Birds Prefer Red Grapes To White Ones...

This is the view from our van, perched at the bottom of Martin's Hill Wines (an organic vineyard in Mudgee NSW). We went to do some grape picking there for a few days. 

This vineyard is extraordinary and we'll explain why...

Michael and his wife Jan purchased this land over 30 years ago and turned it into an organic vineyard. Jan, sadly, recently passed away....but has left an absolutely beautiful legacy. She planted EVERY SINGLE tree on the property (that is gum trees, vines, we mean everything), and all of it has thrived. She even sourced the best trees to grow around salt areas (as some of the areas of the vineyard had salt deposits coming up from the very old days when the river ran through it). Dom could not believe that Jan had planted everything we saw, as some of the trees were just so so big, and seemed as if they had been there for centuries. We really felt the great energy there on the vineyard from all the work that Michael and Jan did, and her presence still lingers no doubt. 

It was the first time we picked grapes. We learnt how pretty quickly, we had fun, and we got to use our shower bladders for the first time :)
Over the course of the few days we were there, we discovered that the birds seemed to prefer the red grapes to the white ones. Was it because they were easier to see when swooping? Was it because of the tannins in the red grapes? Are the birds into more antioxidants from the red grapes...you know for their health? Whatever it was, we like to think of Mudgee birds as the preferring their cool climate reds instead...

Tips! Michael's little girl. She followed him all over the vineyard night and day. Very cute.

This is a view of the Sav Blanc we picked the first night we arrived. A couple of hours before sunset.

Ahhhh Sav Blanc! And organically grown. So healthy and sweet. With the late afternoon sun shining through.

Leonie picking the Sav Blanc.

Next morning nice and early with the beautiful golden sunrise from the east, and Leonie back on picking duties.

Leonie...just loving her bunch of grapes.

Dom set up and ready for day two early morning picking of organic Pinot Noir grapes. See the funky side bag he's carrying? These contain the little discs that we put into each bucket we filled, so at the end of the day, Michael knew how much to pay us for. Eassssyyyyyy!

Leonie pink disc in hand, ready to rock'n'roll.

Leonie once again, very much in love with these beautiful, healthy, organic grapes.

*note - she is kissing them, not eating them :)

Dom showing you a close up of the Pinot Noir.

This IS Dom eating the Pinot grapes...hahaha! Busted!

At days end, we have a couple of tonnes of Pinot for sending over to the winery to be made into lovely delicious organic Pinot Noir from Martins Hill Wines.

One of the ant hills on the property (on the way to the river that runs down the back of the property).

Same ant hill after Leonie stomped on it to see what would happen.
You can see how pissed off the ants are now :/

This is Dom....very, very, happy after making a pasta dish, with organic tomatoes from Jan's garden. Michael gave us some to use as they are growing and growing. So we thought 'what a great opportunity to make a simple Italian Sugo'. Dom did it with Basil, Chorizo Sausage and Chilli. It was delicious.

Leonie pouring us a nice sparkling (given to us by Murray Smtih from Canobolas-Smith Winery).
It was a lovely gift from Murray for Leonie's birthday. We enjoyed...

Leonie enjoying the bubbly nectar....

This is our water bladders in the hot sun, heating up on the dashboard for our showers back at the vineyard. We went into Mudgee town to explore the shops, cafes and pubs and so we left them there for a few hours. The temperature reached a hot 47 degrees eventually (this Leonie loved...Dom not so much, he likes it warm and gentle...pfewwww). 

Hanging off the car ready for our showers in the vineyard in the afternoon sun. 

Unbelievably, they hold 20L each and are supposed to give you up to 8mins of continuous water for a shower. And more unbelievably, we discovered that one of them was enough for the both of us (of course there's no hair washing time in there for Leonie...this would take another full bladder on it's own).

Leonie giving Dom an extra wash (he needed it) with the vineyard hose.

Michael is a great man, and very generously allowed us to stay on his land free of charge (even for a day or two when we were not picking grapes for him). He even gave us a bottle of his Organic Vintage Port named after Father Dunphy (On June 17th 1845, Father Dunphy lost his life when he was swept off his horse crossing the swollen river at the place where Martins Hill Wines now resides. He was 30 years old and was on the way back from a 4 day trek from the blue mountains...where he had gone to baptise 2 children).

