In all of the jobs that I've had over the years, I've met a few characters. For some reason or another, I always seem to remember 'the good ones' and a few of the bad ones.
Now, owning my own business and working for myself, the people that I meet, and the connections that I make seem a bit more meaningful.
Like, the other day. Josh had a call from an older lady who lives in Bundaberg. She told him that she saw us on the TV (thanks Queensland Weekender!) and that she and her husband would like to come out and visit us for lunch.
Sure enough, a few days ago, she did. We had a bit of a chat while she was ordering. She kept apologizing for taking so long to get the money out of her wallet - with her arthritis, it made it hard for her fingers to do what she wanted. Her husband had a fall in November last year, and the surgeon botched the job (so he told me), and clanged around with his walking frame.
It became really apparent that they had made such a huge effort just to come out and visit our little winery.
After I bought them out their lunch, I went to top up their water and asked if everything was ok. With a big grin, the lady said that it was the best cheese board they had. "Even better than the one we had in New South Wales!" the husband chimed in.
We had a bit more of a chat. She told me what they were doing for Christmas. She asked if she could take some brochures to tell her friends. While she was looking around the shop, her husband went on a rant about the Chinese buying up all the farm land in Australia.
Before she left, she told me that they don't get out often, but they have had the most wonderful day. She thanked me for being so patient with her, and for the lovely lunch. Then she asked if she could give me a hug before she left.
Sometimes you just have to stop and appreciate that owning a winery isn't always about making wine.
Friday, 18 December 2015
Friday, 11 December 2015
Same old, same old
I feel like I don't have anything to write about. Everything on the farm has just been ticking along without too much drama.
We've had lots of group bookings lately, leading up to Christmas. We accidentally triple booked ourselves one day (41 for morning tea, 37 for lunch, 24 for dinner - whoops!).
We've partnered with a florist in Bundaberg, who has purchased $150 worth of my jams to use in her gift hampers. (Good and bad - good that our goodies are spreading a little further, bad that I need to make a heap more to re-stock!)
We've bought some new winemaking equipment (Josh assures me that that's all he needs for a while now!)
We've made some new products. Firstly, a honey liqueur. We thought it was pretty awesome, but it's received some mixed reviews - "It tastes like alcoholic honey. I don't really like honey." Secondly, a black sapote port. (Black sapote is a mexican fruit, also known as a 'Chocolate Pudding fruit'. Doesn't really taste like chocolate pudding to me, but it goes ok as a port!).
We thought the pump for our irrigation was broken. Firstly, it kept shorting out the power. We fixed that, but now it keeps losing pressure. Josh reckons he's fixed that too now.
So, I guess what this all means is that I have finally settled into farm life! Everything just keeps on keeping on and it all just seems normal now!
We've had lots of group bookings lately, leading up to Christmas. We accidentally triple booked ourselves one day (41 for morning tea, 37 for lunch, 24 for dinner - whoops!).
We've partnered with a florist in Bundaberg, who has purchased $150 worth of my jams to use in her gift hampers. (Good and bad - good that our goodies are spreading a little further, bad that I need to make a heap more to re-stock!)
We've bought some new winemaking equipment (Josh assures me that that's all he needs for a while now!)
We've made some new products. Firstly, a honey liqueur. We thought it was pretty awesome, but it's received some mixed reviews - "It tastes like alcoholic honey. I don't really like honey." Secondly, a black sapote port. (Black sapote is a mexican fruit, also known as a 'Chocolate Pudding fruit'. Doesn't really taste like chocolate pudding to me, but it goes ok as a port!).
We thought the pump for our irrigation was broken. Firstly, it kept shorting out the power. We fixed that, but now it keeps losing pressure. Josh reckons he's fixed that too now.
So, I guess what this all means is that I have finally settled into farm life! Everything just keeps on keeping on and it all just seems normal now!
Friday, 27 November 2015
Renovations
Yesterday, Josh declared that he was going to build another addition to our deck.
"You know those frames the wine barrels sit on? If I turn one of those upside down and put the spiky end on the ground, I reckon a pallet would fit nicely on the frame part and we'd have another bit of decking."
"Yeah, right." I scoffed.
"Nah, seriously! I'm going to take a pallet to the junk pile to test it. If it fits, come and help me lift the frame onto the ute. If it doesn't, I'll just leave the pallet there."
Ten minutes later, I was begrudgingly hoisting a metal frame onto the back of the ute.
Just as I reclined back onto the couch in the airconditioned donga, the door bell rang. (Josh and I have been "working from home" this week. We've had the aircon in the donga cranking while it's been SO HOT, and if we have any customers, they ring a bell outside the winery cellar door and we go to meet them.)
As I left to see who it was, Josh had his tool box and an assortment of screws, pallets and plastic sheeting.
20 minutes later when I was done - so was he!
I must admit, I was very skeptical when he first came up with this plan - but now we have double the deck space! It may not be the fanciest decking going around, but I love it!
"You know those frames the wine barrels sit on? If I turn one of those upside down and put the spiky end on the ground, I reckon a pallet would fit nicely on the frame part and we'd have another bit of decking."
"Yeah, right." I scoffed.
"Nah, seriously! I'm going to take a pallet to the junk pile to test it. If it fits, come and help me lift the frame onto the ute. If it doesn't, I'll just leave the pallet there."
Ten minutes later, I was begrudgingly hoisting a metal frame onto the back of the ute.
Just as I reclined back onto the couch in the airconditioned donga, the door bell rang. (Josh and I have been "working from home" this week. We've had the aircon in the donga cranking while it's been SO HOT, and if we have any customers, they ring a bell outside the winery cellar door and we go to meet them.)
As I left to see who it was, Josh had his tool box and an assortment of screws, pallets and plastic sheeting.
20 minutes later when I was done - so was he!
I must admit, I was very skeptical when he first came up with this plan - but now we have double the deck space! It may not be the fanciest decking going around, but I love it!
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| Junkyard chic |
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| Enjoying a drink on the deck |
Friday, 6 November 2015
Holidays!
After working for 205 days straight (no weekends off, no days off, nothing!) Josh and I took a few days to have a break. Josh's mum manned the cellar door, while Josh and I went to Tamborine Mountain for one night, then Ballandean for two more.
Tamborine Mountain is about five hours south of Childers, and (if you couldn't guess) is up a mountain. We drove up a twisty, windy road through the jungly rainforest to arrive at a cute little town perched up the hill. Since we were only there for one night, we packed in as much as we could - visiting five wineries, a brewery and a distillery. We even visited a winery who had their own glow worm cave! (Yep.). A man-made cave filled with ten thousand or so teeny tiny glow worms. They were a lot smaller than I was expecting. Aaaand we also snuck in a visit to a cheese shop and fudge shop for me.
We stayed in this cute old manor house and had THE BEST fried potato skins at the Irish pub with no beer (on tap that night).
The next morning, we ventured back down the mountain and through a bunch of funnily named towns (stopping for a bacon and egg sambo), and through THE GREAT DIVIDING RANGE(!!!) to the Granite Belt. (The Granite Belt is QLD's equivalent of Margaret River).
Josh had a list as long as his arm of all the wineries he wanted to visit, so we did our best to tick as many off as possible that day. Despite a few being closed, we managed to visit half a dozen or so. Being a Tuesday, there wasn't a whole lot open and we ended up at the pub for dinner (yet again).
Wednesday, our last full day on holiday, was pretty similar - driving around in the rain looking for places that were open. We ended up at The Barrel Room for lunch (YUM!) and our at Pyramid Roads winery for tastings and a chat with the owner (awesome!).
Finishing off our night with cheese and bikkies for dinner, we got an early night ahead of our epic drive home the next day.
The six-ish hour drive home was pretty uneventful. We stopped in Crows Nest for a bacon and egg sambo, and rolled back into Childers just after lunch.
While it was so lovely having a few days off, all the driving around meant we didn't really feel rested or refreshed. I think next time we're just going to drive two hours to the Sunshine Coast and veg out on the beach instead!
Tamborine Mountain is about five hours south of Childers, and (if you couldn't guess) is up a mountain. We drove up a twisty, windy road through the jungly rainforest to arrive at a cute little town perched up the hill. Since we were only there for one night, we packed in as much as we could - visiting five wineries, a brewery and a distillery. We even visited a winery who had their own glow worm cave! (Yep.). A man-made cave filled with ten thousand or so teeny tiny glow worms. They were a lot smaller than I was expecting. Aaaand we also snuck in a visit to a cheese shop and fudge shop for me.
We stayed in this cute old manor house and had THE BEST fried potato skins at the Irish pub with no beer (on tap that night).
The next morning, we ventured back down the mountain and through a bunch of funnily named towns (stopping for a bacon and egg sambo), and through THE GREAT DIVIDING RANGE(!!!) to the Granite Belt. (The Granite Belt is QLD's equivalent of Margaret River).
Josh had a list as long as his arm of all the wineries he wanted to visit, so we did our best to tick as many off as possible that day. Despite a few being closed, we managed to visit half a dozen or so. Being a Tuesday, there wasn't a whole lot open and we ended up at the pub for dinner (yet again).
Wednesday, our last full day on holiday, was pretty similar - driving around in the rain looking for places that were open. We ended up at The Barrel Room for lunch (YUM!) and our at Pyramid Roads winery for tastings and a chat with the owner (awesome!).
Finishing off our night with cheese and bikkies for dinner, we got an early night ahead of our epic drive home the next day.
The six-ish hour drive home was pretty uneventful. We stopped in Crows Nest for a bacon and egg sambo, and rolled back into Childers just after lunch.
While it was so lovely having a few days off, all the driving around meant we didn't really feel rested or refreshed. I think next time we're just going to drive two hours to the Sunshine Coast and veg out on the beach instead!
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| Waiting for our Glow Worm cave tour to start |
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| Josh, hard at work |
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| Our cute little room at the manor! |
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| A castle! Filled with liqueurs! |
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| The massive storm that ripped through Childers while we were away. Luckily, all our trees were fine, however just north of Childers a little town called Cordalba got smashed. Macadamia trees and cane fields were flattened and a few sheds were damaged. I'm not looking forward to the rest of storm season! |
Saturday, 24 October 2015
When life gives you...grumichamas
We have two grumichama trees here at Ohana. One tree had a bunch of ripe fruit and the other is loaded with baby green fruit starting to come through.
I had the brilliant idea to pick the seemingly bountiful supply of ripe grummies to make a jam. Five minutes later, it became apparent that there was never going to be enough for jam....but definitely enough for a delicious grumichama sauce!
