A drop of paradise Man cultivates vine with knowledge of Greek

DECATUR, Ill. -- George P. Kareotes has an ancestry that stretches back 5,000 miles to the land of wine and gods.

Born 76 years ago to Greek parents, he wound up spending 12 years in Greece after his folks took him over in the 1930s to meet his grandparents. Then the cradle of civilization got swept up in the nightmare of World War II, and it was 1945 before the 20-year-old Kareotes made it back to America.

Along with gratitude and his suitcase, he brought back the accumulated wisdom of his ancestors on the gentle art of growing just about anything. Which explains why his yard looks like a little drop of paradise, with bountiful crops of fist-sized tomatoes, 20-inch-long cucumbers and heaps of other veggies, ranging from turnips to sweet potatoes.

And, of course, grapes.

They dangle from a giant vine measuring some 35 feet long, 14 feet wide and 7 feet high. Expertly trained over a framework made of cattle fencing, the effect is like walking into a living outdoor room where green-filtered light sparkles on hanging bunches of succulent fruit.

"When visitors come here and see this, they just can't believe it," said George's wife, Bess, 79. "And it's so lovely to sit under here in the shade."

George says growing grapes is a snap if you choose the right kind of hardy vines and know how to prune them. He learned the cutting art from his forebears.

"The sun willa let you know when the Greek grapes are ready," explains George, holding one to the light. "When it shines just right, you know."

He used to make them into wine, but these days he cultivates them purely for eating and stores up pound after pound for his family.

"You go to the grocery store and buy a grape," he says, screwing his face up in remembered taste. "And then you come here and try one of mine. I never put the medicine on them," referring to insecticides. "Mine are just delicious."

Attracts a lot of bees

The price of liberated taste buds, however, is eternal vigilance. "When those grapes get ripe, boy, you watch those bees come," said Bess. "We even have trouble picking them because there are so many bees around."

Bees are probably the most persistent plunderers, but like Adam and Eve, they soon discover that sampling forbidden fruit ican lead to a quick fall from grace.

"I've watched them drink the well-ripened juice on a grape until they get kind of drunk," says George. "And then they try to leave and fall down."