Its finally opened up, believe it or not with all the cold weather and rain ( we had 65 mms over the weekend), the long awaited arrival of the extremely rare Serruria gracilis has now finally happened.

I posted a while ago about this little stunner here,  (Big changes since June hey?)  So no luck with the solar panel and live web cam feed, but I stick to what I promised with photos taken this weekend of the opening up of this shy little beauty.   Absolutely stunning.   It encourages me to think about a Fynbos Monday theme…watch this space.  Kind of like Tuesday Tabs except without the dodgy pics of Randall…and these are SFW.

So I went for a quick little walk, the phones aren’t busy and the tasting room is dead, dead quiet.   I was bombing around my daily dose of internets,  on one of my regular reads I came across this and entered the 2Oceansvibe competition where you can win a ga jillion Rand, and the real draw card….tickets to the Killers.   Now I’ve missed the boat with tickets, they’re all sold out unfortunately, but because it’s just too good a deal not to take, the money AND the tickets, I thought id invest in some sneaky Euromillions.    Thanks Seth, when I win please can I get one of those big cheques?

Thinking about how I’m going to spend this small fortune, I thought I would go and clear the head with a quick walk.  Too many thoughts of whether the Bugati Veyron can be converted to 4 X 4, and the farms new Lamborghini tractor, (seriously they have good tractors).    So I plugged the ipod into the ears ( Dean Fuel you legend)  and packed my camera and macro lens, and a brisk five minutes later I was into this:  a stunning little stand of Leucospermum reflexum.

Naturally this would only occur in a tiny belt of Cederberg Fynbos which runs from near Wupperthal ( great Veldskoen are made here,  I have three pairs) through to Travellers Rest, and smack bang in the middle is Bushmanskloof Wilderness Reserve and Retreat, a lekker little spot up in the mountains, where this was one of my Fynbos favourites.    I loved it so much we’ve got this stand growing on the farm, and its always a special time when they open up.     If you’re driving through Bishops Court, and over towards Constantia on the M3, look out for a monster stand of these absolute knock outs.    Take care though, that’s a mean corner if youre not concentrating.   Get the missus to drive if you have one too many Jack Blacks at Forries!

So I took little montage of the flowering stages just for you:

Inconspicuos no?  No ideas what it is going to turn into, very shy.

The tiniest hint of colour coming out…

A little more….until…

BOOM.  Awesome no?

These are so magnificent.  You have to see them to appreciate truly how stunning these proteas are.  All the better to go and see them in their unique habitat of this  one tiny patch of the Cederberg,   I love Fynbos.

And a quick update,  from the last time I was near this little precious, if you missed it you can catch that right here, it’s the same plant, just now all that closer to opening up and sharing its beauty with the world.

And from Tony’s massive database of Protea’s I learnt today that they are helped onwards and upwards by Ants.  Amazing.   So special.

Graceful Spiderhead – Serruria gracilis

For those that love this type of thing to lift the spirits, Id encourage you all to head over to Siegfrieds page of Cape Fynbos.  He has some stunners up here as well.

Or just come to Franschhoek and see for yourself.  When I win the Euromilions I’m going to buy Franschhoek.  And youre welcome to come say hi.   Well drink wine and  beer and talk Fynbos.  Anytime.

This oke was too chilled not to take a sneaky pic.

If I was a bird, I ain’t eating him, that’s for sure.

(ed’s note: The farm is full of small and large things, birds, insects, animals and even the occasional Shrek. We are passionate about every single one of them)

Come on BOKKE!  09:00 Tomorrow morning.  I am itching to get James into Rugby tomorrow.  He will be plied with Biltong (the age old Karoo Dummy) and a virgin Jon Deere (just crème soda) and Im going to teach him a magnificently fun game called fetch Daddy beer!    His Godfather Neil will be proud to know he can already High Five like a champ, and as long as the will to not watch CeeBeeBee’s prevails and bloody Night Garden show again….then we should be in for a cracker of a morning.

For those that missed my vid on n’Kosi Sikilele Afrika, @Newlands, here is the link on Youtube.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLAOVv3docc

Remember that?   Its from not too long ago when we thumped the proverbial Matilda out of the Aussies.

You can even follow the worlds best number 5 and the bain of every other nations line out jumpers right here :  Victor

Does that not build gees for tomorrow?   Even though they are on the other side of the world were all screaming for you okes tomorrow morning back here over eggs and bacon and beer.   BOKKE!

Tomorrow will be the Tri Nations Champs.  I can feel it in my bones.

