Palinka (grappa) licence granted :-)

Our palinka (grappa) licence was granted this week !!!!!! :-))
Now Paul has to make the still and Eszter has to design the labels for it. I don't know how long that will be because both are busy with other things but I'd like to have them ready by the time we finish the cellardoor/gallery interior.
We are at this stage now ...ordered the "trimmings" for the walls and the picture rails.
I've found online the large Gothic pendant lights we want to use on the ceiling and the supplier in Hobart for the Jotul heater.
The pear trees opening their flowers and my Hungarian flat-head cabbages are growing nicely
Small -at least I hope they will recover- farm drama this week was the mysterious disappearance of all leaves from half the newly planted Poplars...careful detective work (me on my all fours, nose to the ground) revealed round and longish footprints... small and big chew marks...BLOODY possums! ...and/or wallabies! They don't have enough fruit trees to munch on?????? ...meticulously trimmed off...EVERY bloody leaf!
We have Pierre from France on HelpeX with us now. He helped plant the garlic, the red onions and the potatoes.
He's off to explore the South... I'm off now to start making Hajnalka's famous Poppy Seed-Grapefruit cake... :-)))

Where to buy St Imre wine

I'm pleased to let you know that now our wines can be bought online at Boutique Wineries.
And in Melbourne you find them in Brighton Fine Wines, 410 New St. Brighton.
These places are our exclusive outlets for some varieties and vintages.
Because Paul makes a very limited number of bottles from some variety, those are available only from the cellardoor, here in Dover. So if you would like to taste the "limited editions" you are invited to visit the Far South, the End of Australia :-)
We had a Pig Processing day this week :-)
Made sausages
and white puddings
The hocks and hams are in the smoker but I've baked some sausages
and steamed some white puddings
If you want me to publish the recipes let me know....

It's officialy Spring at St Imre

Spring officially arrived with the first swallows! :-)
That black spot IS a swallow :-) First only one arrived then by the afternoon 4 more landed safely home.
The whole length of the property is dug up in anticipation of Telstra coming to connect the phoneline It's filling with falling rain...The Telstra technician come out to do his part but the contractor who supposed to lay the cables isn't that quick...10 working days to answer your queries...repeated 5 times in answer to Paul's nice urging...and the receptionist slammed the phone down on him! "Not happy Jane!!!!!"
The plasterboards arrived also and Paul finished half the walls.

The skylight is installed it is double glassed, a clear one on top and an opaque on the ceiling side.
Finally the Plum Pond is collecting water It is still leaking a bit but it's not a torrent :-) AND the frogs didn't lay their eggs yet :-))
All the newly planted poplars are doing well and the robinias are opening their leaves.
Weedkilling was done and now I have to run, we are making the sausages :-)) We bought a pig yesterday. From the abattoir. Cut in 2...not a live one :-)

Poplar planting

Planted the poplars around the property to act as a windbreak.
Nice, big saplings, already opening their leaves.
Paul had to use the sprayer to water them in because they are far from any water source. Then they were watered by the rain also later that night.
The grapes preparing their woolly buds and the first batch of ducklings are growing well, thank you very much :-)) 2 other mummy ducks are sitting also.
And -as if we didn't have enough animals already- we are looking after Ruby the Bunny until the kids can have a house with a backyard :-)))
There were also buying trips to Hobart to get insulation and plasterboard for the gallery, hand- wash basin from Zsolt, the ceramic artist and ordering the bottles and labels for the new vintage.

Another week of Springtime works

It was a busy week.
Paul is preparing the soil for the poplar planting. He finished putting on the second grow-wires for the Gewürztraminers (my Pimadonnas), tightened the old foliage wires in the whole vineyard, sprayed out the herbicide and slashed the grass between the rows. He dug up the veggie garden - the garlics should have been in the ground by now...and raked the 08 Pinot. He's happy with them :-)) good colour, good flavor...the new yeast he used this year proving to be better then expected :-))
I'm tying the cordons of the Pimadonnas. Sill have 13 rows to go :-((( The buds started to swell -they are the earliest to start- and I'm wincing whenever I brush one off... So much work with this variety....and they produce the least...If they don't repay my extra work they'll be thrown out! Overgrafted soon....
Our swallows didn't return yet :-((( They used to arrive on the 3-rd of September. I'm looking and listening for them...hope they return safely!
No big farm dramas this week...only the neighbor's steers decided to come over...the grass is always greener on the neighboring pasture :-)...it was easy to shepard them back. We found out that Gondor probably died of liver fluke :-(( It is not supposed to be present in the Huon Valley! Allegedly, wood ducks transported it here. By the time the animal is too ill we can't do anything about it :-(( A farmer lost 12 animals here...The vets should have known what's happening...Now I have to find out if this is a one-off thing or we have to drench our animals to prevent it from now on forever....

Sleep well Old Gondor !

We are very sad... :-((
Old Gondor died Thursday night.
Paul brought her over to the coral from the paddock where she was grazing. She just didn't have the strength to stand up any more :-(( We used her sling to hoist her up and to turn her around several times a day. She accepted feed and drink, ruminated, was alert, shown no sign of disease...no fever, no signs of pain...we don't know why and how she deteriorated so quickly when all the others are OK.
She was 10 year old, which is oldish for a cow, but this age alone should not prevent her from carrying her pregnancy to full, normal term.
She just went to sleep and didn't wake up. She is buried in front of the coral where she had her last apple feast and we'll plant an apple tree in her memory.
She gave us 7 calves. Lizi, her latest and one only daughter, will carry her genes further.

Sleep well Old Gondor! Look over the herd from the pasture in the sky!