History Literally Comes Alive in Bushwick
I don’t know what vintners would think of Bushwick back yards as far as terroir, but if they were in a pinch, they could definitely plant grapes here and craft some crappy grappa.
Our story begins a few months ago — well, scratch that, it starts decades ago, I’m sure, when the Garofalo family likely planted the vines. But the story as it relates to me began when I noticed these vines twirling up out of the rubble and muck between the two big ghetto weed trees (excuse me, I don’t know the Latin name). They had little green balls on them, but like the other weed vines strangling the half-dead ghetto trees, I figured they were just some more ugly ass seed pods.
Fast forward to last weekend, and I had some friends over for a BBQ. I pick a bunch of the balls and realized that they resembled grapes. Jen said, “they do look like grapes!” My neighbor Lolo said “they are grapes.” They are? “Yes, of course.” Then he pointed to the tree at the back of his yard — it’s dead, but the entire thing is covered in grapes.
I was so thrilled to have something from Italian Bushwick survive Puerto Rican Bushwick, that I started reading up on training and pruning. I have no idea how they’ll taste when they’re ripe, but the novelty is enough for me.
July 25th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Cool! Our neighbor also has a big, old grape vine that he has built a make-shift arbor for. This is the first year I have seen actual grapes on it though. I think this year the weather was good for them as my friend upstate noticed grapes on her vines for the first time too.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:27 am
ooh, i should take a clipping, i have lots of chain-link fence to cover in my yard.
and it’s “Ailanthus.”
July 25th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
My landlord (who lives above me) also has grapes growing on the arbor on his porch.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
“They are also known as “poverty trees”, ubiquitous in the backyards and vacant lots of New York or anyplace there happens to be a piece of urban dirt.”
OMG! It’s not just me.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Jeremy:
Did you have this BBQ the day of the Bushwick walking tour?
Why didn’t you tell us that lunch was included?
July 26th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I used to live in a house upstate that had been owned by an Italian family for generations and it had an ancient grape vine trained onto an arbor. I kept it well pruned and it produced some decent concord grapes. When I was motivated, I would make a big batch of grape jam and give it to people as a gift. I have heard that the grapes make good wine.
Enjoy!
July 26th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I guess you all never noticed the fig trees either huh?
July 26th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”: The Tree-of-Heaven was used as the major inspirational theme in Betty Smith’s novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. The metaphor she used was that the ailanthus’ obvious persistence was like her book’s characters aspirations to a better life.
July 27th, 2007 at 9:58 am
I live on Palmetto St. and one day last summer
I was sitting on the fire escape when I looked at a tree in the back gardens and saw a grape vine growing up it. Growing about three stories up! My roommates and I joked about harvesting, unfortunately a serious rainstorm came and washed away all the grapes; it was late in the summer and the fruit was ready to fall.
I have seen the gardening efforts of long gone neighbors all over Bushwick; daffodills, crocuses and rosebushes valiantly returning each spring despite long inattention by current residents. There’s an untended peach tree in a church yard on the corner of Bushwick and Gates.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Somebody should guerrilla tend that peach tree.