First time I saw the trees

Making olive oil labels at the MAD house
When a 250 pound pet pig named Squiggles greets you at the front door, you know you’re at the MAD house. I patted the pig on the head and laughed as she squealed a charming little hello. My human friends Leelee and The Wolf stood just behind her, and I gave them both big hugs. I [...]

Behind the scenes at Toast Martinborough
It was almost 9:30 am and the floodgates were about to open. Literally thousands of wine lovers would soon be swarming around the large white festival tent and the outdoor stage at the Escarpment pavilion of Toast Martinborough. I had already received my red Escarpment Vineyard T-shirt, and I was waiting to talk to a woman [...]

Egg delivery gone wrong
I was carrying two dozen farm fresh eggs as I stepped up onto the train at Featherston station. It’s not what most people carry during their morning commute, but when you live in the country and work in the city as I do, you start doing strange things. For example, just the other week I took [...]

Saturday morning fire
Rick and Uncle Oscar went away on a trip and I woke up alone on a very cold Saturday morning, so I decided to build a fire. I had no idea that it would end in a nightmare. Before moving to Martinborough, I had never relied on fire to heat my home. Growing up in suburban [...]

The year there were no olives
The other day I took a walk through the olive grove to see how the trees are doing. It was comforting to see the small, green flower buds of spring. It isn’t always this way. Sometimes olives groves don’t behave according to plan. Neglected grove When we bought this place the house had been empty for some time, [...]