A row before breakfast

2pm on Friday and Richard and I sped away from Wellington. This felt much better than working until 6pm and heading home tired at the end of the day. We called in at Greytown, bought bread from the french baker, poicked up a coffee from Salute and off to Masterton. I picked up the landrover from Masterton and Rich followed me to the farm. When we arrived he leet me know, I was billowing smoke and discovered I had driven all the way to the farm with the handbrake partly on. I was wondering what the hot burning smell was! By 4pm we tumbled out of the cottage and into the vines. Rich was away, pruning, tying, pasting. I cut the plastic socks off each plant, untied the twisties wound around and around the canes and tossed them aside. We worked until it was dark, not a breath of wind and quiet. David arrived and we went in for a drink and dinner. Richard named the 2009 vintage, Resurection pinot noir. Watch this space. Next day, up and a coffee and a row before breakfast. I went up to the front rows assessing how many were alive, and discovered that 10 plants out of 70 would flourish. Hmmmm. Not so good. David sprayed the first five rows. This means the grass will cease growing and not compete with the vines. And it will be easier to mow. We gathered at 10.30 and feasted on bacon and eggs and tomatoes and toast, then back out again. Richard finished row 12 and row 13 by mid afternoon and then heading back into Wellington after lunch. Richard had us musing on the relationship with this work and drinking lovely wines, seems an unlikley connection at this point in time. David finished putting the 25mm pipe along the length of the fence, got the hoses working for Penny the cow and our new visitors the 5 Carolines - Jinny's 5 black pregnant cows who are feasting in our front paddock. Sunday saw me weedeating under the front rows of grapes and we have decided to pull out rows 14 - 19 and replant. Phew, big decision.

August holiday

• 10 days here and a big plan. Glenis, our viticulturalist has said August is the month to prune back the grapes. Her consultation including lots of laughs as she cut back branch after branch saying 'you'll have some fun with these". We weren't too sure what she meant. We were to find out! More later. Biiig news is the oak trees arrived on Tuesday, seven five year old english (Querkus Robor) oaks we bought in from Ben at Leaflands in Palmerston North in February to go along the front boundary. They've arrived. Paul next door came down with his tractor to help us get them off the truck and boldly took them to their destination along the front, where Joc had dug the holes months ago. (See 'the earth moved) So exciting! The next few days, David and I rolled these huge trees into their holes which we had watered and flung 3 large fertiliser pills, so they had plenty of nourishment. David shovelled the earth back into these huges holes. Using an enormous mallet, bought especially from the Warehouse, he wacked in three 10 feet high stakes deep into the ground around each tree and set up a watering system so we can water then for an hour each day by timer. Off to Martinborough to buy the tape to anchor the trees. Heavy hard work but they look great. So you'll notice there are things afoot at the entrance way, more than the oaks!! Yes Mike the mason has begun work. David and I had this fantasy to have a great entrance way, stately, even though our cottage is tiny, we like the idea of a great entrance. So the oak trees are all part of that, as is the stone fence. We'd had ideas, and looked at books thinking we might make it (!!!), driven in part by the thousands of stones on the property and that most weekends we end the Sunday but picking up large stones from each of the trees or vines in the property. We are about half way there on that one. ONe of the final tasks most weekend is to load these huge stones up on the landi, or now, onto the trailer Chris and Christina have given us and then truck them up to the front of the property and store them by the front fence. Thinking perhaps the stone fairy might vanish them or some such miracle. We'll we found the stone fairy and its Mike. Mike's been building stone fences all his life and I saw him building one down at Piki and John's on the way here and stopped for a chat. The long and the short of it is its underway. We've worked out we are incapable of having a 'holiday', more like a working holiday. Other things we completed in these 10 days include having Esther do the soil test so we know what to feed the soil, we planted 20 camelias around the spa pools to be a secret garden and shelter belt, neighbour Paul S made David a beautiful work bench for the barn. Perfect. This has caused a flurry of activity and we completely reorganised the barn into a working barn with smoko area, ( I will show you that!), complete with fridge, kettle, cups, and cake tins; gardening area; pruning area; poisons area, mowing area......you get the picture. Looks great. This also means that we will no longer have tools in our little cottage and the centre of our work in the fields is now from the barn. And yes, mid winter, cold mornings and gorgeous days - have alook at this. We just weren't here long enough. And we are udneway with the grape vine pruning - a row before breakfast! Up at 8.00, coffee then into the fields, grappling with the vines. Lots are dead, and lots need much attention, and we are beginning to see what Glenis meant, we can only regard this as fun, as we have no idea if what we are doing will produce new growth.