Suffering the wrath of my backyard grapes

first person

First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at tgam.ca/essayguide .

Every August, I gird myself for battle. Not with fellow Torontonians in the great escape from our urban heat island, with everyone clamouring for a sliver of beach. I can’t leave town during these lazy, hazy days of summer. That’s because my contest takes place in my own backyard. And to let my guard down now would mean forfeiting a carefully curated harvest. Let me explain.

I have a grape vine in my small, sylvan patch of paradise. It’s not the common Concord variety that springs untended and wild from cracks in concrete patches in downtown back alleys. No one seems to notice those, even when they reach fulsome maturity and sag from the hyd