Harvest delights

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Susie Green

I’ve written before about the joys of an orchard during autumn. As I was jogging down our valley yesterday evening, I was hit with a warm rush of air laden with the scent of ripening fruit and all my senses were overwhelmed at once by what lay around me. I was reminded once again of just how lucky I am to be a part of this life and this industry and to live in such a beautiful part of the world. I am compelled once again to try and share the experience.

Harvest on an apple orchard in the Adelaide Hills goes on for several months, beginning in the warm days at the end of summer and stretching right through to the very end of autumn. Different varieties ripen progressively over time, making the orchard a patchwork of colours, flavours and smells.

Picking of the first main variety here, Gala, is nearly finished. This is a deliciously sweet apple that to me has flavours that have been soaked up in the warm summer sunshine. It tastes of summer!

An orchard is a hive of activity during harvest; with a sense of busyness but also of care and camaraderie rather than rush; gangs of workers hand picking the fruit into picking bags, then gently emptying into storage bins. Every bit of care is taken to ensure the fruit is handled as gently as possible, looking after the fruit and also protecting the buds that are forming next year’s crop. Workers from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities make for fascinating conversations that ensure a long day of manual labour is never dull. Long standing friendships are often formed with people from all around the world.

During picking season, the low, gentle tones of tractor engines and the hum of trucks provides a background noise that is not intrusive, but acts as a reminder of the constant activity. Tractors with fork lifts keep bins close to pickers and full bins are transported as soon as possible to cool rooms, where the fruit is cooled straight away to maintain its quality. Trucks are constantly on the move, transporting fruit bins between properties and packing sheds.

At the moment the days are still quite long and warm, but they are quickly drawing in and the nights are developing a cool, crisp chill that signals the arrival of autumn. Dust hangs in the air during the day from the dry tracks, while in the cool of the morning, the thick, green grass within the orchard is laden with dew. In the shadows under the trees, the sun’s rays may not reach the ground for much of the day, creating cool pockets of air that contrast with the surrounding warmth.

Conditions over the coming weeks will change quite quickly. The harvested trees will soon begin the process of senescence and the leaves will begin to develop a golden hue. Discarded fruit will begin to ferment on the ground in the damp conditions, creating beautiful smells.

In the meantime, as the weather changes along with the leaves, so the next varieties will mature and ripen. The juicy, yet tart flavours of the very traditional Australian variety, Granny Smith …..

The juicy, sweetness of a crisp, crunchy Fuji, with it’s unique purplish skin ……

And as the growing season draws to a close, the sweet yet acidic flavours of the much loved Pink Lady gradually develop in a complex balance that reflects a perfect combination of warm and cool autumn weather conditions over the long period of maturation.

The sensations of an orchard during harvest period are all consuming and difficult to capture adequately in words and pictures alone. If you can have one experience in life, spending time in a fruit production area is one well worth considering. And I mean a real amount of time. Enough time to meander, relax and truly absorb. Enough time to experience the changing weather patterns. Enough time to soak it all up!

Its blooming time for quality fruit

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Susie Green

Regular readers of my blog will know that I do not particularly enjoy our cold winters. However as spring envelops us, the weather warms up and the sun’s rays soak into my skin and prise something open from within. My heart feels somehow warmer and I feel invigorated and alive.

This is mirrored in my surroundings. At this time of year, no matter which window I look out, I can see a mass of white apple blossom, contrasted against the lush, green of tender new growth. I find myself in an almost constant state of distraction, drawn to gaze out at the breathtaking beauty with a sense of wonderment and respect.

I find that I cannot adequately put into words the magnificent performance that the orchard puts forward at this time of year, so I will try to show it in pictures instead.

This is one of the many views from our house. The trees at the front are a young block out in full bloom.….. shown more closely here………..The look of the blossom up close varies slightly between varieties, but when the flowers first appear they show a pink tip, before opening out to form a white flower with 5 perfect petals.Which shows as a mass of white within the block itself.Fruit trees rely on pollination to occur in order for fruit to form. Most apple varieties require cross pollination with different varieties. Some of this happens with wind, but insects, in particular bees, play a vital role. Walking through the orchard on a warm day the senses truly become alive with the beautiful sights, scents and also the gentle hum of bees. Much of the pollination happens with European bees. Although native bees also play a roleSometimes bees are introduced to provide more certainty with pollination. Here are some hives brought in to assist with the pollination of cherry trees.After a fairly wet winter, all our water storages are also full in preparation for the summer ahead. Careful water management is absolutely critical to sustainable fruit production and every drop of water is precious. In the late afternoon sun, the orchard is being mowed to return the precious organic matter to the soil and keep the tree rows accessible. It is a long-weekend when many people are resting, but on an orchard, spring is a very busy time of year.While these pictures cannot adequately capture the true sights, sounds and smells of spring on an orchard they do perhaps provide a small snapshot of my constant source of distraction. Every day my view changes subtly as everything rapidly comes to life after a cold, wet winter and with it, I feel like I am coming to life too!