I boiled up the fruit with a little water, mashed it with a potato masher, strained it through a sieve and back into the saucepan with a handful of sugar. 15 minutes later it had bubbled down into a delicious, fruit, cherry/berry flavoured syrup.
We enjoyed it served over frozen, store-bought vanilla cheesecake - and it was still amaze-balls!
I had the brilliant idea to pick the seemingly bountiful supply of ripe grummies to make a jam. Five minutes later, it became apparent that there was never going to be enough for jam....but definitely enough for a delicious grumichama sauce!
I boiled up the fruit with a little water, mashed it with a potato masher, strained it through a sieve and back into the saucepan with a handful of sugar. 15 minutes later it had bubbled down into a delicious, fruit, cherry/berry flavoured syrup.
We enjoyed it served over frozen, store-bought vanilla cheesecake - and it was still amaze-balls!
Friday, 23 October 2015
Totes famous
Woohoo! Our teensy snippet on Queensland Weekender is finally up on the internet.
If you'd like to see it, the link is: https://au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/queensland-weekender/-/watch/29832329/7two_1016_7qw-601/.
Feel free to watch the whole thing, or skip to the best bit, starting at about 12:50.
If you'd like to see it, the link is: https://au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/queensland-weekender/-/watch/29832329/7two_1016_7qw-601/.
Feel free to watch the whole thing, or skip to the best bit, starting at about 12:50.
Friday, 16 October 2015
In the nick of time
I've said it a few times now, but Josh and I are just so lucky.
We always seem to land on our feet, or meet the right people, or pull a rabbit out of our hat at just the right moment.
Like that time we'd only been operating for a few months and Queensland Weekender called, asking to film out at our winery. We've had SO many people visit and mention they'd seen us on TV, I'm surprised how many people not only watch the show, but actually go out of their way to visit the featured places too.
Or like that time one of Josh's drinking buddies is also a volunteer firefighter with the local fire brigade, and bought the truck down to help us burn off piles of uprooted trees.
Or like yesterday - when we'd just finished off our new indoor, under cover, out of the rain seating/cafe area...before a group of 30 came for lunch, and it was BUCKETING down!
It has always been in the back of our minds that we needed somewhere for people to sit that's out of the weather - especially when summer arrives and unpredictable storms can roll in out of nowhere.
After toying with a few options, we decided that our best (ie. cheapest and quickest) option would be to move all of the junk out of our "toad shed" (actually an insulated cool room) and into the "snake shed", then move all of the winemaking equipment out of the brick cellar and into the cool room, then use the cellar as the new under covered area. This new area has a toilet, easy access to the kitchen and is surprisingly large - so it's kind of perfect (despite an average view). It still needs a bit of prettying up, but it works.
After a manic few days, we'd managed to clean it up and get it all set up, just in time. While the weather radar said it would only be a 10% chance of any showers, we decided that we'd might as well use the new area anyway...wise move! About half an hour before they were due to arrive, the skies turned dark and the rain started.
Usually Josh takes half the group to do a wine tasting with, and I'd take the other half for a guided walk around our orchard and then we would switch, then we all come back for lunch. Yesterday though, Josh and I scrambled around to pick as much fruit as we could as soon as it started sprinkling and I did an indoor fruit tasting session while he did the wine tasting in his new cellar. Not quite as fun, but definitely better than getting rained on.
One small hiccup in our plan though - despite Josh's absolute best efforts, there is still a bit of a leak in the cool room. We've spent a small fortune, and he's spent many hours waterproofing the roof and all the seals, however it was no match for yesterdays torrential downpour. There isn't water pouring in, but there is still enough sneaking in somewhere and forming a little (well, kind of big) pool along one wall. I guess I know what this weekend's fun job will be...
We always seem to land on our feet, or meet the right people, or pull a rabbit out of our hat at just the right moment.
Like that time we'd only been operating for a few months and Queensland Weekender called, asking to film out at our winery. We've had SO many people visit and mention they'd seen us on TV, I'm surprised how many people not only watch the show, but actually go out of their way to visit the featured places too.
Or like that time one of Josh's drinking buddies is also a volunteer firefighter with the local fire brigade, and bought the truck down to help us burn off piles of uprooted trees.
Or like yesterday - when we'd just finished off our new indoor, under cover, out of the rain seating/cafe area...before a group of 30 came for lunch, and it was BUCKETING down!
It has always been in the back of our minds that we needed somewhere for people to sit that's out of the weather - especially when summer arrives and unpredictable storms can roll in out of nowhere.
After toying with a few options, we decided that our best (ie. cheapest and quickest) option would be to move all of the junk out of our "toad shed" (actually an insulated cool room) and into the "snake shed", then move all of the winemaking equipment out of the brick cellar and into the cool room, then use the cellar as the new under covered area. This new area has a toilet, easy access to the kitchen and is surprisingly large - so it's kind of perfect (despite an average view). It still needs a bit of prettying up, but it works.
After a manic few days, we'd managed to clean it up and get it all set up, just in time. While the weather radar said it would only be a 10% chance of any showers, we decided that we'd might as well use the new area anyway...wise move! About half an hour before they were due to arrive, the skies turned dark and the rain started.
Usually Josh takes half the group to do a wine tasting with, and I'd take the other half for a guided walk around our orchard and then we would switch, then we all come back for lunch. Yesterday though, Josh and I scrambled around to pick as much fruit as we could as soon as it started sprinkling and I did an indoor fruit tasting session while he did the wine tasting in his new cellar. Not quite as fun, but definitely better than getting rained on.
One small hiccup in our plan though - despite Josh's absolute best efforts, there is still a bit of a leak in the cool room. We've spent a small fortune, and he's spent many hours waterproofing the roof and all the seals, however it was no match for yesterdays torrential downpour. There isn't water pouring in, but there is still enough sneaking in somewhere and forming a little (well, kind of big) pool along one wall. I guess I know what this weekend's fun job will be...
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| The new cellar! Needs a floor paint and some pictures, but we'll get there. |
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| Josh's handcrafted wine barrel bar! (Isn't he clever?) |
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| The bar, but with a freshly painted wall instead of the hideous pink. (Brand new toilet through that door too) |
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| The dark clouds starting to form (plus the view from the new seating area) |
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| The new seating area, sort of set up. Needs tablecloths and some artwork. |
Friday, 18 September 2015
A trip to the emergency room
It's been a pretty crazy week here at Ohana.
Firstly, we somehow managed to break the tractor. It conked out right down the back of the farm, and Josh had to tow it with the ute (and me steering the tractor) back to the shed. He drove way too fast and the tractor was being towed backwards, so I'm surprised we made it back in one piece. We aren't exactly sure what has happened, but Geoff assures us that it's nothing too bad and is definitely fixable. He's got it working again for now, and will fix it properly in a few weeks once we've done all our urgent jobs.
Secondly, Josh has been feeling pretty unwell this last week, with a really tender tummy and pain when you poke around. After a quick Google, we thought it may be his appendix - so I took him to the Childers Hospital on Tuesday night.
The doctor there poked around, made him jump up and down, took his blood pressure etc. and decided that he was "too fit and healthy" to have anything wrong with him. He prescribed some Panadol and said to go to Bundaberg if it got worse overnight, otherwise get some blood tests and a CT scan the next day.
Wednesday morning, Josh had all his tests done and waited around for his results that afternoon. In the meantime I went to Bundaberg to run a few errands, with strict instructions to be home by 4pm, so Josh could take my car to the doctors, instead of his bumpy ute.
By 4:30pm, I was on my way back to Bundaberg. The scans showed up appendicitis and Josh needed surgery. We arrived at the emergency room with a copy of his results and he ushered into a bed.
The nurses asked him all the same questions, took more blood, poked around some more and then we waited for the doctor.
The doctor asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the surgeon.
The surgeon asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the verdict.
The surgeon wasn't 100% convinced that he was sick - he was too fit and healthy. He wasn't doubled over in pain, he could still move around freely, it only really hurt when poked in the appendix spot...and yet the CT scan showed up appendicitis. The surgeon said that while he wasn't 100% convinced, Josh couldn't go home and they'd operate anyway.
The next morning, Josh went into surgery and despite the dodgy scan, no "typical" symptoms, no hints in his bloodwork, he did indeed have appendicitis. The surgery went well and aside from a sore belly, he's fine. He's scheduled to come home sometime today.
In the midst of all this, we also had a group of 46 booked in for lunch, wine tasting and orchard tour...terrible timing. I had called the bus driver to explain the situation and he was totally fine with it and said he'd help me out as much as he could. Despite the unusual circumstance, the tour group were absolutely fine with it and had a really great time. They loved their lunch and enjoyed the tastings and tours, even though it took a little longer and the group was a little larger than what we usually do. It was a massive effort for Josh's mum and I to do by ourselves, but we pulled it off.
All in all, a ridiculous week at Ohana.
Firstly, we somehow managed to break the tractor. It conked out right down the back of the farm, and Josh had to tow it with the ute (and me steering the tractor) back to the shed. He drove way too fast and the tractor was being towed backwards, so I'm surprised we made it back in one piece. We aren't exactly sure what has happened, but Geoff assures us that it's nothing too bad and is definitely fixable. He's got it working again for now, and will fix it properly in a few weeks once we've done all our urgent jobs.
Secondly, Josh has been feeling pretty unwell this last week, with a really tender tummy and pain when you poke around. After a quick Google, we thought it may be his appendix - so I took him to the Childers Hospital on Tuesday night.
The doctor there poked around, made him jump up and down, took his blood pressure etc. and decided that he was "too fit and healthy" to have anything wrong with him. He prescribed some Panadol and said to go to Bundaberg if it got worse overnight, otherwise get some blood tests and a CT scan the next day.
Wednesday morning, Josh had all his tests done and waited around for his results that afternoon. In the meantime I went to Bundaberg to run a few errands, with strict instructions to be home by 4pm, so Josh could take my car to the doctors, instead of his bumpy ute.
By 4:30pm, I was on my way back to Bundaberg. The scans showed up appendicitis and Josh needed surgery. We arrived at the emergency room with a copy of his results and he ushered into a bed.
The nurses asked him all the same questions, took more blood, poked around some more and then we waited for the doctor.
The doctor asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the surgeon.
The surgeon asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the verdict.
The surgeon wasn't 100% convinced that he was sick - he was too fit and healthy. He wasn't doubled over in pain, he could still move around freely, it only really hurt when poked in the appendix spot...and yet the CT scan showed up appendicitis. The surgeon said that while he wasn't 100% convinced, Josh couldn't go home and they'd operate anyway.
