Our stone fruit orchard, situated in the Wirrabara Forest, Southern Flinders Ranges has been certified “Demeter” by the Biodynamic Research Institute since 2001. Additional to the orchard is biodynamic seasonal vegetable production, free range poultry, beef cattle, sheep, bees and many value-added products.
Our motto; ‘working with nature‘, signifies the biodynamic and environmental practices which we follow to enhance ecological diversity, strengthen soil health, add natural resilience and to provide the highest quality farm products.
On the orchard:
We grow a number of varieties of peach, plum, apricot, peacharine, nectarine, quince, apples as well as pears, pomegranates and persimmons. From December to April our family are busy picking, packing, selling and drying our fruits.
Our value added products include dried fruit which is hand cut and dried in our Solar Dehydrator, providing a delicious, natural, preservative-free dried fruit. We also dry fruit the traditional method, lightly sulphured and sundried. The large range of jams, chutneys and sauces are all cooked on our wood-fired stove, and are made from our biodynamically grown fruit and veggies using the tried and true recipes from Denise’s recipe book.
For over 100 years stonefruit has been grown in the area. Cold winters, moderate summers, a 26″ or 650mm annual rainfall, free-draining loamy soils and good quality underground water suit stone fruit production. The majority of our orchard receives minimal irrigation, using microjet sprinklers, although the apricots and most plums are dry grown. Farm Gate sales of our fresh fruit from December to April. Dried fruits, honey, jams and preserves available year round.
We attend local Markets, where our produce is available from our stall. A local Producers Market is held in Wirrabara on the third Sunday of every month and Port Pirie Producers market is the second Sunday. Other outlets for our produce include The Simple Market in Adelaide as well as various organic stores in Vic and SA which stock our certified fresh and dried fruits. Look out for our business name on packaged products.