Wintry weeks

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Susie Green

There is no doubt that winter in the Adelaide Hills can be cold and wet – well at least cold and wet by Australian standards! Most hills residents tend to take on hibernation traits, keeping indoors where possible, huddling by a roaring fire or wrapped up in bed early to try and keep warm. It would be fair to say that I am definitely a winter hermit, feeling every ounce of cold to the centre of my bones!

As I sit here on the sofa, sip on my hot chocolate and throw another log on the fire, I gaze out through the window and watch the apple pruners at work in the orchard. There is little conversation happening, with the workers deep in concentration, thinking about where to make the next cut and deep in their own thoughts. The steam that gusts from their mouths with each breath is a giveaway to the iciness of the air. I can just about feel the pain in their fingers with the cold air cutting through their gloves.

Despite this, their movements are fluid and the trees that they are working on gradually transform from a craggy, messy form into a neat and beautiful shape. Every tree is different and unique, but there is a lovely orderliness to a well pruned orchard. And despite the grey skies and dull light, there is something beautiful about the shapes formed by the bare wood. Devoid of leaves, the trees form their own sculptures.

Thick, lush green grass carpets the orchard floor and provides a rich contrast to the grey wood. Clear flowing water gurgles along the creeks and native ducks abound the dams that are now replenished after good winter rains. For this, I am grateful for the long, dreary days of rain.

Even from my view through the window, I can also see the buds on the branches beginning to swell, showing that spring is not too far away. It is these buds that will form the life of the orchard in the coming months, turning into flowers and leaves. It is these buds that carry the full potential of each tree to produce fruit. It is because of these buds that I am grateful for the long cold spell, as these chill hours are crucial for fruit development in the coming season.

It is also why the pruners are concentrating so hard, striving to get the balance of bud numbers to tree structure right, which will make the difference of a successful season. It is also why the pruners toil for long hours through the dark, cold days of winter, through rain and hail. Every tree gets their individual attention, often more than once.

With spring just around the corner and the promise of warmer weather, I am content to keep warm inside and be thankful for all that winter does bring.

Deciding our food future

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Susie Green

Driving around my local district at this time of year, bulldozers, chainsaws and tractors are a common sight, as growers push out under-performing blocks of trees, ready for reworking. I decided to find out more about why there is a constant program of re-planting fruit trees in a district that is renowned for its high quality fruit production. If the fruit trees in this area are so good, why do growers constantly need to change and improve?

It turns out that long gone is the romantic image of expansive orchards of widely spaced, large, gnarled and twisted 100 year old apple trees. They are now just a nostalgic memory evident only in historical archives and shared reminiscences. The modern orchard consists of younger, high performing trees planted closely together with their growth carefully managed for optimum performance. Further,at any one time, up to 10% of an orchard can be out of production being reworked for new varieties.

The performance of every block within a modern orchard is intensely scrutinized every year. Blocks that are not returning a profit are either pushed out or earmarked for future reworking. This can be a difficult, emotional decision for a grower to make, as they have poured their heart and soul into getting each orchard block to perform to its optimum. But the reality is, they have to take a step back and assess their business performance with the same careful scrutiny as any other business manager.

Perhaps the most difficult decision to make, however, is which variety to plant next. This is a big question, as it will take many years for the results of this decision to become apparent. In an apple orchard, it takes about 7 years from planting for a commercial block of trees to yield a return on investment. Establishment costs are significant, with a large up-front cash injection required.

In any successful business, there is a certain element of risk taking. Decisions made now can impact on the success or failure of the business for many years to come. Educated best-guesses made on all the market data available at the time can quickly unravel when market conditions change. This element of risk, however, is no more apparent than in modern perennial horticulture (fruit and nut tree cropping).

As consumers, we are spoiled for choice in a wide range of fresh produce. Tastes and demands are fickle, and there is constant competition for shelf space in supermarkets. What can one day be a much loved variety can soon become a product that sits on the shelf, unwanted. In addition, fresh produce has to fight against a plethora of snack foods that are backed by massive marketing budgets, drawing in shoppers an array of exciting promises.