The next morning, Josh went into surgery and despite the dodgy scan, no "typical" symptoms, no hints in his bloodwork, he did indeed have appendicitis. The surgery went well and aside from a sore belly, he's fine. He's scheduled to come home sometime today.
In the midst of all this, we also had a group of 46 booked in for lunch, wine tasting and orchard tour...terrible timing. I had called the bus driver to explain the situation and he was totally fine with it and said he'd help me out as much as he could. Despite the unusual circumstance, the tour group were absolutely fine with it and had a really great time. They loved their lunch and enjoyed the tastings and tours, even though it took a little longer and the group was a little larger than what we usually do. It was a massive effort for Josh's mum and I to do by ourselves, but we pulled it off.
All in all, a ridiculous week at Ohana.
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| Our tour group happily posed for a picture to send to Josh |
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| Poor Joshy :( |
Monday, 14 September 2015
Bundy Flavours
Yesterday Josh and I went to the Bundy Flavours, held by the river in Bundaberg.
We had a strange little spot, tucked away near the tasting test and the sausage man (easy access for Breakfast). It wasn't the best spot on the day, but it was ok. The weather, however, was a nightmare! From about 9am (when the festival opened) til at least 1pm (two hours before it finished) the weather was switching between being windy and bitterly cold, to raining and windy, to 'hold onto the tent, I think it's about to blow away' windy.
It wasn't ideal.
Weather aside, the festival was ok and we sold a few bottles. Nothing major and nothing as good as some of the other festivals we've attended, but we covered our costs. Josh's mum held the fort back at the cellar door and sold nearly as much as us!
I did get to meet Matt Golinski and Alastair McLeod though, and that was pretty cool. Matt said he'd heard our interview on the radio (yep - it went State-wide!) and said he was hoping we'd be at the festival, because he wanted to meet us. He was telling Alastair all about our farm and even about some of the fruits we grow!
And Josh got to catch up with a few old friends and meet Bert, the brew master of Baffle Creek beer (his new favourite brew).
All in all, not a complete waste of a Sunday.
We had a strange little spot, tucked away near the tasting test and the sausage man (easy access for Breakfast). It wasn't the best spot on the day, but it was ok. The weather, however, was a nightmare! From about 9am (when the festival opened) til at least 1pm (two hours before it finished) the weather was switching between being windy and bitterly cold, to raining and windy, to 'hold onto the tent, I think it's about to blow away' windy.
It wasn't ideal.
Weather aside, the festival was ok and we sold a few bottles. Nothing major and nothing as good as some of the other festivals we've attended, but we covered our costs. Josh's mum held the fort back at the cellar door and sold nearly as much as us!
I did get to meet Matt Golinski and Alastair McLeod though, and that was pretty cool. Matt said he'd heard our interview on the radio (yep - it went State-wide!) and said he was hoping we'd be at the festival, because he wanted to meet us. He was telling Alastair all about our farm and even about some of the fruits we grow!
And Josh got to catch up with a few old friends and meet Bert, the brew master of Baffle Creek beer (his new favourite brew).
All in all, not a complete waste of a Sunday.
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| Me with Alastair McLeod and Matt Golinski |
Thursday, 10 September 2015
New Toys!
Once in a while, something pretty awesome happens.
For us, it was working "full time real jobs" for six months, and then not earning a cent for the next six months. This means we paid "full time real job" tax for six months, and then nothing since then - meaning we're due for a colossal tax refund!
Between us, we collected a little over $9000 (minus the accountants exorbitant fees :( ) ...aaaaand we've already spent it. All on the business, of course, but still, we have new toys!
1) A new tractor!
Our old beast of a tractor - with no doors, leaking oil, smashed windows etc - has finally conked it for good. After scouring Gumtree, we found a pretty good deal on a tractor in the next town. The owner is moving interstate and has slowly been reducing the price from over $25k to the measly amount we bought it for. Naturally, I don't know too much about tractors - but it's red, comes with a bunch of attachments and Geoff reckons its good, so that's good enough for me!
2) Grapes!
What's a winery without grapes!? For now, we have been sourcing our grapes from the Stanthorpe region (further south, in Queensland) where it's a little colder and there are a lot of vineyards. We've been slowly preparing to plant some vines ourselves, by removing about 100 finger lime trees (and having that epic burn off). With the new tractor, Josh will be able to turn over the ground and dig the holes for the support trusses. In a few weeks our new grafted tempranillo vines will be here! Tempranillo is a Spanish variety of red grape which doesn't mind the warmer climate. It ripens early, meaning we can hopefully harvest before the summer rains come. Our gorgeous red volcanic soil isn't ideal for wine grapes (the fruit will likely grow rapidly and produce big, plump fruit full of seeds - but not a lot of dense flavour for winemaking). BUT - tempranillo is the best chance we've got! It'll be a great learning opportunity for us, and it'll be awesome to have our own vines.
3) Fruit Trees!
Daley's fruit tree nursery are having a sale on their spring plants - and we indulged a little. We've purchased a nice selection of trees to add to our exotic fruit orchard. We have about 10 new tropical fruit trees (mangosteens, coffee, lychees, miracle fruit and a few more I can't remember!) that we'll plant alongside our current fruit trees. We are really interested in building our fruit orchard (and orchard tours) side of our business - people love looking around the trees and it's a great activity for groups who visit, who aren't necessarily interested in wine tasting.
In other news
For us, it was working "full time real jobs" for six months, and then not earning a cent for the next six months. This means we paid "full time real job" tax for six months, and then nothing since then - meaning we're due for a colossal tax refund!
Between us, we collected a little over $9000 (minus the accountants exorbitant fees :( ) ...aaaaand we've already spent it. All on the business, of course, but still, we have new toys!
1) A new tractor!
Our old beast of a tractor - with no doors, leaking oil, smashed windows etc - has finally conked it for good. After scouring Gumtree, we found a pretty good deal on a tractor in the next town. The owner is moving interstate and has slowly been reducing the price from over $25k to the measly amount we bought it for. Naturally, I don't know too much about tractors - but it's red, comes with a bunch of attachments and Geoff reckons its good, so that's good enough for me!
2) Grapes!
What's a winery without grapes!? For now, we have been sourcing our grapes from the Stanthorpe region (further south, in Queensland) where it's a little colder and there are a lot of vineyards. We've been slowly preparing to plant some vines ourselves, by removing about 100 finger lime trees (and having that epic burn off). With the new tractor, Josh will be able to turn over the ground and dig the holes for the support trusses. In a few weeks our new grafted tempranillo vines will be here! Tempranillo is a Spanish variety of red grape which doesn't mind the warmer climate. It ripens early, meaning we can hopefully harvest before the summer rains come. Our gorgeous red volcanic soil isn't ideal for wine grapes (the fruit will likely grow rapidly and produce big, plump fruit full of seeds - but not a lot of dense flavour for winemaking). BUT - tempranillo is the best chance we've got! It'll be a great learning opportunity for us, and it'll be awesome to have our own vines.
3) Fruit Trees!
Daley's fruit tree nursery are having a sale on their spring plants - and we indulged a little. We've purchased a nice selection of trees to add to our exotic fruit orchard. We have about 10 new tropical fruit trees (mangosteens, coffee, lychees, miracle fruit and a few more I can't remember!) that we'll plant alongside our current fruit trees. We are really interested in building our fruit orchard (and orchard tours) side of our business - people love looking around the trees and it's a great activity for groups who visit, who aren't necessarily interested in wine tasting.
In other news
- I think I might have got my first QLD speeding ticket (still waiting for the bad news in the mail)
- Josh and I finally got our QLD drivers licences (still waiting for them in the mail too!)
- I hit my second kangaroo in Betsy (Bets and I are fine - not sure about the roo, but I think he's ok too, it was just a bump)
- I went to Rockhampton for a work conference. I was up there for three days, learnin' stuff and meeting people. I didn't get to see much while I was up there, it would have been great if I could have visited Yeppoon and a few other tourist towns while I was up there, but hey, no such luck. I got to stay in a really nice hotel on the Bruce Highway though, where my bedroom wall backed onto the 24 hour Maccas drive thru.
- We're going to the Bundy Flavours festival on Sunday. I love festival days!
- We have more jaboticaba fruit ripe - here we go again!
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| Josh and his new toy! |
Friday, 28 August 2015
Radio stars
“It’s very brave and exciting, what you did,
Love!”
“Excuse me?”
“Packing up everything and starting a winery!”
“Oh, thank you. Yes, I suppose it is.”
“I heard all about it on the radio this
morning!”
And that’s how I learned that we were radio
stars! Apparently our interview (recorded about a month ago, one afternoon at
the winery) was played at 6:15am on the local ABC radio ‘Country Hour’ on
Monday morning.
Josh
and I have been spectacularly lucky these last six months. It could be because
we work hard, have met some incredibly helpful people and have a clear vision
of what we want to achieve. If you ask Von, it could be because we are both 8’s
and dragons. Or it could just be the universe repaying us some good vibes for
taking such a huge risk. Whatever it is, I’m pretty stoked with what’s been
happening lately.
We’ve
managed to snag a small snippet on Queensland Weekender (tentative air date 26th September!) and have had a few newspaper articles
written about us. The most recent is an online article for ABC Wide Bay (http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/08/20/4296903.htm)
and then later the radio interview. We’ve built up a bit of a following on
social media (www.facebook.com/ohanawinery -
like us if you haven’t already!)
I
can honestly say that I love little old Childers. Perth was great, obviously,
and all my friends and family are there and I LOVED my job, but moving to
Childers has been a surprisingly easy transition for me. I love going down the
street and knowing the names of the local butchers, the girls at the post
office and the bank. I always keep an eye out for BK (the guy who did some
bobcat work at our place) leaning up against the window at the pub. There are a
few local ‘oldies’ who we’ve met who like to call by for a chat every now and
again. Childers has just been so welcoming and supportive – and we’ve already
met a ton of people that we can pull favours from!
One
of Josh’s drinking buddies is also a volunteer firefighter, and bought the
Childers Rural Fire Brigade truck out to our place last week to help with a BIG
burn off. Within about an hour we had cleared up a heap of green waste…and we didn’t
even set fire to the cane farm next door! It was a pretty epic fire. We even
had some “concerned passers-by” (American backpackers) stop off to check that
it was all ok!
