Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga in Aussie Readers

Mar 03, 2019 Brenda rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-release, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, non-fiction, reviewing-by-request, own-read, arc, memoir, uncorrected-proof

3.5★s

Jeff and Todd moved from Sydney where they were corporate employees, sick of the rush and bustle of the city, to the Hunter Valley vineyards. They bought one hundred acres called Block Eight, with dams, grape vines, an old house and sheds – their intention; a B&B reminiscent of Maggie Beer’s property in the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

It didn’t matter that they knew nothing about what they were doing – they made mistakes and fumbled their way through the months and years. And by thei ...more

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May 14, 2019 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-author, nonfiction

I was delighted to win a signed copy of Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga to gift to my mother for Mother’s Day thanks to BetterReading.com.au. However I couldn’t pass it on without reading it first.

Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga is the story of Todd Alexander’s mid life tree change with his partner, Jeff, abandoning inner city living and highly paid careers, for a hundred acre farm in the Hunter Valley, to grow grapes, olives, and run a five star B&B.

T I was delighted to win a signed copy of Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga to gift to my mother for Mother’s Day thanks to BetterReading.com.au. However I couldn’t pass it on without reading it first.

Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga is the story of Todd Alexander’s mid life tree change with his partner, Jeff, abandoning inner city living and highly paid careers, for a hundred acre farm in the Hunter Valley, to grow grapes, olives, and run a five star B&B.

Todd has dreams of channeling his inner Maggie Beer…cooking delicious meals from their own produce, sipping their own labeled wine, enjoying the spectacular views over their property, with Jeff by his side. After all, Todd is wont to say, how hard can it be?

It’s certainly not any where near as easy as Todd hopes. What do two gay city boys know about slashing acres of grass, empty water tanks, broken irrigation systems, eggbound chickens, and desuckering 12,000 grapevines? Not a lot as it turns out, but they are willing to learn, and determined to succeed.

There are failures and successes, mistakes and lucky breaks, all of which Todd shares with honesty and humour. I don’t envy them the years of renovation and building (though the results are stunning), or the back breaking work required to both maintain and grow a farm. But I enjoyed his anecdotes about both the joys and challenges of farm life, and particularly the affectionate descriptions of the couples beloved pets, like the titular Helga the pig.

Todd also shares information of a more personal nature, touching on his relationship with his children who are regular visitors to the farm, and I was moved by his support of his mother as she battled bowel cancer. He also discusses how his experiences as a farmer have resulted in him becoming vegan, and provides a dozen or so of his favourite recipes.

Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Named Helga is an entertaining and charming memoir, and might just inspire your own dreams for a new life, or at least for a nice glass of Semillon. ...more

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Mar 21, 2021 Dee-Ann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humour, non-fiction, australian-authors, memoir, five-star, romance, movie-material, animal-story, lgbtqia, science

A joy to read. Loved reading about the adventures, challenges, achievements and unexpected event that took place leading up to and during the real-life tree change which the author and his partner experienced. Envious. Loved the scenery, animals but mostly the attitudes and enthusiasm of those involved.

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Dec 05, 2018 Kim marked it as to-read

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Jan 01, 2022 Joanie rated it liked it · review of another edition

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