Learning from the best

A few months ago, I submitted an Expression of Interest form with our local tourism board for some free one-on-one business mentoring.

A week ago, we found out that we had been selected to participate!

Danielle and Robbie, tourism experts from the Fraser Coast region scheduled their first session with us last week and it was awesome. We sat down and had the chance to explain where we are at with our business and where we would like to go. In our next session, they are going to go through our products (i.e.. group tours, wine tasting) and help us promote these through avenues we haven't even considered yet!

In our first session, they were gobsmacked that we hadn't created a mailing list for Ohana Winery and so I've promptly set one up. I printed out a little sign up form to keep on the counter at the cellar door and we already had like ten people sign up!

I've also got it linked to this blog now (On a computer? Look to the left! On a mobile/tablet? Scroll to the bottom and click "View web version"!) - so if you can spare a minute to sign up, I'd be so grateful!

Holy Guacamole!

The reason I haven't updated this in forever, is because we've just been too busy. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Along with running the winery (and orchard tours, and wine making, and jam making, and everything else...) we also have 217 avocado trees. Doesn't sound like too many, but its enough to warrant a little of our time every few weeks.

Around the middle of last year, we had them all pruned and tidied up. Since then we've been watering them regularly. Since fruit set, Josh has been diligently getting up at 5am to spray them, every two and a half weeks.

Two weeks ago, it was go time. We had the fruit maturity tested on a Tuesday, Wednesday morning we were given the all clear to pick, Wednesday afternoon we started. We guessed we'd get about 4 bins of avocados picked (about 250kg per bin). A few people told us that we would get heaps more than that...and they were right. We upped it to 8 bins. We ended up picking 10 bins!

For the start of Day 2, we hired two backpackers to give us a hand. With six people picking, we managed to smash out all of the easy to get to, low hanging fruit and quickly fill four bins. Day 3 we managed to finish the 'easy stuff' and fill another two bins with the harder to reach stuff, by standing on crates and ladders. Day 4, Josh and I were in Kingaroy (2 and a half hours away!) for a food and wine festival. Day 5 we were back and finished off our ten bins with the cherry picker. There is still a little bit of fruit hanging around up there, but we will end up picking them and either sell them from the winery, eat them for brekkie or use them when we have groups here for lunch.

Once picked, Josh drove our baby avos to a nearby packing shed to be washed, graded and packed into boxes. Surprisingly, we had about 70% of our fruit classed as 'Premium' and 'A-Grade', meaning they're all of a good size, haven't been stung by fruit spotting bugs and didn't have any blemishes. Another 20% of the fruit was second grade - maybe a bit deformed or it had a few bug stings. The remaining 10% was all shit. The upside, we still get money for them! (Albeit only around $1/kg). The little baby shitty ones all get turned into frozen guacamole - ironically, the exact same brand I purchase over winter, when fresh avo's aren't available! I'll be buying my baby avo's back!

We just found out that our avo's have made it down to Melbourne, where they are finishing ripening, and will be bought at market this later this week. Some have already been allocated to Woolworths, and the rest will be sold to the highest bidder. We should have an estimate of how much we will be paid in about two weeks, and then actually receive the money (minus the selling fee, the packing fee and a heap of freight) another two weeks after that.

It's been a loooooong process, and avocado picking for five days straight wasn't always peachy, but hopefully it will be a handy little side business to our winemaking!

The start of Day 1. We didn't know what we were in for. 

Breakfast on Day 2. Josh is eating a bacon and egg toastie, and wistfully dreaming of the lobster and caviar he'll be eating when we get paid for the avocados. 

Geoff up on the cherry picker we hired. Ultimately, it was too big and clunky to use effectively, but at least we know for next year. 

My little jam sweatshop

So, it appears that my jam making prowess is starting to spread. I've recently gained a 'contract' (of sorts) where a local car yard wants to buy about 80 jams per month off me for their gift packs they give away when someone buys a car from them.

It's great to have such a regular demand...but it sucks having to spend so many hours sweating away in the kitchen!

Jam-making fruit is a little scarce at the farm at this time of year, so I've been scouring local farm gates for other offerings.

I picked up three dragonfruit, two bags of mandarins, two bags of passionfruit and 6 bags of apples this morning...so I have a big day ahead of me.

If anyone is keen to join my little sweatshop (emphasis on the sweat - it's really humid here this time of year!) feel free!

Rainy days

On the upside, our rainwater tank is completely full and over flowing.