We’re
also planning to build a semi-permanent roof/rain proofing in our outdoor
seating area. I want something new, shiny and preferably made out of
colourbond. Josh and another drinking buddy reckon they’re going to rig
something up out of an enormous tarp. (If it’s a tarp, its not considered
permanent, therefore doesn’t require council approval). The next decision is
whether we do it over our existing café area…or move the big junky cool-room
(affectionately known as “the toad shed”, as opposed to the garden shed “the snake
shed”) and create a new seating area. The toad shed is on a concrete slab and
overlooks the orchard, so it would make an awesome seating area…..but it’s just
SO much more effort!
And a new under-covered seating area will come in so handy,
if our next big trick pays off. I can’t reveal anything just yet (I don’t want
to jinx us!) but we have something very exciting in the works.
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| The massive fire |
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| Otto, with his avocado "ball" |
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| Kooky Booky, my bestie who comes to visit every arvo :) |
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
My new friend!
I've made a new friend - the closest thing to a pet that Josh'll let me have. His name is Kooky Booky, and he's a local kookaburra.
We've seen him around all the time for weeks, but for the past few days he's come to visit right up close to the house, on a madly pruned feijoa tree. He's loving the bare branches (great for perching) and freshly toiled dirt (perfect for worm hunting).
I've just started feeding him a teensy bit of sliced up steak the last few afternoons, and now he's cautiously pecking it out of my hand. He still freaks out a bit at sudden movements, but he's pretty chilled out (despite Josh and Maher whacking golf balls towards him the other day).
We've seen him around all the time for weeks, but for the past few days he's come to visit right up close to the house, on a madly pruned feijoa tree. He's loving the bare branches (great for perching) and freshly toiled dirt (perfect for worm hunting).
I've just started feeding him a teensy bit of sliced up steak the last few afternoons, and now he's cautiously pecking it out of my hand. He still freaks out a bit at sudden movements, but he's pretty chilled out (despite Josh and Maher whacking golf balls towards him the other day).
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Jackfruit!
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| Our jackfruit babies are getting huuuuuuuuuge! (Still a month or two away from being ripe though...) |
Friday, 24 July 2015
A weekend in Queensland
Today, we had the team from Queensland Weekender (a QLD based show, like Postcards WA) here to film a segment at Ohana Winery!!!
It was such an incredible opportunity and an absolute privilege to have Dean, Sarah and Aaron here to share some stories, fruit and booze with.
We called in a few favours and pulled an impressive 'rent-a-crowd' to be in the background of the shots, and did our best to showcase our winery. We also did an epic clean up and re-organise of our wine cellar. It looks incredible in there now, and we're about to launch our 'tour package' to take guests through the cellar to learn about the winemaking process, then through the orchard to look at the trees and then back to the cellar for some tastings. By having a 'trade ready' product, it means we're ready to start selling ourselves to tour companies and can have some larger groups come through.
Todays adventure started with Aaron the cameraman taking some shots around the place, and then a few takes of "ok, bring the coffee out and put it down on the table...ok, great. Now take it away and do it again, but at this angle instead. Awesome. Now, same again, but use your other hand....perrrrfect".
We then moved out the back into the cellar to give Dean, the host, a sample of our tawny port straight from the barrel. We had some casual banter, and he gave us a great sell - raving about how great our port was!
We were then filmed picking some carambola, and using our crusher to show the start of the winemaking process. Next, we showed the gang around the fruit trees, and with some creative camera angles made it look like we still had heaps of jaboticaba fruit.
All up, the guys were here for nearly three hours, and they seemed pretty impressed with our set up.
It's pretty incredible to think that we've only been here for a few months and have already received so much free publicity! We've been in the regional newspaper a few times, and now national tv - it's pretty ridiculous! Sarah, the producer, thinks the show will go to air in September sometime in Queensland, and then national a week later. I'm so excited - I'll definitely let you all know when to tune in!
We've also just found out that a new boat charter from Bundaberg to Lady Musgrave Island (on the Southern Great Barrier Reef) will be stocking our wine and liqueurs as part of their 'premium tour' service! I'm not too sure what we've done to deserve all this good luck and great news, but I'm incredibly grateful. It gives me a bit of hope that we've actually made a good decision moving here and we might actually make a bit of money one day...!!
It was such an incredible opportunity and an absolute privilege to have Dean, Sarah and Aaron here to share some stories, fruit and booze with.
We called in a few favours and pulled an impressive 'rent-a-crowd' to be in the background of the shots, and did our best to showcase our winery. We also did an epic clean up and re-organise of our wine cellar. It looks incredible in there now, and we're about to launch our 'tour package' to take guests through the cellar to learn about the winemaking process, then through the orchard to look at the trees and then back to the cellar for some tastings. By having a 'trade ready' product, it means we're ready to start selling ourselves to tour companies and can have some larger groups come through.
Todays adventure started with Aaron the cameraman taking some shots around the place, and then a few takes of "ok, bring the coffee out and put it down on the table...ok, great. Now take it away and do it again, but at this angle instead. Awesome. Now, same again, but use your other hand....perrrrfect".
We then moved out the back into the cellar to give Dean, the host, a sample of our tawny port straight from the barrel. We had some casual banter, and he gave us a great sell - raving about how great our port was!
We were then filmed picking some carambola, and using our crusher to show the start of the winemaking process. Next, we showed the gang around the fruit trees, and with some creative camera angles made it look like we still had heaps of jaboticaba fruit.
All up, the guys were here for nearly three hours, and they seemed pretty impressed with our set up.
It's pretty incredible to think that we've only been here for a few months and have already received so much free publicity! We've been in the regional newspaper a few times, and now national tv - it's pretty ridiculous! Sarah, the producer, thinks the show will go to air in September sometime in Queensland, and then national a week later. I'm so excited - I'll definitely let you all know when to tune in!
We've also just found out that a new boat charter from Bundaberg to Lady Musgrave Island (on the Southern Great Barrier Reef) will be stocking our wine and liqueurs as part of their 'premium tour' service! I'm not too sure what we've done to deserve all this good luck and great news, but I'm incredibly grateful. It gives me a bit of hope that we've actually made a good decision moving here and we might actually make a bit of money one day...!!
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| Josh is thrilled with his cool new purple shirt |
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| Josh heading back to the shed with Sarah and Dean |
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| A close up of Dean sampling a jaboticaba fruit. "Wait. How do I say this again?" |
Monday, 20 July 2015
Life at Ohana
Josh is down town at the moment, so I've decided to take a few minutes to fill you all in on life at Ohana.
We've attended yet another market - this time was a one-off farmers market in Bundaberg. We were fully expecting it to be quiet (who wants to drink Port at 7am!?)....but we were blown away! (It is Bundaberg, after all!). By 8am I had nearly ran out of port and called up Josh to make an emergency dash in with more supplies. It was a great day and an awesome opportunity to meet with some like-minded producers and a captive audience.
Josh and I are about to become television celebrities! The TV show 'Queensland Weekender' is going to film a small piece on the wineries in Childers, and we are going to be profiled! They will be out here this week to film, so check back for some more updates on how that goes!
While Mum was here, we started our own miniature jam factory. We made 120 jars of Spiced Jaboticaba and Port jam, 15 jars of Dragonfruit Jam, 20 jars of Apple and Lemon Myrtle jam, 20 jars of Jaboticaba Jelly and I have some Mandarin and Kumquat Marmalade on the stove right now. We are gearing up for...
The Childers Festival! Once a year, the Bruce Highway (which runs from Brisbane to Cairns!) gets closed off in Childers and there is a big street party. Anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000 people (the number varies, depending on who you talk to!) descend on Childers for a big party. There will be market stalls (of which we will have one), food vans, music stages and all kinds of events over the weekend. I'm pretty excited to see how it goes...and hopefully we can sell some booze!
In other surprising news...I'm gainfully employed once again! There was a position advertised at CQUniversity in Bundaberg, for a part-time (one day per week) Administration Officer. I decided to apply and I got it! I start next week and I'm looking forward to the new challenge. It might be hard to juggle Ohana with the University, but it's only one day a week and a contract til the end of the year - so it's worth giving it a try. I'm looking forward to being back in a university community again...although I seriously doubt it'll be a great as my ECU/WAAPA family back home!
We had a pretty busy day yesterday. We had 9 booked in for lunch, and then a few other regulars showed up as well. We ended up serving 17 for lunch (surprise!) and sold some wines and liqueurs too. It's always nice to have busy days to counteract those quiet ones - but on the whole business has been really steady and we've had customers every single day for a long while now. This is supposed to be the 'busy' time of year, while the southerners are escaping the cold and heading North through Queensland - so I hope we can still maintain some of this stability through the quiet periods too.
Aaaaaaand, I think that's all!
We've attended yet another market - this time was a one-off farmers market in Bundaberg. We were fully expecting it to be quiet (who wants to drink Port at 7am!?)....but we were blown away! (It is Bundaberg, after all!). By 8am I had nearly ran out of port and called up Josh to make an emergency dash in with more supplies. It was a great day and an awesome opportunity to meet with some like-minded producers and a captive audience.
Josh and I are about to become television celebrities! The TV show 'Queensland Weekender' is going to film a small piece on the wineries in Childers, and we are going to be profiled! They will be out here this week to film, so check back for some more updates on how that goes!
While Mum was here, we started our own miniature jam factory. We made 120 jars of Spiced Jaboticaba and Port jam, 15 jars of Dragonfruit Jam, 20 jars of Apple and Lemon Myrtle jam, 20 jars of Jaboticaba Jelly and I have some Mandarin and Kumquat Marmalade on the stove right now. We are gearing up for...
The Childers Festival! Once a year, the Bruce Highway (which runs from Brisbane to Cairns!) gets closed off in Childers and there is a big street party. Anywhere from 10,000 to 60,000 people (the number varies, depending on who you talk to!) descend on Childers for a big party. There will be market stalls (of which we will have one), food vans, music stages and all kinds of events over the weekend. I'm pretty excited to see how it goes...and hopefully we can sell some booze!
In other surprising news...I'm gainfully employed once again! There was a position advertised at CQUniversity in Bundaberg, for a part-time (one day per week) Administration Officer. I decided to apply and I got it! I start next week and I'm looking forward to the new challenge. It might be hard to juggle Ohana with the University, but it's only one day a week and a contract til the end of the year - so it's worth giving it a try. I'm looking forward to being back in a university community again...although I seriously doubt it'll be a great as my ECU/WAAPA family back home!