Martins Hill Wines does a great selection of premium organic white and red wines and does not have a cellar door. You can order their wines for delivery, online here or contact them for more info 02 6373 1248.

A Surprise For Leonie's Birthday!

38 Today!!! Yippee!!! 

So funny every birthday someone always asks, 'do you feel older/wiser different?? And I've always answered with 'no'... But this birthday I can say a big fat 'YES'!! I feel amazing, I'm on the road travelling around Australia with my man, living the life I have always dreamt of.

My birthday started a few days early with the surprise arrival of my bestie Tanya!!!

Dom and I were just checking out the Orange farmers markets and were having a yummy lamb roll under a tree for lunch... When Tanya called a few times while I was eating, I didn't want to answer the phone cos the roll was so yummy...  after a few stalked calls and a  few messages I answered.

 "What you doing?" Tanya asks?
 I reply with 'Having lunch under a tree at the Farmers Markets'
 'Which tree 'Tanya asks?
I paused for a moment and thought what do you mean which tree (your in Syd?), just a tree...

Then an excited Tanya replies with... I need to know the tree because I'm here at the farmers market's to surprise you for your birthday!!!!!!!! (Find the Farmers Markets and you'll find me...)

AAaaaaaaaahhhhhhh now way!!! How lucky am I!!!!

Yes there were happy tears and many smiles...red wine...cider tasting...late night giggles and all the love that only a girls best friend can bring!!!
LIFE IS GRAND!

The pic above is Tanya and I seeing each other for the first time in 7 weeks!!! Love my girl!

Dom and Tanya, my two favourites working their cheeky smiles. 

Just what every girl needs.... Her girl-friends by her side, no matter what!!!

Thank you beautiful Tanya for driving almost 4hrs to see me for my birthday, I will never forget it.

Above the three of us getting ready to shake up Orange......heheheh

And below is my birthday morning.... I'm excited about the new year that has just begun!

I started off the morning with a 5km run listening to my favourite music and then called my Mummy to wish her happy birthday too... Its not her birthday but she bought me into this crazy beautiful world that I feel blessed to be a part of... And of course its my Nana's birthday too who passed away when I was about 11... I lit a lovely candle for her.

The rest of the day Dom and I relaxed on Lake Canobolas nibbling on cheese and crackers watching the clouds drift by and I had a great chat on the phone with my beautiful bestie Linda in Melbourne... If there was a moment to describe 'relaxed' this was it! Pure bliss and gratitude for my life.... 

Thanks Mum & Dad, love you both!

Meet Milly & Learn About Cow Share

We were lucky enough to meet Lucas and Danielle from Canobolas Pure Health Food Store in Orange NSW (like their facebook page here) and got talking about milk and cow share. This sparked something off in us to want to share our new found knowledge with our friends and family.

So here is our latest video blog instalment of meeting Milly the Jersey Cow and learning all about 'Cow Share'. (And learning to edit a video too...lol)

We have to extend our gratitude to Lucas and his wife Danielle at Canobolas Pure Health Food Store for sharing their time and knowledge of this precious subject...and of Course Milly for sharing her milk with us!

*No animals or humans were harmed during and after the filming of this video.

First, a few points we learnt about Cow Share, and then you can watch the Video.

1. Any one can do it! All you need is 5 committed friends or Families to manage her milking roster.
2. Decide what type of food you will feed her, preferably grass not grain. Lucas would give Milly a mixture of grass and a very small amount of grain to keep her settled during milking.
3. Make sure she has ample space on grass fields (Milly has around 200 acres to wonder and graze on).
4. Milly's bucket and the hands that milk her are sterilised with diluted Iodine disinfectant. We were also encouraged to rub natural moisturiser into our hands before milking to prevent her from chafing.
5. You can find a Jersey cow from live stock trading websites, just google and find one that's right for you. Price can vary $1000 - $1300. Divide that between 5 families and the cost for your share becomes considerably lower and affordable.
6. Animals can also extend into: Chickens, Sheep and Pigs or maybe a 'Farm share of animals and vegetables'... Creating a fully sustainable community where everyone involved knows where their food and produce comes from. How exciting for growing families! The kids will get more out of that than computer games and complaining that they're bored.
7. Vet bills will be shared amongst the 5 families (cutting down the costs per family).
8. One of the many good things about cow share is, if you go on holiday you can be guaranteed that she will be milked, or if someone is running late for milking they can call someone else to help out.
9. It can take roughly around 5 minutes to get 1ltr, but this also depends on how productive your cow can be. So this varies from cow to cow.
10. Enjoy the process and discover a natural more sustainable way of living.

