We often get the comment “Misty Rise, that’s such a lovely name for a wine”, to which our reply is always something like “yes, we named it after our farm, and we named our farm after our pet Friesian cow!”. The story of Misty has been an adventure, and one of the big reasons for why we live on the farm we call Misty Rise. So let’s start from there.
Back in 2014, we had moved from Queensland to Canberra, and chose to try farm living rather than a house in the suburbs. We rented a farm house on a property just north of the ACT border, just inside NSW, and had lots of space to roam. Russ’ mum and her husband were living in the Bega Valley at the time, amongst some of Australia’s nicest dairy herds. Cliff the diary hand was renting a small shack on their property, and offered to find us a calf if we were interested. You bet! It wasn’t long before a gorgeous, four-day-old little black and white calf made the journey from Bega in our trailer wrapped up in blankets, and joined our family.
Being small, black and white and growing up with Border Collies led to Misty’s firm belief that she too was a dog. Growing up with lots of cuddles from our family led to the further firm belief in her mind that she was a human, part of the family, and with visiting rights through the kitchen door. Those rights were exercised some months later when we were away and one of Russ’ PhD students Chris was looking after the place for us – by then, she was only just small enough to be convinced to leave the kitchen by the way she came in! So when it came time to leave that farm, one of the reasons we wanted to buy our own farm was our beloved (but often demanding) Misty.
At Misty Rise, to help with feeding not just Misty but also a large flotilla of chickens, for many years we would do a Sunday afternoon bread run – collecting the leftover bread from a bakery in Canberra. Cows love bread. That’s one of the handy lessons we learned from a friendly neigbour – bread is like lollies for cows, and has enabled us to lead Misty from one part of the farm to another on many an occasion. But another lesson we learned is that cows’ digestive tracts do NOT like sourdough. The yeast in the bread in the bread messes with their system and leads to acidosis, with lots of gas, lots of bloating and not unlikely, death. This seemed likely to be her fate back in 2017, with the local veterinary advice being “time to dig a big hole, she’s not going to make it”. Well, we begged to differ, and armed with some advice from Cliff (pour mineral oil down her throat each day, and some bicarb soda, and step well back as she burps), we set about saving Misty. And save her we did, though not without causing a pause to Russ’ contribution to progress for the establishment of the Australian Space Agency. The inaugural head of the Agency to this day fondly refers to “Misty the Space Cow”! And Misty is still going strong!
So when you enjoy our wine, think of Misty!