We had a pretty busy day yesterday. We had 9 booked in for lunch, and then a few other regulars showed up as well. We ended up serving 17 for lunch (surprise!) and sold some wines and liqueurs too. It's always nice to have busy days to counteract those quiet ones - but on the whole business has been really steady and we've had customers every single day for a long while now. This is supposed to be the 'busy' time of year, while the southerners are escaping the cold and heading North through Queensland - so I hope we can still maintain some of this stability through the quiet periods too.
Aaaaaaand, I think that's all!
Monday, 29 June 2015
SO MUCH WINE!
My mummy is here! She surprised me by showing up a few days earlier than expected! Her and Jamo have settled in on the farm, setting up their caravan amongst the fruit trees.
In exchange for free rent (hah!) we've put them to work. Jamo has been helping Josh with some manly things, like pruning trees back to bare stumps, clearing up some junk and picking SO MUCH FRUIT! The boys spent three days picking buckets and buckets of jaboticaba fruit, to make 290 litres of wine. It was an epic effort, and they're both covered in scratches - but they've done it!
We've crushed all the fruit and are using one of our largest fermentation tanks to start the process. Today, we added some sugar (nearly 40kg!) and finally the yeast. In a day or two, we'll remove the jaboticaba skins from the wine and press them to extract as much juice as we can, and then continue the fermentation process.
In a week or so after that (it depends on so many variables, it's all a little slower in the cooler weather) the fermentation should stop and we will remove the wine from the big tank and leave it to settle in smaller tanks. (Well, I think that's the plan - Josh is the winemaker, not me!)
Mum has been just as busy as Jamo. She's been on a cleaning binge, and I'm more than happy to let her! She's vacuumed and cleaned my beloved car, Betsy, and has cleaned the donga. She has also lovingly tended to our washing, taking it in and out in between rain showers. She's also our chief dishwasher, cleaning up the coffee cups etc after we have customers. She is also an expert Jam Maker now! She helped me make a ginormous batch of Spiced Jaboticaba and Tawny Port Jam - I don't think she liked it much, but she pushed through anyway.
They've spent a bit of time checking out the town, and have spent plenty of money in town already! They are VERY generously gifting Josh a new battery for the ute for his birthday (thanks guys!) and are taking Betsy in for a service. They're also testing all the coffee shops in town to see who has the best coffee and scones!
We haven't had a Mammino gourmet ice-cream yet, but I'm sure we will soon. We also missed out on going to the local fudge shop last week (it's only open Fri, Sat, Sun!), so we'll have to go there this weekend.
It's been pretty strange here lately, business wise. It seems we're busier during the week, and then dead on weekends...well, at least it seems that way for the last two weeks. Today, for instance, we had a group of motorbikers call in for morning tea really early, then a recently retired wine-lover who's moved to the area looking for a local drop, then a couple travelling up from Tin Can Bay who saw our ad in a magazine and drove the hour up to visit and have lunch, then a late drop in who was sent to buy a bottle of wine for his mum. It doesn't sound like too many customers, I'm sure, but that's a pretty solid day for us, especially for a Monday!
Aaaaaand, I think that's all that's been happening lately!
In exchange for free rent (hah!) we've put them to work. Jamo has been helping Josh with some manly things, like pruning trees back to bare stumps, clearing up some junk and picking SO MUCH FRUIT! The boys spent three days picking buckets and buckets of jaboticaba fruit, to make 290 litres of wine. It was an epic effort, and they're both covered in scratches - but they've done it!
We've crushed all the fruit and are using one of our largest fermentation tanks to start the process. Today, we added some sugar (nearly 40kg!) and finally the yeast. In a day or two, we'll remove the jaboticaba skins from the wine and press them to extract as much juice as we can, and then continue the fermentation process.
In a week or so after that (it depends on so many variables, it's all a little slower in the cooler weather) the fermentation should stop and we will remove the wine from the big tank and leave it to settle in smaller tanks. (Well, I think that's the plan - Josh is the winemaker, not me!)
Mum has been just as busy as Jamo. She's been on a cleaning binge, and I'm more than happy to let her! She's vacuumed and cleaned my beloved car, Betsy, and has cleaned the donga. She has also lovingly tended to our washing, taking it in and out in between rain showers. She's also our chief dishwasher, cleaning up the coffee cups etc after we have customers. She is also an expert Jam Maker now! She helped me make a ginormous batch of Spiced Jaboticaba and Tawny Port Jam - I don't think she liked it much, but she pushed through anyway.
They've spent a bit of time checking out the town, and have spent plenty of money in town already! They are VERY generously gifting Josh a new battery for the ute for his birthday (thanks guys!) and are taking Betsy in for a service. They're also testing all the coffee shops in town to see who has the best coffee and scones!
We haven't had a Mammino gourmet ice-cream yet, but I'm sure we will soon. We also missed out on going to the local fudge shop last week (it's only open Fri, Sat, Sun!), so we'll have to go there this weekend.
It's been pretty strange here lately, business wise. It seems we're busier during the week, and then dead on weekends...well, at least it seems that way for the last two weeks. Today, for instance, we had a group of motorbikers call in for morning tea really early, then a recently retired wine-lover who's moved to the area looking for a local drop, then a couple travelling up from Tin Can Bay who saw our ad in a magazine and drove the hour up to visit and have lunch, then a late drop in who was sent to buy a bottle of wine for his mum. It doesn't sound like too many customers, I'm sure, but that's a pretty solid day for us, especially for a Monday!
Aaaaaand, I think that's all that's been happening lately!
Monday, 22 June 2015
The good, the bad and the ugly
THE GOOD
THE UGLY
- We have more jaboticaba fruit that is ripe, which means I'm on a jam-making binge! I made 19 and a half jars of Jaboticaba Jelly today, and plan to make at least that many jars of the Spiced Jaboticaba and Tawny Port Jam tomorrow.
- We've signed up to "Farmhouse Direct", a website promoting local growers and produces, which also provides a way for them to sell their products online. They take a fairly large chuck in fees from each sale, but if we can get a few sales out of it, it'll be great for us. (If you'd like to buy anything though, just contact me directly - it'll work out cheaper for you!!)
- My mummy will be here soon! Josh has had plenty of family come and visit him, so I'm pretty excited that it'll soon be my turn. They should be here by the end of the week, and I can't wait to show Mum and Jamo around this quirky little town.
- My beloved Indian takeaway shop closed down a few weeks after we moved here (wahhh!) but word on the street is that a Thai restaurant has taken over the lease of the building and will be opening soon. Fingers crossed it'll be good and give us an alternative to Maccas!
- We went to a real, live, actual concert the other night! Busby Marou (a folk duo) played an acoustic set at the beautiful Paragon Theatre.
THE BAD
- It looks like a few of our Jaboticaba trees have been hit by 'Myrtle Rust', a fungal disease that affects trees in the Myrtaceae family (native trees, eucalypts, papayas, guavas....and jaboticabas). Only 5 of our 400 trees have signs of being affected, however the rust is very contagious and can be transferred via birds, insects and simply wind...so it could all change very quickly. There is no known cure or preventative, all we can do is spray a general fungicide and hope for the best.
- We had a very quiet weekend. As in VERY quiet. Last weekend was pretty busy and this weekend was dead. We really can't predict it, so all we can do is stay positive and hope the people that do come have a great time and tell all their friends!
- I nearly was a celebrity...AGAIN! (But it all fell through). I was invited to be part of a 'rent-a-crowd' for the local ice-cream producer, for some kind of video/photo promo shoot. I was pretty excited about the prospect of free ice-cream, alas, it wasn't meant to be.
THE UGLY
- It's been SO cold here lately. No one told me Queensland still gets cold during winter, and I was thoroughly unprepared for it. The other night was so cold that I went to bed wearing trackie pants tucked into thick wooly socks, a long sleeved shirt under a regular shirt, a hoody and a beanie...and I still woke up cold.
- I'm in desperate need for a pedicure. No such luxuries in Childers.
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Relish Festival and the longest weekend
This week has been pretty mental. We attended our FIRST festival - the Relish Food and Wine festival in Maryborough (about 40 minutes south of Childers).
The end of last week was a bit of a scramble to bottle up some more liqueurs to take along to the festival with us. Josh had me washing and sanitising bottles and printing labels while he was bottling, capping and labelling.
Poor little Betsy (my 2003 Hyundai Getz, who trained it over from Perth) was packed to the rafters with gear - heaps of booze, a gazebo, a table, more booze and three people. I didn't think she'd make it, but she hung in there.
We arrived in Maryborough nice and early, and got all set up. Our latest recruit (Nathan!) came up from Brisbane to give us a hand. It was awesome having a third body there, it meant that we could take turns having a quick look around or grabbing a bite to eat.
At first I thought we had a bit of a crappy location at the festival, as we were away from the other wineries. In hindsight, it was a definite blessing! It seems that all the traditional wineries kind of blurred into one, and then festival goers could toddle down the hill and stumble upon us, who offer something a little different. We ended up selling more booze than we were expecting...AND 35 jams!
The rest of the long weekend turned out to be pretty busy too. We had lots of people in for lunch on Sunday, although it never seemed too rushed or frantic, just nicely busy. Then on Monday we had a few more through for lunch (everywhere else in town was closed!) and a few people who bought bottles.
It would be lovely if every weekend was that busy!!!
Aside from that, we've just been busy cleaning up around the place. We've had a few trees removed around the place. They were looking a little sick and sorry for themselves, so we've cleared away some space to plant new things (if we ever have enough $$ to do so!) and Josh has been working like a trojan to clear away some more of the junk around the place that we've inherited.
We had a huge burn pile go up in flames (and managed to smoke out the town for 48 hours! Oops!) and I think we might have turned a very slight corner in getting this place back on track. The winery side of things is starting to look after itself, so we really want to start focussing on our fruit orchard and building that up.
Anyway - that's all in Winery life! If you haven't already, please feel free to give us a 'like' on Facebook. It's good for our stats! ;) https://www.facebook.com/OhanaWinery
The end of last week was a bit of a scramble to bottle up some more liqueurs to take along to the festival with us. Josh had me washing and sanitising bottles and printing labels while he was bottling, capping and labelling.
Poor little Betsy (my 2003 Hyundai Getz, who trained it over from Perth) was packed to the rafters with gear - heaps of booze, a gazebo, a table, more booze and three people. I didn't think she'd make it, but she hung in there.
We arrived in Maryborough nice and early, and got all set up. Our latest recruit (Nathan!) came up from Brisbane to give us a hand. It was awesome having a third body there, it meant that we could take turns having a quick look around or grabbing a bite to eat.
