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SomerVille Spring Fair 2004 Help organise the SomerVille Spring Festival Sat 17th Sept to Sun 18th SeptThat’s right the SomerVille Spring Festival as this is more than just a fair, this is a festival and a festival of festivals at that, as we want to make this a weekend of:
But to do this we need your help NOW. The benefits of actively participating in the organisation of the festival include (but are not limited to):
The Festival Circle has been set up into different teams who are responsible for organising different aspects of the festival. Each of these teams need your HELP NOW, some more than others, so the teams that need the most help have been highlighted in Red. Please contact the people in charge of the relevant team if you would like to help in any way. Overall Coordination Looking after the whole event and making sure it all runs smoothly.
Program TeamLooking after the content of the festival, the music activities etc… this has been set up into four subgroups Circus
Music
Health & Healing
Education
Model of SomerVille As a subgroup of education help construct a model of SomerVille to display at the festival.
Stalls Team (Needs Help NOW)Contacting and arranging all the different stall holders, including food and drink providers.
Public Relations Team (Needs Help NOW)Promote the festival, radio, magazine, posters etc…
Venue Team (Needs help 16th to 18th September)Set up the facilities of the venue, campsite, parking, toilets, marquees, coordinate the setting up of the stalls, stage etc…
Finance TeamWorking out the budget, and looking after the financial side of things.
Additionally we need people to help on the day. So if you cannot help in organising the event but can help on the day please contact either Gina or Paul (Overall Coordinators).
Coming Events SomerVille calendar of eventsPlease Note that where possible, workshops and meetings will coincide with the SomerVille viewing days on the first Sunday of each month, which are now called SomerVille Sundays. We will still email you in advance of events if we have your email address, or you can check the calendar on http://www.greenedge.org/calendar_of_events.htm. a few days before each event. Thursday 14th July
Sunday 17th July
Sunday 7th August.
Sunday 4th September.
Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2005:
Sunday 2nd October.
Saturday 29th October 2005:
Note: Chidlow Markets occur on the last Saturday of every month, the next two being on 28th May and 25th June. Note: The Chidlow Show will be on Sunday November 13th 2005. For the latest list of all the coming events please visit http://www.greenedge.org/calendar_of_events.htm. Articles The Learning Telegraph gets All Involved
Constructing the Stilts Gina Price First time visitors found themselves putting on overalls and laying the foundation of a brick wall soon after arrival at the SomerVille Sunday of 3rd July 2005. Others followed laying a row or two as the desire took them until a small wall stood ready to support a bench, a further addition to the Yellow shed kitchen. Meanwhile a recumbent bicycle lying in pieces was stumbled across by two teenagers who in no time had put it together and were last seen peddling down to the race track. Another activity involved the construction of two pairs of stilts. The children put those practicing carpentry skills under great pressure with their eagerness to carry out a rigorous test procedure. As the clouds cleared for the 9 o’clock start, a solar panel, switch, light and battery were wired up with a voltmeter as folks actively explored the basic elements of solar passive design. They found that a 20 Watt solar panel produced a current of 1.2 amps which could power a 20 W light and charge a battery enough to keep the light running for 30 - 38 hours.
Exploring solar power After an active and satisfying morning, and the usual splendid spread for lunch, all retired to the yellow shed for an efficient line up of 15 minute presentations giving updates on various aspects of the SomerVille project. The day was organised by The Learning Telegraph Inc. which aims to promote the sharing of knowledge through human interaction. Contact Nick Mortimer or Gina Price for further information Rainbows over SomerVille
Rainbow over the Yellow shed Neil Robertson The wet May and June months have given us some interesting weather with torrential rain one minute and bright sunshine the next. Paul Antonelli managed to capture some great photos on Thursday 9th June of the Yellow Shed in its full glory. We always suspected the Yellow Shed was a magical place. Now we know for sure! Summer Wine – the SomerVille way
The first SomerVille cellar (looks like a hobbit home). Brett Davies The second vintage of the soon-to-be-famous SomerVille wine is well and truly underway. Last year’s effort was very successful considering the venture into the unknown (at least for us) with a crush of just over a tonne of Shiraz. First, a report on last year’s vintage. Although there was some variability, the general quality of the 2004 wine was surprisingly high. As that vintage was unfiltered there were some problems with ‘cloudiness’ and ‘sediment’, but the majority of the bottled wine was very good and more than quite drinkable. This was especially gratifying considering that the wine had seen no oak at all! Whereas last year we crushed just over a tonne of Shiraz, this year saw one and a half tonnes of high quality Shiraz fruit pass through the crusher, de-stemmer, the two big red fermentation vats and the press. We had many hands (and feet) on the job. This year we have bought two French oak barriques (225 litres each) to age the wine in. Last year’s grapes were sourced from a grower in the Swan Valley who did not use pesticide sprays. This year the grapes that are working their way towards wine greatness were sourced from another Swan Valley vineyard in which organic growing principles are practiced. Other than washing the demijohns and barrels with a weak sulphite sterilizing solution prior to racking, nothing has been added to the wine. Our approach will continue to be one of minimum intervention in what is ultimately a natural process. A brief overview of this year’s process is recounted below. Crush and de-stem – separates the fruit from the bunches and releases most of the juice from the berries, leaving the stalks and any leaf material behind (to be sent to the compost heap). Initial fermentation on the skins for about five days to extract colour and some important structural compounds. 1st racking – separates the fermenting juice (‘must’) from the skins. The racking was into glass demijohn containers. At the same time the separated skins were pressed in a ‘basket press’ to release as much of the remaining juice as possible. This juice was then combined with the free run juice in the demijohns. The skins are collected for composting. Fermentation - for about two months during which the two stages of fermentation were completed. 2nd racking of nearly half of the wine into French oak barrels.
Robert on the basket press – an artist at work! For a quarter of the remaining wine we have used oak chips in an experiment to see how they affect wine quality when added later than normal. The rest will remain completely un-oaked (like last year’s wine) and this will allow us to compare the two vintages. Three styles will therefore be the result of this year’s activity. During the selection of the demijohns for racking into the barrels it was noted that the quality of the developing wine is already excellent. Given the high quality of the fruit we’re expecting great things from this vintage!
The pump in operation during racking. I expect that we will leave the wine in one of the barrels for between 6 and 9 months and at this stage would like to leave the other barrel for 12 months. The barrels, as well as wine in the un-oaked and oak ‘chipped’ demijohns will be tested regularly to see how the wine is aging before deciding on the ultimate bottling date for each style. Bottling of the wine now in demijohns and in one barrel is likely to take place around November, whilst the wine in the remaining barrels should be ready for bottling at Christmas 2005 and around vintage time next year. We expect to produce at least 60 cases (720 bottles) of wine this year. All in all this year’s activities will be remembered as the ‘grand 2005 shiraz aging experiment’ … which is well in tune with the Year of Action spirit! We are hoping to expand SomerVille wine in a small way next year. This may involve establishing a small ‘permanent’ winery in part of the Yellow Shed, as we will by then have the Community House for meetings. We also want to move to stainless steel vats. Requests from several Somervillians to produce some white wine is also being considered and it is likely that we will attempt to produce a small volume of white wine – probably chardonnay. Keep reading Christophe’s excellent SomerVille newsletter for updates. If you would like to become more involved in SomerVille wine making, or would like to secure some wine, please send an email to |