On the downside, it hasn't stopped raining for like a week now. Everything is stained with muddy red footprints. The grass (lets be honest, weeds) are all ankle height because we can't mow the wet grass. I'm down to my last pair of undies because we can't dry the clothes. We've barely had any customers because no one wants to be outside in this weather.

It's pretty relentless.

Josh and I made a trip to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon, to pick up 300kg of Queen Garnet "super plums". It was nice to get away for the night and have dinner in Southbank. It wasn't so nice driving in the bumpy old ute, who's only redeeming feature (the killer air-con) died about an hour in to the eight hour return journey.

Despite a few dramas, we managed to pick up the plums on Friday morning, and sweated our way back to Childers.

It was grey and cloudy, and incredibly humid when we arrived home - yet we started processing the plums. Since we have no forklift, we were packing the plums into smaller boxes, carrying them to our cellar and crushing them.

The crusher broke.

So - we have 150kg worth of plums processed and fermenting, the other 150kg are sitting in the cool room to ripen up a little more before we subject the crusher to any more torture.


In summary, this week has been a lot of rain, sweat and plum juice.

Famous last words.

So, remember how I said I was pretty much back to normal? Famous last words.

Yesterday, I woke up worse than ever! At about 5:45am, I bundled myself in the car and took myself down to the hospital again. You know it must be bad if I'm up before 6am!

The same nurse that saw me the first time was back on duty, and she was surprised to see me back again. She couldn't believe that it had come back, and definitely worse this time!

Again, she took some vitals, doped me up on steroids and sent me back to the GP for a prescription and allergy testing. I'm on a stronger course of steroids this time, and for twice as long. So far, they seem to have had a minimal effect. It reduces the puffiness, I guess, but certainly not the redness, heat or itchiness.

I've also had blood tests today to try and identify the cause - it's for all the usual things (pollen, grass, pesticides) and for some unusual things too (mangos that I never eat, shellfish that I never eat). The general vibe is that it's something that I've developed an allergy to, but don't realise - so, it's just kinda come out of nowhere and I don't realise that I'm ingesting it, because I always have. Or that it's something in the air - some new tree that's flowering, or some spray that either Josh or a nearby farmer is spraying around.

Fingers crossed that we find out soon, I can't deal with this itchiness for much longer!!!

Old boof head over here!

It seems worst around my eyes, but my whole face and neck is itchy!

The time I overdosed...

Not to be outdone by Josh's medical dramas, it seems 2016 might be my year to shine.

The other day, I woke up with an itchy eyelid and nostril. Weird, hey! I took a Telfast (antihistamine) and tried not to scratch it. An hour or so later, it was still super itchy, so I tried rubbing on some ointment - still no relief.

I toddled down to the local pharmacy to see if they could help.

"I'm dying!"
"You look pretty healthy for someone who's dying...?" the pharmacist enquired.
"Well, I am. You just have to look closely. At my eyelid."

I explained what was happening, and he seemed very surprised that the Telfast didn't solve it. He said that it was probably a contact allergy (so, I touched something, then rubbed my face) and that I should take these pills.

"Now, it says take one three times a day, but instead, I want you to take four at once, about an hour before you want to go to bed. You'll have the best nights sleep of your life and wake up good as gold tomorrow."

Nervously excited about my impending 'best sleep ever', I gulped down the pills and hit the hay.

I tossed and turned all night. I couldn't get comfortable. I was hot, then cold, then hot again. I slept in til 9:26am, when Josh couldn't stand it any longer and kept beeping the tractor horn right outside the bedroom window.

Groggily, I scratched my face and peered in the mirror. I was not good as gold.

I was blotchy, itchy, red and miserable. I couldn't think clearly and felt like death.

I stumbled around, complaining, for about half an hour or so before Josh told me to go to the hospital. I sat there for about an hour, listening to some old guy dribble on about needing his blood pressure checked, how the Chinese are buying up all the land and how much rain we were supposed to get this week. I politely ignored him and tried to keep my eyes open.

Finally, it was my turn to see the nurse on duty.

She took some notes, and all my vitals, then declared that I'd overdosed myself.

Whatever was wrong with me the other day was pretty irrelevant, as all the symptoms I was showing was from an overdose of the anti-allergy medication the pharmacist prescribed. She gave me a steroid pill for three days and said it would clear up soon.

Sure enough, I'm back to normal today. My skin is still a little dry, but (thank GOD!) the itching has stopped.

Moral of the story? Always listen to my mother. She said that taking four pills seemed like too much.

The people that you meet

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.