At first I thought we had a bit of a crappy location at the festival, as we were away from the other wineries. In hindsight, it was a definite blessing! It seems that all the traditional wineries kind of blurred into one, and then festival goers could toddle down the hill and stumble upon us, who offer something a little different. We ended up selling more booze than we were expecting...AND 35 jams!
The rest of the long weekend turned out to be pretty busy too. We had lots of people in for lunch on Sunday, although it never seemed too rushed or frantic, just nicely busy. Then on Monday we had a few more through for lunch (everywhere else in town was closed!) and a few people who bought bottles.
It would be lovely if every weekend was that busy!!!
Aside from that, we've just been busy cleaning up around the place. We've had a few trees removed around the place. They were looking a little sick and sorry for themselves, so we've cleared away some space to plant new things (if we ever have enough $$ to do so!) and Josh has been working like a trojan to clear away some more of the junk around the place that we've inherited.
We had a huge burn pile go up in flames (and managed to smoke out the town for 48 hours! Oops!) and I think we might have turned a very slight corner in getting this place back on track. The winery side of things is starting to look after itself, so we really want to start focussing on our fruit orchard and building that up.
Anyway - that's all in Winery life! If you haven't already, please feel free to give us a 'like' on Facebook. It's good for our stats! ;) https://www.facebook.com/OhanaWinery
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| The slackers at Ohana Winery |
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| Bye trees! |
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| Bye junk! |
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Queen of the Jammed
Nanna would be so proud of me. I'm a master Jam Maker!
Josh hates it and calls it poo jam, but I'm pretty sure he's just jealous.
Yesterday, I made a Jaboticaba Jelly and a Jaboticaba and Port Jam from our copious amounts of Jaboticaba fruit. The jelly has a nice flavour, but the texture isn't quite right. The Jaboticaba and Port jam, however, is DIVINE!
On the shelf at the moment, I've got:
Apple and Lemon Myrtle Jelly (Apples from Stanthorpe, 6 hours away and Lemon Myrtle from our bush tucker garden)
Pineapple and Jackfruit Jam (Pineapples from the local fruit stand and our own Jackfruit)
Dragonfruit Jam (Dragonfruit from our next door neighbour)
Amla Jam (Our own Amla, or Indian Gooseberry)
Passionfruit Jam (Passionfruit from Jeff's friend)
Jaboticaba Jelly (Our own Jaboticaba)
Jaboticaba and Port Jam (Our own Jaboticaba and our own Jaboticaba Port!)
Mandarin and Kumquat Marmalade (Mandarins from Gayndah, an hour away, and our own Kumquats)
It's pretty cool being able to create things from local (and quite often our very own grown!) produce.
We have a few different events coming up soon too. This Friday, Josh and I are heading to Hervey Bay to host an AA meeting... It's an over 50's social group called 'Alcohol Appreciators' and they get together once a month to sample some wines. We've been invited along to present our wines and liqueurs - and hopefully sell a bucket load!
Then next Saturday we're attending the Relish Food and Wine Festival in Maryborough. It's focussed around the beautiful local produce of the area and should be a lot of fun. Originally we decided to give it a miss, as we weren't sure if we'd have enough produce to attend. Then the guys at the Fraser Coast tourism office twisted our arm...so we're going. Not only that, we've also been asked to present a thirty minute 'foodie presentation' to the festival go-ers! We've teamed up with a local chef and we're going to collaborate on the presentation. It'll be a pretty nerve-wracking experience, but awesome exposure! (Lets hope we sound like we know what we're talking about!!)
After that, we've got a seniors group coming to visit for an orchard tour and wine tastings. Then the Childers Festival at the end of July.
Aside from that, we've had a few 'issues' with the local council. It seems like we've turned a bit of a corner with that though, and that's as close to a win that we're going to get. The cellar door is quietly ticking over. Weekends have picked up a little, however there are still quiet days during the week. We still need a way to convince the booze-lovin', big-spendin' caravanners to call in and spend up.
Aaaaand...I think that's it!
Monday, 18 May 2015
It's pickin' season!
Woohoo! It's very nearly time to start picking the Jaboticaba fruit!
A jaboticaba is a Brazillian tree grape, which we use to make our Tawny's, fortified wine, liqueurs...and soon to be table wine (all going well!)
We have about 400 trees on our property and some are starting to fruit. I haven't googled it, but I'm pretty sure we would have one of the largest plantations of Jaboticaba in Australia. It's relatively unknown, but SO DELICIOUS! The only problem with it, is that once it's ripe, it doesn't last very long and starts to ferment in its own sugars.
Great for winemaking (yay!) but pretty crap as a commercial crop.
So, it looks like we have a very busy few months ahead of us!
A jaboticaba is a Brazillian tree grape, which we use to make our Tawny's, fortified wine, liqueurs...and soon to be table wine (all going well!)
We have about 400 trees on our property and some are starting to fruit. I haven't googled it, but I'm pretty sure we would have one of the largest plantations of Jaboticaba in Australia. It's relatively unknown, but SO DELICIOUS! The only problem with it, is that once it's ripe, it doesn't last very long and starts to ferment in its own sugars.
Great for winemaking (yay!) but pretty crap as a commercial crop.
So, it looks like we have a very busy few months ahead of us!
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| One of our Jaboticaba trees. When the fruit is dark purple, plump and shiny - it's go time! |
Friday, 15 May 2015
Sad days
I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a crazy cat lady. Princess Jasmine was the best little buddy a girl could ask for. She provided me with endless entertainment in the thirteen/fourteen years we shared together.
Nearly two weeks ago she spent the day hanging out with us, enjoying the Queensland sunshine as usual. That evening she had her dinner and then went out for one last adventure.
We're not exactly sure what happened to her, we've searched high and low and there is no sign of her. In one way I guess its good that we didn't find anything...but it still doesn't feel great having absolutely no idea what happened to her.
All I can do is take comfort in the fact that we were best friends and got to have her here for a few weeks of love and snuggles. She got to chase toads, roll in the red dirt, snuggle up to her beloved Josh and spend hours lazing in the sun watching the birds play in the fig trees.
Thanks for being awesome, Jazzy, despite how annoying you were at 5am meowing to be let outside. xxx
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a crazy cat lady. Princess Jasmine was the best little buddy a girl could ask for. She provided me with endless entertainment in the thirteen/fourteen years we shared together.
Nearly two weeks ago she spent the day hanging out with us, enjoying the Queensland sunshine as usual. That evening she had her dinner and then went out for one last adventure.
We're not exactly sure what happened to her, we've searched high and low and there is no sign of her. In one way I guess its good that we didn't find anything...but it still doesn't feel great having absolutely no idea what happened to her.
All I can do is take comfort in the fact that we were best friends and got to have her here for a few weeks of love and snuggles. She got to chase toads, roll in the red dirt, snuggle up to her beloved Josh and spend hours lazing in the sun watching the birds play in the fig trees.
Thanks for being awesome, Jazzy, despite how annoying you were at 5am meowing to be let outside. xxx
Monday, 11 May 2015
Mums the word
Holy smokes. Mother's Day. I'm glad it's only once a year!
Yesterday, we had our first 'event' - Mother's Day. We didn't do a lot of advertising for it, but as it turns out, we didn't need to. We had a grand total of 32 people booked in for lunch, with the first table arriving at 11, and the last at 1:30.
'How nice!' I thought, 'they've spread themselves out for us!'.
I was wrong. The first table arrived late and the last table arrived early - so in the end it was just a big crush of people at midday!
It was really, really good though!
We'd done a lot of prep the night before/the morning of, so it wasn't a huge panic putting together the lunch platters for our guests. Josh was loving being the 'front of house' greeting people and doing the wine tastings, and our special guest (Josh's mum) was our head waitress.
Although we had 32 booked in, we ended up serving food to about 50 people. Later in the day, we had a few more 'drop ins' who ended up sharing a few platters.
And along with all of that, we still had some regular cellar door guests, who were enjoying their Mother's Day visiting the wineries in the area!
It certainly was a busy day!!
And best of all, we made a heap of $$! (Double our busiest day since we opened!)
Yesterday, we had our first 'event' - Mother's Day. We didn't do a lot of advertising for it, but as it turns out, we didn't need to. We had a grand total of 32 people booked in for lunch, with the first table arriving at 11, and the last at 1:30.
'How nice!' I thought, 'they've spread themselves out for us!'.
I was wrong. The first table arrived late and the last table arrived early - so in the end it was just a big crush of people at midday!
It was really, really good though!
We'd done a lot of prep the night before/the morning of, so it wasn't a huge panic putting together the lunch platters for our guests. Josh was loving being the 'front of house' greeting people and doing the wine tastings, and our special guest (Josh's mum) was our head waitress.
Although we had 32 booked in, we ended up serving food to about 50 people. Later in the day, we had a few more 'drop ins' who ended up sharing a few platters.
And along with all of that, we still had some regular cellar door guests, who were enjoying their Mother's Day visiting the wineries in the area!
It certainly was a busy day!!
And best of all, we made a heap of $$! (Double our busiest day since we opened!)
Sunday, 26 April 2015
The Toilet of Doom
We have a toilet of doom. A dunny of despair. A crapper of vermin.
The public toilet has been attracting some local wildlife lately, and it sucks.
When we first arrived there were a few toads that used to get in there overnight and there have always been a few spiders, but it's gotten ridiculous.
It started yesterday, with a 60cm tree snake deciding to hide out in there. He was hanging out in the scrub out the front, then came up to the cellar door to have a look, then got spooked and legged it to the dunny to hide out. Josh bravely ventured in there, and he slithered off and up a tree and onto the roof.
Today, there was a little field mouse hanging out in there. He wasn't in great shape, but he was still alive. Again, Josh bravely ventured in there and scooped him up and released him back into the wild.
They say bad things come in threes, so I wonder what will be in there tomorrow. My guess is a wild pig.
The public toilet has been attracting some local wildlife lately, and it sucks.
When we first arrived there were a few toads that used to get in there overnight and there have always been a few spiders, but it's gotten ridiculous.
It started yesterday, with a 60cm tree snake deciding to hide out in there. He was hanging out in the scrub out the front, then came up to the cellar door to have a look, then got spooked and legged it to the dunny to hide out. Josh bravely ventured in there, and he slithered off and up a tree and onto the roof.
Today, there was a little field mouse hanging out in there. He wasn't in great shape, but he was still alive. Again, Josh bravely ventured in there and scooped him up and released him back into the wild.
They say bad things come in threes, so I wonder what will be in there tomorrow. My guess is a wild pig.
Thursday, 23 April 2015
And Baby Makes Three!
