18/12/2024
NO FRUIT THIS SEASON, SORRY!
This morning we made the very difficult but right decision to not sell fresh fruit this year.
It’s been a really tough year with numerous weather events that haven’t been in our favour (late frost, heavy rain, humidity and extreme heat). A result of this weather has meant there has been an unprecedented amount of damage in the orchard which also has roll on effects in the sense that the excess of damage fruit paired with extreme heat has meant it’s a ripe year for unwanted bugs and insects. We’ve tried to stay optimistic and work with it as much as we could, we’ve even picked and graded some of the fruit this week that we were planning on starting to sell today but in our hearts we knew it didn’t feel right.
It saddens us that we can’t bring you the Christmas cherries that you always love, but since making the tough decision early this morning it feels like the best and right decision. We haven’t made this decision lightly and it’s not a decision we’ve made based on profit margins, it’s the stark realisation that as responsible farmers the fruit isn’t fit for sale as ‘fresh produce’.
We’ve always worked with trying to reduce and minimise the waste within our operations from the way we package our fruit to what we do with our ‘seconds’. We will still be picking the very small amount fruit that we do have but instead of selling it as fresh produce we’ll be working with some great local makers and producers which we have worked with for a number of years now.
So if you’re looking for some festive gifts that utilise our produce, please check out and support our friends
Simon & Wendy from Hurdle Creek have been making local gin over in Milawa since 2016 and have produced a wonderful summery cherry gin for a number of years with us now. You can taste their full range onsite.
Barking Owl are located in Wooragee just up the road from Dave makes a beautiful cherry brandy alongside a range of gins, spirits and liqueurs in Wooragee where wife Jenny also has her pottery studio and pottery for sale.
Both are perfect day trip for a last minute local gifts this weekend.
