In regular wine there are not a lot of vitamins because there are not a lot of vitamins in the grapes in the first place. The amount of other goodies, anthocyanins (AC), various phenols, resveratrol, all known to be good for you, depends in large part on the fermentation method. If the first fermentation is whole crushed grapes, there will be a lot more of it, than if you ferment just the juice. The color will be deeper, for example (indicating more AC). This is the same principle as the old fashioned "cordial" liquors, where herbs were steeped in hard liquor for weeks. Alcohol is more efficient at extracting these things. Vit. C is water soluble and you should get most of it. Its content may depend on the amount of oxidation, which in a closed carboy with a airlock is probably low. There will be some extra Vit. B generated by the yeast, compared to the original content (and a lot more Vit. B in homemade beer). Most minerals (iron, copper, manganese, magnesium, zinc, calcium) attach themselves to acid molecules, and typically fruit wines are very acid (pH of 3-3.5). So I think you are getting most of those as well, if you ferment the whole fruit first. If not, what you lose stays in the pulp that you throw away.

"I've harvested bags of seaweed from the beach on the Florida east coast and it broke down quite nicely in my compost bin." Im having a hard time invisioning harvesting seaweed. Maybe the long strains of kelp, and the density of kelp forest, you can easily grab ahold of it,or maybe a rake harvesting tool of some sort.. But, over here swiming in the lake, we have very fine seaweed, it would seem difficult to harvest. On another note of kelp harvesting, ill leave you with a quote from Charles Darwin: "I can only compare these great aquatic forests(kelp forest)...with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in any country a forest was destroyed, I do not believe so nearly so many species of animals would perish as would here, from the destruction of kelp. Amdist the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find food or shelter; with their destruction the many cormorants and other fishing birds, the otters, seals and porpoise, would soon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian[s]...would...decrease in numbers and perhaps cease to exist." ��" Charles Darwin, 1 June 1834, Tierra del Fuego, Chile Also on the note of kelp detoxifying pollutants, radiation, etc. maybe it's better if we leave the kelp do it's thing in the ocean, maybe we are doing more harm than good harvesting it, i dont know.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if those actually help with your garden. Especially if you end up getting worms in your compost this winter. If the stuff is dissolved, they are bound to eat them and cast the dissolved minerals in a form the plants could take up. That's just me speculating, though. I haven't looked it up or experienced any such thing. Maybe I should, though. I have some GNC vitamins that were so huge I was discouraged from taking them. If they can aid my garden, the money doesn't go to waste. Sometimes, if your pile starts to cool off it encourages the red wigglers to start showing up and using the compost for food and insulation. That's how I got my red wigglers for vermicomposting. In the heat they just tend to move to the outskirts of the compost. Just thought I'd share that since you seem to be in an area that it would be more convenient and if you can get the red wigglers from compost it wouldn't cost you anything for the worms. They reproduce incredibly fast. As far as the unfinished compost in the garden, yes. That's okay. Might be a little too moist if it's muddy, though. Does it stink? That's not good. If not and it smells "earthy" then you have some good stuff. You might end up having to loosen it in spring.

I'm supposedly anemic, but I don't do anything about it. I am usually just below the reference range and I don't have any symptoms except that they won't let me donate blood. Once I was within the reference range, but my blood pressure was too low. So I just can't donate blood. Anyway, unless you are very anemic or are having symptoms, you may not have to do anything. Remember that reference ranges were made by taking a bunch of supposedly healthy people and seeing what their PCV was. The numbers in the middle 95% are the reference range. You could be perfectly healthy and have a different number, because the reference range doesn't say anything about whether or not the number is good. For example, if you took 10000 average Americans and got their weights, and took the 95% most common range, the reference range would almost certainly be unhealthy because most Americans are over weight. Just because most people fall within a certain range doesn't mean that it is a healthy number. Your number may be different. Now if you are having symptoms, or if your doctor feels your PCV is way too low, then you should find out what is going on. Your body may not be making enough red blood cells for any number of reasons (iron is only one cause of not being able to make enough RBCs- kidney disease, bone disease, steroids, and many many many other things can also cause low RBCs), your body may be destroying red blood cells, or you may be losing red blood cells as with a gastric ulcer or something. Iron supplements only help with one of probably thousands of causes of anemia. It's best to find out what is going on rather than to self-medicate. Unless your doctor feels that you are otherwise healthy, you may just be slightly anemic like me with no problems.