No school this week in Minadze. Children are needed in the fields. Big harvest I guess. I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’ve been helping my host mother and aunt with their jamming and potato sorting. This past weekend I received a lesson is moon shine. Beneath our home, my host family is storing everything we will need for winter. Among the potatoes, jars and cans my host father proudly showed me the 100 liters of mulberry vodka he distilled this summer. It was in 5, 20 liter glass jugs. He explained that the vodka was 30 to 40 percent alcohol and unlike many other types of vodka, mulberry vodka it was very good for the heart. Now that I’m quickly proof reading my blog entry, I see that last bit could have been failure of josh’s Georgian. Perhaps he meant that he loved mulberry vodka more than any other type of vodka? I don’t know. Regardless, this past Sunday morning we set up the still further purified this mulberry vodka. It was pretty simple, there was a huge copper pot, under which we built the fire and from the pot there is a long copper tube which is run through a tank of water for cooling. Everything was sealed with a sawdust glue and I must say, it worked surprisingly well. Over the course of the day we produced; 1 liter of spirits which I was told came in at 180 proof (90 percent alcohol), 30 liters of 120 to 140 proof mulberry vodka and 5 liters of 90 to 100 proof araki. I guess your wondering, how I know the alcohol content of specific batches. Well, once the still got running neighbors started to coming over, pretty soon there this was sort of an advisory committee. They would decide if the fire were too hot and if the water were cool enough and of course every one would sample the vodka and give their opinion. In coming to their decision of what the alcohol content was they also witnessed the flammability test. Here a small cup was thrown onto the fire depending on how explosive it was the men were able to better gauge what proof it was. Any how Gela says it will keep me warm during the winter. I feel like our house is sitting on a bomb. We have also started a 50 gallon plumb, pear mash under the porch. Long winters in Georgia.