To all the  loyal followers of Haut Espoir, you will have to excuse me please while I find my feet again with the internets…coming off a great Cherry Flava Media day, where we learnt all about digital media and had a very ‘intense how to for the SA Wine Industry’ session,  my mind is overflowing with ideas.  I was inspired by Jon Cherry and what he had to say about the strategy required.  One of my favourite take aways from the day was a reference to Steve Jobs, and how he is as proud of the things he didn’t do, as he is of the things he did do.     So expect less, maybe expect more.  This whole exercise we’re embarking on is about finding a strategy that works for the farm.

Hence I am going to excuse myself from the vibe for a while, and you will be my guinea pigs.   There might be a few non relative posts coming and going while I try out new features, the whole look and feel of the farm might change while I’m practicing…during this time I would encourage you to leave as many comments about what you are liking and disliking on the pages.    What you would like to hear from us?  More on the family, more about BWI, more about wine and farming, more on fynbos, I need your input.   Please.    In the words of Fred from Heavy Chef, never trust a skinny chef, and be focused.   Here comes the focus.   Brand ambassadors please step up.   Ill make sure you dont go thirsty while were going through the teething and growth phases.

A quick update: the Haut Espoir fan who posts the most constructive comments will win a magnum bottle of Gentle Giant 2006!  get typing!

The weather is so miserable, he’s given nest building a break and has moved inside.   It could also be the smells of Nikey’s blending that is enticing the Pearl Breasted Swallow inside… Nikey is busy with the final blends for the Cab 2007 bottling, and  an Elephant and Barrel blend made for our local watering hole..the Elephant and Barrel.  (They are on Twitter here) Our second office.  They have Jack Black on tap too.  Its delicious.   Plus Mark has been known to make a mean curry.   Very mean.  Not for the faint of heart.   Perfect for this weather, Jack Black and an extra spicy prawn and chicken curry.    Ill catch you there.

According to Roberts, the Pearl Breasted Swallow (P-B S) is sparse to locally common,   a brief summer visitor to the W Cape, present Aug – Apr. Usually in pairs or small groups. This beautiful little P- B S is building a nest, right out side my office window. Its awesome. Soon their will be the flitter flatter of tiny little wings.  In the mean time, its fantastic to watch how busy this little guy is..backwards and forwards with mud and grass, I am going to try and set up the perfect live action shots of the nest building.  Since this is a PG site I wont attempt to broadcast the actual procreation, however I think my calling as a  wild life photographer has finally arrived, I wont even need to leave the office.    The best shots are straight from the tasting room.  Im going to have get this onto the newly formed Franschhoek Bird Club list of outings.

Anyone in the Hoek wanting to Join up, here are the digits : BirdLife Berg River

They aren’t on Twitter…yet.

These shots were sent to me by Mom,  taken from the Limietberg, its absolutely awesome to know these guys are bombing around the Hoek.  The Limietberg is looking particularly spectacular now.  I would encourage heading over there with a picnic on a decent day asap.

There was a video posted on Youtube, courtesy The Month, of one of the Valleys leopard caught in a trap recently. ( Through the Franschhoek grape vine I heard the leopard flipped the trap and bolted off to safety)  I do hope this encourages you all to head over and Adopt a Spot, you can do so here:  The Cape Leopard Trust.  Quinton and the crew work tirelessly and Hein and the team from La Motte are huge supporters of theirs.  They need more.  The fact that these guys are still missioning around the Valley makes me very happy.

Shivers!  Thats awesome stuff.  Right on our doorstep.   I cant wait to meet you.

The Arbor Day got off to a cracking start for the kids, they were given a presentation by the Stellenbosch Winelands District Municipality on Global Warming, Greenhouse gases and the importance of planting trees.   Then the highlight for any student, getting out of class.  And I suppose seeing the Hoof getting his hands dirty with a spade.

Heres Mr Afrika, the Headmaster of the Primary School getting the first tree into the ground.

And here is Jenny, the CEO of FWVTA, plating the second tree.  Then the kids stepped into action, planting out the rest of trees.

From the looks on the faces, great fun was had by all, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing trees getting into the ground, and how much fun the kids had while doing it.

The riverine area alongside the Steubel was a concentration, its also where the bus stop is for the school, so a lot of well neeeded shade and a benefit for the rivers ecosystem is now in!

( Look how clean that section is, the school really has adopted the whole environmental thing) And of course none of this would have been possible without the trees, here is Carl from Just Trees, who kindly has donated 100 trees to the project.   Thanks Carl for being here this morning and for the very generous donation.

And lastly, on the other side of the lens and very happy this has all gone smoothly, (Im the little guy in the shorts)… dae soos vandag maak my trots om in die Vallei te bly! 

Thanks to all the Groendal Primary School  teachers and students for planting and looking after the trees, to Portia and Garth from the Municipality for their help with today,  Jenny and Lindy and the  FWVTA for driving this project, the sponsors of the trees, Carl and for tomorrows project, Dana.  Viva Arbor Week Viva!