This Saturday was our second day of olive picking for 2010. We are lucky to have volunteers that help every year to bring in the harvest. This year’s team were Jane, Simon, Meg, Arabella, Sophie, vineyard manager Nick, Jono (for the third time in a row!), my aunt Sarah, uncle Stuart, and cousin Rose. Later [...]
Entries Tagged as 'astrolabe farm'
Pinot Grigio, Pinafores and Quince Jelly (again)
May 24th, 2010 · No Comments · astrolabe farm, food, meg, sophie, wellington
Sophie is off gallivanting around Asia and Jane has her hands full with Astrolabe farm and holding the fort at the office so I thought I would dash off a little blog post to keep everyone up to date.
Last weekend Sophie came up to Wellington to do two tastings at Thorndon New World with me. [...]
Tags:astrolabe farm·bicycles·green efforts·meg·Pinot Grigio·quince jelly·sophie·supermarkets·thorndon new world·wellington
Easter Eggs and Pinot Noir
April 6th, 2010 · No Comments · arabella, astrolabe farm, durvillea, harvest, meg, vintage
We hope everyone had a good easter break!
It has been a busy easter weekend here at Astrolabe Farm. Arabella is home for the university mid-term break and Meg arrived home on Good Friday. We got straight into some chores – waterblasting, mowing, harvesting the quince and picking up walnuts. This was all in preparation for [...]
Tags:2010 Marlborough vintage·arabella·astrolabe farm·chickens·Easter·family·marlborough·meg·pinot noir·vintage·viticulture
Crafty work down on the farm.
March 9th, 2010 · No Comments · Dean Betts, astrolabe farm, durvillea, harvest, marlborough wine and food festival, recipe, sophie, the girls, vintage
The approaching harvest of the grapes is beginning to dominate life. Nick has been working hard in the vineyard cutting out green fruit and putting on nets. There is a rising sense of anticipation. We are beginning to watch the weather carefully and notice the cooler nights. So far so good.
As well as the grapes, the [...]
Down on the Farm….A new year
January 12th, 2010 · No Comments · astrolabe farm, durvillea, jane, recipe
Happy New Year to you all. Monday morning and back at work in the office. Actually I covered the office between Christmas and New Year but everyone is back at their desks looking bright eyed or is that just the lovely strong coffees Simon made us all.
After spending most of November and December away it [...]
Tags:astrolabe farm·jane·recipe
aaaaaaaaargh…..A green tale
October 5th, 2009 · No Comments · durvillea, jane
There are several strands to the Durvillea story. So far you have met some of the people involved, the women of our family. From me you have heard a little about our life at Astrolabe and it is from here that the green strand evolves. Another aspect is that we are real people with a [...]
Down on the Farm – Cautionary Tales of Chicken Keeping (Part Two)
September 7th, 2009 · No Comments · astrolabe farm, jane
The Famous Five
PART ONE HERE
Sunday 30th August – It is pouring with rain here and I have just been down to visit the chickens. Wet chickens look very dismal. They were hoping I would open the gate. So now they are huddled in the coop looking very disappointed with life.
After my saga with Hillary and [...]
Sophie's Wrap Up
August 28th, 2009 · No Comments · astrolabe farm, sophie
Another busy week! After arriving back into Blenheim from Hawkes Bay we were treated to a lovely afternoon tea with Jane and Simon, and a quick debrief of the last week as we had all been away.
The 2009 Durvillea Pinot Grigio was bottled on Monday, after worrying that the labels weren’t [...]
Down on the farm – Cautionary tales of chicken keeping (Part One)
August 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment · astrolabe farm, jane
We are just back back from a week in the North Island doing sales work. We began with a dinner for Astrolabe at Soto, a day in the trade, then down to Hamilton for a dinner at Domaine and more calls. I did my first Durvillea tasting at Te Rapa New World while Simon tasted [...]
Tags:astrolabe farm·chickens·jane
Down on the farm (Astrolabe Farm that is)
August 16th, 2009 · 3 Comments · astrolabe farm, family, jane
Now, Meg normally writes these blogs but in attempt to let her focus on her Masters I have been given Monday mornings to fill you in on what is happening here on Astrolabe Farm. Astrolabe Farm is our home, vineyard, olive grove and gardens. It is the home to Astrolabe and Durvillea as well. Most [...]
Tags:astrolabe farm·jane
