Shed building is coming along well

The roof is going on.

I can see the day nearing when my future living room will be cleaned of all the woodworking workshop equipment, bits-end-pieces of timber, wood shavings and the ever present, blanketing-all sawdust... :-))
Eddy went for a walk down to the wharf and took a few nice pics.
We had old friends visiting from Melbourne :-) Didn't see each other for 7 years. Melbourne is on an other island. THAT far, isn't it? :-)
Walking up the hill picking blackberries we met a nice couple bushwalking on the Tasmanian Trail which runs through our property and ends on the neighbour's.

Netting the vineyard

Busy-busy week.
We finished netting the vineyard.
Jan did came down for 3 days to help.
It went smoothly, we are professionals now :-)
The shed walls are up also, the boys are working on the roof now.
School was fun :-)... learned -among other things- how to change a hospital bed with the patient in it and started the anatomy lectures. Heaps of info to wrap your brain around it but I find it easy after studying it at uni before.

Vintage 2009

We started vintage 2009 !
Picked the Ziegerrebe today. Not much on them yet, they are very young grapes, but we hope it was worth the trouble :-) The small press is ready to start work this year. Berries in the bin waiting for pressing.
Septic tank buried before the big rain. 40 mm overnight filled the Plum Pond to overflow
Garlic heads cut. I'll clean them nicely later and will be selling them from the shop. You'll need them against Vampires! :-)) and this place has a medieval image with Transylvanian owners. It's fitting to sell some garlic, not?
Ales finished the garden bed wall He's done an excellent work! Thanks Ales, we'll miss you when you leave our place! He's repainting the veranda now.

Started netting

The Ziegerrebe is ripening fast :-) lucky, the birds didn't discover it because we had only a bit of netting left over from the previous years. Ordered the new ones from Melbourne -here in Tassie we couldn't find the width we were after- but who knows when it'll arrive... This was enough for 4 rows, the rest just have to wait....no big bird pressure yet.
This morning though I've heard the walnut thief screeching :-)) the first sulphur-crested cockatoo thinks the time is right to raid the trees.
Ian came down with his incredible work! They were hang Saturday. The pics don't do justice to his work. It is very hard to make a good photo against the light coming through those church windows :-) and the glittering "blings" on the works reflect the flash back badly. ( Jonathan, this will be your job to solve :-) )
Yoann and Ales started on the garden wall Yoann and Delphine left to fly around Au -literally, as he is a glider pilot :-) Ales is an exceptionally hard worker! :-) He'll finish it in no time...

Paul's birthday present

I can't help but brag about my new discovery !
Yoann mentioned the Clef Du Vin in a recent conversation which was so intriguing that I've jumped on Google straight from the dinner table to find it.
And you can guess what Paul is getting for his birthday... :-))
He MUST have it!

End of Summer?

By the look of it we HAD Summer ...
Slowly the berries go into veraison. This is the Baco which is always the first to colour. We have to net them ASAP before Number 1 Enemy (birds) discovers them :-) Number 2 (wasps) must have been wiped out by the winter cold. So far I've seen only 3 flying around...good!... cross fingers they will not be in plague proportion like last year x x x x x x ...The other varieties are way off yet and this year 's berries will be very small, promising exceptional quality but much less then last year. All of them set the berries uneven, as you can see from the pics. We know that there was no microelement deficiency in the soil so I think it was caused by the prolonged flowering due to unusually cold weather at Spring.
Hang some paintings on the gallery walls, Danny's and Eszter's and Ian will bring his works sometime in the coming weeks. Our first exhibition is stirring in my mind...but before we'll have everything just how I imagine it, I'm not getting excited... :-)
The boys (P. and Yoann from France) are cutting firewood and put down the floor of the new shed. Development plans were handed in to council and the girls (Isabelle and Delphine from France) are harvesting the garlic. HUGE ones! It was a good crop this year also. We'll be able to sell some like last year.