How we made a vineyard out of a junkyard at Cockatoo Hill.

I imagined lounging on a veranda overlooking folds of hills striped with vines. I'd be clothed in linen and surrounded by friends. On the table would be tumblers of wine we'd picked in last year's harvest.

Then we arrived at Cockatoo Hill and discovered a dump. When Deirdre and her husband Roger decide to turn a sheep paddock into a vineyard, they were following the centuries old tradition of family wine making. Bit by bit they clean up the land, plant vines, protect them through storms and drought and turn a shack into a cottage. Slowly they start to read the landscape, appreciate the talents of locals and learn what to do when a snake passes by.

This is a humorous memoir with larger-than-life characters, hard slog and sweet triumph. It is also a story of a deepening awareness of our connection with the land and the rhythms of farming life.