O.K now you can watch the video....Enjoy :)

Bringing a piece of Australia to you

xx

First Video Blog

We are having a fantastic time on our travels!

We are meeting interesting people and learning so much about this great country. We've decided to also keep you updated and entertained with our video blogs...

**please note we're not professionals at this, but we do aim to bring new ideas to you about how to live a full, happy and sustainable life...

Stay tuned as Leonie will be introducing you all to some one really special in the next few days...




Bringing a piece of Australia to you!

xx

From the Goldmines to the Vineyards...

Dom very excited to have found a grass fed butcher in town...and Leonie smelling the roses at the beautiful Cook Park.

This is the arrival at Ophir Goldfields near Orange NSW. 27km road of dirt track to get to Australia's first payable goldfields. Really interesting place to look at with lots of caves, old roads that lead to goldmines, decaying country houses, and a local cemetery too. It was pretty eerie though and the energy was a bit sad and dense there to be honest. We figured that there was lots of misery experienced back in those days by the men, women and children that went hunting for the gold stuff. We found out later that the cemetery has heaps of headstones that explain some really terrible things that happened to some of the people there such as; children dying from diseases, women falling off cliffs, etc. So a beautiful and interesting place to visit, but we'd say do it on a tour bus of 20+ positive people instead. If interested you can read more about Ophir Goldmines here

Us setting up for a fantastic lamb BBQ at the river at Ophir Goldmines. A real rural Aussie setting as you can see. We even got to do a bit of a play around with some of the local yabbies (as you can see above Leonie fishing for one off some rocks). Last picture shows what a typical gold panning area would look like. Imagine all day long, sifting through the dirt and rocks for the gold stuff.

Every winery seems to have some dogs...which is great fun we tell you. Above is 'Oscar' from Helberg Hill Winery (great Tempranillo Wine they had...yummmmm-y!) waiting for Leonie to throw his mangled tennis ball to him. The second photo shows just how close the grapes are to being ready for picking at Philip Shaw Winery, and finally Luka, the very relaxed doggie, at Philip Shaw. She had her own spot on the leather couch next to all the tasters. For your information, every single wine here was quite brilliant. Philip Shaw is one of the top wine makers in Oz...and it shows. We left with a sneaky 'Viognier' to enjoy on some summer day soon.

We finished the day off with a full (and hilarious) winery tour at Orange Mountain Wines with Terry (the owner). Terry is a bit of a larrikin, all round nice guy, and a bit of an inspiration we might add. He and his wife (Julie) did a trip around Oz like us, and just decided to give wine making a go. Terry and Julie had no official training or wine making qualifications at all, and all the locals thought Terry was a bit of a 'wine cowboy' that would fail and fade away pretty soon. 16 YEARS LATER...and they are doing just fine! Orange Mountain Wines has taken out numerous trophies over the years and last year took out first two places in the Orange Wine Show (Class 6: Dessert Wines - Mountain Ice Viognier, and Mountain Ice Rose). We bought them both!

If you are ever in the area make sure you get a chance to check out both Philip Shaw Wines, and Orange Mountain Wines. You won't be disappointed :)

This is Dom's asian mussel creation (coconut milk, tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, etc). It was a bit of a chilly night, so we devoured these with a nice riesling in the lounge room...we mean....tent! The last pic shows our rubbish bins for the mussel shells...hee hee!

This is the sequence of shots Leonie took of herself whilst waiting for Dom to come out of the supermarket with all the goodies to make dinner (Chilli Basil Pork Stir Fry). You can see her go through all the emotions one goes through (anger, anguish, happiness, laughter, pouting lips, boredom, etc).

The finished product, well finished cooking anyway...and ready to devour. Washed down with Helberg Hill's Tempranillo. Leonie's glass seems to be getting bigger and bigger :)

Leonie sorting out the roof, and the damage to our stuff from recent rain :/

Us having a windy BBQ (in the back of the van) at the local river. Leonie is the most glamorous BBQ-er you could ever hope to see....

We know, we know....how many BBQ's can someone have. We seem to be having them at least 4 times per week. What else to do in the warm summer sun, waiting for the apples to ripen.