Josh and I have some very exciting news we'd like to share.
We've recently welcomed a new addition to our little Queensland family...PRINCESS JASMINE! My beloved kitty has made the trek from WA to QLD and is finally here!
She's been living it up on holidays in Mandurah with my mama up until now (thanks a million, Mum!) while we were getting set up and settled in. Now that we're here (and Mum is well and truly sick of her) it was time to send my baby across the country.
I hired a company called JetPets (one star, wouldn't recommend) to transport her across. She was dropped off in Perth at 6:05am and all caged up ready to wait for her flight. The poor little poppet was terrified, but managed to survive the five hour flight to Brisbane.
Two and a half hours later (and still caged up) she was on another flight to Bundaberg. I called to confirm the pick up address, as it sounded strange to pick her up from downtown Bundaberg. I was assured it was correct (it wasn't - I had to race to the airport to meet her at the correct pick up place).
My poor little baby wasn't moving a muscle and hiding under the blanket in her cage when I picked her up. I hurriedly got her to my car so I could open the cage and give her some love. She perked up a little after some snuggles and a drink of water and we were on our way home.
She was pretty stoked to be let out the cage in Childers and did a few laps of the donga. After scoffing down her favourite sardines for dinner she tucked herself into bed for the night. Obviously she had a traumatic day and needed a rest!
The next day (yesterday) she was kept inside, much to her disgust. She was very keen to explore and meowed mournfully whenever anyone was close enough to hear her.
This morning I'd had enough. It was 6:30am and her meowing was relentless. I opened the donga door and she raced outside. She spent about an hour walking around sniffing anything she could, while I trailed behind to keep an eye on her. Once I was happy that she knew where she was and where "home" is, I let her be while we pottered about the cellar.
She spent the first half of the day exploring, and came back every ten minutes or so to 'check in'. She's spent most of the afternoon just hanging out with us, wherever we happen to be.
She helped me water the garden beds. She helped Josh eat a cheese platter for lunch. She helped us with some bookwork in the cellar. She's also claimed the decorative armchair in the cellar as her own and spent a good proportion of her afternoon sleeping there.
She LOVES rolling around in the red dirt and tries so hard to catch the birds that flap around nearby. She also seems pretty stoked to be able to spend all day around Josh (her favourite person in the world) and I.
All in all, this crazy cat lady is very happy :)
We've recently welcomed a new addition to our little Queensland family...PRINCESS JASMINE! My beloved kitty has made the trek from WA to QLD and is finally here!
She's been living it up on holidays in Mandurah with my mama up until now (thanks a million, Mum!) while we were getting set up and settled in. Now that we're here (and Mum is well and truly sick of her) it was time to send my baby across the country.
I hired a company called JetPets (one star, wouldn't recommend) to transport her across. She was dropped off in Perth at 6:05am and all caged up ready to wait for her flight. The poor little poppet was terrified, but managed to survive the five hour flight to Brisbane.
Two and a half hours later (and still caged up) she was on another flight to Bundaberg. I called to confirm the pick up address, as it sounded strange to pick her up from downtown Bundaberg. I was assured it was correct (it wasn't - I had to race to the airport to meet her at the correct pick up place).
My poor little baby wasn't moving a muscle and hiding under the blanket in her cage when I picked her up. I hurriedly got her to my car so I could open the cage and give her some love. She perked up a little after some snuggles and a drink of water and we were on our way home.
She was pretty stoked to be let out the cage in Childers and did a few laps of the donga. After scoffing down her favourite sardines for dinner she tucked herself into bed for the night. Obviously she had a traumatic day and needed a rest!
The next day (yesterday) she was kept inside, much to her disgust. She was very keen to explore and meowed mournfully whenever anyone was close enough to hear her.
This morning I'd had enough. It was 6:30am and her meowing was relentless. I opened the donga door and she raced outside. She spent about an hour walking around sniffing anything she could, while I trailed behind to keep an eye on her. Once I was happy that she knew where she was and where "home" is, I let her be while we pottered about the cellar.
She spent the first half of the day exploring, and came back every ten minutes or so to 'check in'. She's spent most of the afternoon just hanging out with us, wherever we happen to be.
She helped me water the garden beds. She helped Josh eat a cheese platter for lunch. She helped us with some bookwork in the cellar. She's also claimed the decorative armchair in the cellar as her own and spent a good proportion of her afternoon sleeping there.
She LOVES rolling around in the red dirt and tries so hard to catch the birds that flap around nearby. She also seems pretty stoked to be able to spend all day around Josh (her favourite person in the world) and I.
All in all, this crazy cat lady is very happy :)
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| "Pleeeeeease let me outside!" |
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| LOVING the red dirt. |
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| Relaxing on her chair |
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| Crazy cat lady selfie |
Friday, 17 April 2015
Celebrities...again
So, we've been open for two whole weeks, and its all going great!
We've had customers every single day (phew!) and have turned over enough to pay back the business credit card, pay this months mortgage and have food on the table. BIG RELIEF! It's pretty great to know that what we've worked so hard on is coming together and is working.
We can't get complacent though - it's time to move on to Ohana Winery: Phase 2! The next step will be to contact the local hotels and tour operators in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay to try and get some tourist and coach buses to stop off on their way through Childers.
Josh and I are also local celebrities now. We had an article written about us in the local paper - nearly a whole page! It was a nice story on our background and how we ended up in Childers.
My efforts as a jam-maker are paying off. I've sold a heap of jam and had to make another batch of Dragonfruit Jam. I'm nearly out of Fingerlime Marmalade too, so I'll have to do some foraging to see if there are any left on the trees.
Josh's liqueurs are doing really well too. Our experimental "Jackfruit Liqueur" has been a raging success. We both thought it was going to be a waste of time (it smelt horrible for most of its life!) however it actually tasted pretty nice. Since it was so unusual we didn't think we'd sell any at all...but we were completely wrong. It seems people are looking for something unique - and this certainly is! We had some visitors from Brisbane who ended up buying five bottles of it!
It's pretty exciting to see some teeny little Jaboticaba flowers and fruit starting to come through. (A Jaboticaba is the Brazillian tree grape we make the tawny's out of). When this years crop is ripe we'll be able to have a crack at a Jaboticaba table wine - and anything else we can dream up.
Farm life is still going well. There is still SO much to do around the place, and we need to try and find a balance between "winery" and "fruit farm". (Is anyone keen for a working holiday in sunny Queensland!?) We'll work it out eventually.
I've also had a birthday since my last post (yay! I love birthdays!). It was pretty low-key this year, but I was treated to dinner at a lovely place in Bargara (about 50 mins away) the night before, and brekkie the morning of. I was even allowed a sleep in! (Til about 8am!)
I think that's all that's been happening lately! (Oh, I also made some passionfruit cheesecakes in little glass jars - they were super cute!)
We've had customers every single day (phew!) and have turned over enough to pay back the business credit card, pay this months mortgage and have food on the table. BIG RELIEF! It's pretty great to know that what we've worked so hard on is coming together and is working.
We can't get complacent though - it's time to move on to Ohana Winery: Phase 2! The next step will be to contact the local hotels and tour operators in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay to try and get some tourist and coach buses to stop off on their way through Childers.
Josh and I are also local celebrities now. We had an article written about us in the local paper - nearly a whole page! It was a nice story on our background and how we ended up in Childers.
My efforts as a jam-maker are paying off. I've sold a heap of jam and had to make another batch of Dragonfruit Jam. I'm nearly out of Fingerlime Marmalade too, so I'll have to do some foraging to see if there are any left on the trees.
Josh's liqueurs are doing really well too. Our experimental "Jackfruit Liqueur" has been a raging success. We both thought it was going to be a waste of time (it smelt horrible for most of its life!) however it actually tasted pretty nice. Since it was so unusual we didn't think we'd sell any at all...but we were completely wrong. It seems people are looking for something unique - and this certainly is! We had some visitors from Brisbane who ended up buying five bottles of it!
It's pretty exciting to see some teeny little Jaboticaba flowers and fruit starting to come through. (A Jaboticaba is the Brazillian tree grape we make the tawny's out of). When this years crop is ripe we'll be able to have a crack at a Jaboticaba table wine - and anything else we can dream up.
Farm life is still going well. There is still SO much to do around the place, and we need to try and find a balance between "winery" and "fruit farm". (Is anyone keen for a working holiday in sunny Queensland!?) We'll work it out eventually.
I've also had a birthday since my last post (yay! I love birthdays!). It was pretty low-key this year, but I was treated to dinner at a lovely place in Bargara (about 50 mins away) the night before, and brekkie the morning of. I was even allowed a sleep in! (Til about 8am!)
I think that's all that's been happening lately! (Oh, I also made some passionfruit cheesecakes in little glass jars - they were super cute!)
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| Look at those ugly mugs! |
Saturday, 11 April 2015
Our Number 1 Fan
Despite only being open for one week, we have already gained our "Number 1 Fan".
There's this older lady in town, who has lived here all her life and her family is a big name around this area. She heard about our winery and popped in one day with a friend of hers. They shared a pot of tea and I sat out in the garden with them and had a chat.
She grabbed a few business cards and said that she had a lovely time and would tell her friends. Nothing new, we've heard that from a few people.
The next day, she was back with her niece. She said she didn't want anything to eat or drink, she just wanted to bring her niece here to show her what we've done with the place. She ended up having a glass of water while her niece had a coffee. She asked if she could take a few more business cards and a copy of our lunch menu.
The day after that, she was back again - this time with a different friend. She had laminated our menu, but realised our phone number and opening hours weren't printed on it. She didn't stay long, but grabbed some extra details and left once more.
Today we had a lady call in to grab a few details from us, she said that she'd heard about this from her friend and wanted to pop in to find out more. Our Number 1 fan had been at it again!
Later today, while chatting to the staff at the bowls club, Cooper mentioned the winery. "Oh! We've heard about the new winery from your Number 1 Fan! She was raving about it. We are going to come down and check it out soon!"
I think it's time to put her on the payroll - she's done more advertising for us than any thing else!
There's this older lady in town, who has lived here all her life and her family is a big name around this area. She heard about our winery and popped in one day with a friend of hers. They shared a pot of tea and I sat out in the garden with them and had a chat.
She grabbed a few business cards and said that she had a lovely time and would tell her friends. Nothing new, we've heard that from a few people.
The next day, she was back with her niece. She said she didn't want anything to eat or drink, she just wanted to bring her niece here to show her what we've done with the place. She ended up having a glass of water while her niece had a coffee. She asked if she could take a few more business cards and a copy of our lunch menu.
