Grape Nuts

The Centennial Grape Project grew out of one of these oral history interviews. Dorothy Wenger, a 93-year old interviewee, shared her memory of the Concord grape vineyard that was discovered on the Pennsylvania Avenue property when it was purchased in 1954. She remembered that the grapes were used for communion juice until they were cleared out in 1960 and construction of the buildings began. At that time she and another member, Olive Newton, were beneficiaries of cuttings. As a result the vineyard had continued to flourish even though it had faded from the church’s memory. It was this discovery and Dorothy’s offer of cuttings that gave birth to the Centennial Grape Project, and a new a sub-committee known as Grape-Nutz.

Since fall 2007 Grape-Nutz has harvested and canned a year’s worth of communion juice as well as making jams and jellies that sold as fundraisers. Next they pruned Dorothy’s vines and took cuttings that were started in pots while the committee tried to figure out how to get the vineyard back to St. Marks. Suzana Rockhold contacted Dennis Yamazaki, owner of the late Olive Newton’s property and he too donated cuttings from his vines. Local farmer Ed Buker and master gardener Ana Paludi offered their expertise and a location was chosen for the vineyard—the south side of the lower classroom buildings. Also plans and a timeline were drawn up. David Mooneyham roto-tilled the plot and Gardner Jose Castillo donated his expertise and labor for the trellises and drip irrigation system in July. The target date for planting is October 2008.