn't nearly as good as his recipe. Ed said to me, mockingly, "I don't suppose you want to make both recipes of rhubarb wine to see that my wine making is the better of the two?"
I told Ed I have never made any kind of wine, but I might when I'm completely retired. I offered Ed the 'recipe for caution' that the Bible offers about wine. The Bible says, "Do not join those who drink too much wine. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. 'They hit me,' you will say, 'but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?'"
"Are you against wine?" Ed asked.
"Wine isn't the problem. The problem is drinking too much wine, which can be harmful to one's life. Wine, like most things, can be a blessing or a curse depending on who is the master - the wine or the person drinking it," I answered.