The day after that, she was back again - this time with a different friend. She had laminated our menu, but realised our phone number and opening hours weren't printed on it. She didn't stay long, but grabbed some extra details and left once more.
Today we had a lady call in to grab a few details from us, she said that she'd heard about this from her friend and wanted to pop in to find out more. Our Number 1 fan had been at it again!
Later today, while chatting to the staff at the bowls club, Cooper mentioned the winery. "Oh! We've heard about the new winery from your Number 1 Fan! She was raving about it. We are going to come down and check it out soon!"
I think it's time to put her on the payroll - she's done more advertising for us than any thing else!
Whirlwind
So, the past two weeks have been a blur.
We've had some setbacks (wine labels not being ready in time), some wins (eftpos machine finally sorted) and most importantly, we've had people through the door.
We haven't really be FLOODED with people, but we've had customers every single day, and we've made enough money to pay the mortgage and have both of us work at the winery (and not get a 'real' job in Bundaberg). It's a nice life, albeit a little quieter than we'd like.
We've had a lot of good feedback though. Josh and I are naturally pretty friendly people, so it's easy to have a chat with the customers who do come in. Everyone who has been to the winery before (in it's previous life as the Isis Winery) are amazed with what we've done to the place. So, that's always nice to hear.
And everyone else seems genuinely happy with their lunch platters, afternoon tea, coffee or wines...so that's nice to hear too. In case you're interested, we serve:
Maui Platter ($9pp)
Ham, proscuitto, salami, brie, pepper pecorino, cheddar, marinated olives, sundried tomatoes, relish, bread and crackers.
Kauai Platter ($9pp)
Blue vein, brie, pepper pecorino, cheddar, marinated olives, sundried tomatoes, stuffed baby peppers, relish, bread and crackers.
Big Kahuna Platter ($15pp)
Slow roasted pulled pork, guac, salsa, sour cream, wraps and corn chips.
Josh leaves it up to me to sort the kitchen (he's pretty handy for opening jars and lifting things off shelves though). I'm getting a lot more organised with practice, so it doesn't take too long to get a platter out. Each morning I whip up a batch of scones and sometimes something else too.
For the most part, he's at the front counter doing the wine tastings and making coffees, however we're both pretty flexible and help each other out when we need to. It's nice finding a job that we can do together and not get on each others nerves!
If you haven't already, please check out (and "like"!) our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ohanawinery. We also have our website up and running now, so you can see a few more pictures and read more about the farm at www.ohanawinery.com.au.
We've had some setbacks (wine labels not being ready in time), some wins (eftpos machine finally sorted) and most importantly, we've had people through the door.
We haven't really be FLOODED with people, but we've had customers every single day, and we've made enough money to pay the mortgage and have both of us work at the winery (and not get a 'real' job in Bundaberg). It's a nice life, albeit a little quieter than we'd like.
We've had a lot of good feedback though. Josh and I are naturally pretty friendly people, so it's easy to have a chat with the customers who do come in. Everyone who has been to the winery before (in it's previous life as the Isis Winery) are amazed with what we've done to the place. So, that's always nice to hear.
And everyone else seems genuinely happy with their lunch platters, afternoon tea, coffee or wines...so that's nice to hear too. In case you're interested, we serve:
Maui Platter ($9pp)
Ham, proscuitto, salami, brie, pepper pecorino, cheddar, marinated olives, sundried tomatoes, relish, bread and crackers.
Kauai Platter ($9pp)
Blue vein, brie, pepper pecorino, cheddar, marinated olives, sundried tomatoes, stuffed baby peppers, relish, bread and crackers.
Big Kahuna Platter ($15pp)
Slow roasted pulled pork, guac, salsa, sour cream, wraps and corn chips.
Josh leaves it up to me to sort the kitchen (he's pretty handy for opening jars and lifting things off shelves though). I'm getting a lot more organised with practice, so it doesn't take too long to get a platter out. Each morning I whip up a batch of scones and sometimes something else too.
For the most part, he's at the front counter doing the wine tastings and making coffees, however we're both pretty flexible and help each other out when we need to. It's nice finding a job that we can do together and not get on each others nerves!
If you haven't already, please check out (and "like"!) our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ohanawinery. We also have our website up and running now, so you can see a few more pictures and read more about the farm at www.ohanawinery.com.au.
Sunday, 5 April 2015
OPENING DAY!!!!!!!
All the blood, sweat and tears (and thousands of $$!) over the past 40 days have finally culminated in our opening day. I think it was a big success!
We ended up selling a few dozen bottles of wine and liqueurs, a few jams, a few homemade chocolate blocks and a heap of coffee. We were pretty busy first thing in the morning, then it cooled off a bit over the middle of the day, and finished up with a few customers just before closing time.
While we weren't flat out for the whole day, it was nice to have a lot of people through, and nice to get some positive feedback about how nice the place is looking.
We had some trouble securing our eftpos machine in time for yesterday, so I think we did quite well for being 'cash only'. Quite a few people bought one or two things, saying they would have bought more if they had more cash on them. Hopefully we'll get that sorted early next week.
Fingers crossed we have as much success over the next few weeks...!
We ended up selling a few dozen bottles of wine and liqueurs, a few jams, a few homemade chocolate blocks and a heap of coffee. We were pretty busy first thing in the morning, then it cooled off a bit over the middle of the day, and finished up with a few customers just before closing time.
While we weren't flat out for the whole day, it was nice to have a lot of people through, and nice to get some positive feedback about how nice the place is looking.
We had some trouble securing our eftpos machine in time for yesterday, so I think we did quite well for being 'cash only'. Quite a few people bought one or two things, saying they would have bought more if they had more cash on them. Hopefully we'll get that sorted early next week.
Fingers crossed we have as much success over the next few weeks...!
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| Josh, directing traffic behind the counter |
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| Our Jaboticaba Tawny |
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| Our outdoor cafe area |
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| The "wine garden" Josh and his dad built |
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| The view of the winery (bad lighting...sorry) |
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| Our flags! |
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| My little jams |
Busy little bees
Holy moly, this last week has been an absolute whirlwind. We've picked up Josh's dad and step mum in Brisbane, and they've been working like trojans to help us get everything finished off before THE GRAND OPENING (yesterday!).
Here's what we've been up to.
Here's what we've been up to.
- Our new 'Wine Garden'! Josh and his dad paved the weedy/concretey picnic area with some nice charcoal pavers. While the square meterage is actually smaller than what was there, the whole space feels so much bigger! We've then installed some bamboo screening around the outside and added a few plants. I reckon it still needs a bit of greenery, but it's SO much nicer than it was before! If it ever stops bloody raining (three days straight now) we'd be able to put our all our new cafe furniture and set it up properly.
- Our planter box! Josh's beautiful planter box is now filled with plants! We thought we bought heaps, but it still looks a little 'sparse'. I'm sure it'll fill out quickly in a few weeks once the plants settle in and start growing.
- Food! I've met with our food rep and we've now got a fridge stocked with lovely cured meats and cheeses.
- Jam! I've been busy in the kitchen, slaving over molten sugar with my candy thermometer and sterilised jars making jam out of any fruit that's ripe and within arms reach. I've got a total of six different kinds on sale in the cellar door. So far Finger Lime Marmalade has been the most popular, followed by Dragon Fruit Jam.
- Art! I've been in touch with a few local artists who have let us hang their works for sale in our cellar door. They name their price and if anyone wants to buy them, we take the cash and pass it along to the artists. We have a total of 11 pieces from three artists, and they're doing a great job of covering up our ugly brown walls.
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Where there is smoke...
There is BK and a huge fire.
BK is our resident bobcat expert and all around legend. He came out one afternoon to have a chat about what we wanted done around the place, and clearly sensing we had no idea what we wanted, just for it to look good, he's taken it upon himself to clean this place up.
He's been ripping up the old 'picnic area', in preparation for it to be turned into a lush beer garden next week, he's been tearing through head-height weeds that were just too big (and possibly full of snakes) for Josh or I to go near, he's been taking truckloads (actual loads on his truck) of green waste away and today, he's been lighting fires.
"BK, how do you reckon we can get rid of that trash down the back?"
"Well...it'd cost you too much to take it to the tip"
"Yeah...so?"
"I dunno. We can dig a big hole and bury it."
"It'd have to be a big hole...."
"Or you could burn it, I guess?"
Ten minutes later, a hint of smoke was in the air. We walked down the back of the farm and here's BK piling more rubble onto the pile. It was mostly green waste with a few cardboard boxes and other bits and pieces in there.
BK left his bobcat here for a few nights, giving Josh free reign to do some work around the place. We've used it to fill the planter box with some blue metal and crusher dust, and then some proper garden soil this morning. We've cleared away a few branches we've pruned, and cleared away some old fruit from under the trees.
While this would have taken us at least twice as long as it would have taken BK, but it's great to be able to do this stuff ourselves and save a little bit of money.
BK is our resident bobcat expert and all around legend. He came out one afternoon to have a chat about what we wanted done around the place, and clearly sensing we had no idea what we wanted, just for it to look good, he's taken it upon himself to clean this place up.
He's been ripping up the old 'picnic area', in preparation for it to be turned into a lush beer garden next week, he's been tearing through head-height weeds that were just too big (and possibly full of snakes) for Josh or I to go near, he's been taking truckloads (actual loads on his truck) of green waste away and today, he's been lighting fires.
"BK, how do you reckon we can get rid of that trash down the back?"
"Well...it'd cost you too much to take it to the tip"
"Yeah...so?"
"I dunno. We can dig a big hole and bury it."
"It'd have to be a big hole...."
"Or you could burn it, I guess?"
Ten minutes later, a hint of smoke was in the air. We walked down the back of the farm and here's BK piling more rubble onto the pile. It was mostly green waste with a few cardboard boxes and other bits and pieces in there.
BK left his bobcat here for a few nights, giving Josh free reign to do some work around the place. We've used it to fill the planter box with some blue metal and crusher dust, and then some proper garden soil this morning. We've cleared away a few branches we've pruned, and cleared away some old fruit from under the trees.
While this would have taken us at least twice as long as it would have taken BK, but it's great to be able to do this stuff ourselves and save a little bit of money.
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| Josh, the bobcat driver. (He's actually really good at it!) |
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| Our new 10,000L water tank. The plan is to pump this full of bore water to use in the toilets, washing machine and gardens (because we've been powering through the rain water far too quickly!) |
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| Our junk pile up in flames |
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