Our plant scientists are working hard to breed new varieties that stand out from the crowd and provide a new taste sensation or point of difference. There is also a demand for varieties that keep for longer and are more pest and disease tolerant or use less water. This breeding process is achieved through cross pollination of existing varieties. Once the cross pollination process begins, it takes years to gradually select the more promising varieties, followed by several more years of field trials until the cream of the crop rises to the top.

From the start of a breeding program until a new variety is commercialized can take at least ten years. With lots of exciting new varieties coming into the market place, only some are destined for success, while others will invariably fail. The much loved Pink Lady® apple is truly an Australian success story, coming from Western Australia and now in high demand right around the globe.

Even before the grower has begun to push out a block of trees, they have to have made the decision two years earlier what variety they wish to plant. They put the order in with a nursery for how many trees that want of what variety grafted onto what rootstock.

When making this critical decision a grower is faced with a range of choices. A tough decision to make 2 years prior to planting and a further 7 years after that until the trees are in full production!

Do they stick with an existing, well known variety that, while is a known quantity now, may be out of favour in a volatile market place in 9 years time? Do do they opt for a newer variety that may either be a total success or a complete failure? Does the variety have sufficient volume of plantings to have critical mass in the market place? Is it well supported by a strong marketing and promotions package and how much will it cost to buy-in to that scheme?

No matter how much homework they do, at some point, a grower has to take a deep breath and muster up all the courage of their convictions to commit to a decision. Once the trees are ordered from the nursery, cultivated and planted into the ground, they will again pour their hearts and souls for the next five to seven years into doing the best they possibly can to get the trees to grow and yield quality fruit.

It is only once the trees are producing commercial quantities of fruit that are being packed, stored and sold that they will be able to take stock on that vital decision made many years earlier. It is inevitable that sometimes that decision will prove to have been the wrong one and growers will have to write off all that hard work and start again. But more often than not, through years of experience and careful consideration, the decision will be a good one. This is one of the most rewarding moments in a grower’s life, when years of preparation and toil result in the production of a high quality, profitable crop that consumers enjoy! The culmination of nearly 20 years of development.

The next time I bite into a fresh piece of fruit, I will be giving considerably more thought to the many years of its evolution and perhaps not taking it quite so much for granted.

The real cost of perfect food

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Susie Green

According to the recently released National Food Plan, it is estimated that a whopping 30 to 50 per cent of all food produced on the planet is not eaten. In Australia, on average each person generates roughly 360 kilograms of food waste every year.

These figures are staggering. In order to feed an ever growing population, we cannot just continue to strive for greater production efficiencies without ignoring the issue of food waste.

There are various reasons for food wastage that occur. For many of us, food that goes off in our refrigerator before we get to eat it or left-overs from restaurants that get discarded are the obvious ones.

However a significant degree of waste is also occurring as a by-product of our seemingly insatiable demand for fresh produce that looks perfect, has consistent eating quality and is of perfect size and colour. Much of this waste is not even taken into account in the quoted figures above!

Fresh produce that does not meet a required specification is often discarded before it even leaves the field. Perfectly good food is rejected for a minor blemish or for being the wrong colour, size or shape.

Further, growers are having to go to extraordinary lengths to produce this “perfect” produce; investing heavily in complex growing systems and fighting a battle they can never win completely to iron out the “imperfections” of nature. It takes a lot of effort and costs a lot of money to grow the perfect piece of fruit and vegetable. It takes even more effort to grow an entire field of exactly the same perfect fruit or vegetables.

I would like to share the story of how Australia’s apple growers are tackling this challenge.

Right now as we move into winter, apple growers around the country are beginning a year-long challenge of fruit production. They are taking care of post-harvest nutrition to ensure that the trees have plenty of reserves as they go into dormancy. They are also beginning the process of winter pruning, which goes on for many months. Every single tree in an orchard is pruned by hand. Pruning is a complex science and also an art form that sets down the shape of the tree for the coming year, its vigour and how many pieces of fruit will be carried by each tree. Every tree may be pruned several times over to achieve the desired result. It is one of the most fundamental processes in a commercial apple orchard, but also one of the most labour intensive. Modern orchards are planted at very high tree densities and dwarfing rootstocks to enable greater control over tree vigour and allow for pruning trees to a shape that allows for even light distribution throughout the canopy. This is critical in achieving even colour distribution and fruit ripening.

The amount of fruit that each tree carries directly affects the size of the fruit. So this is a key consideration in all orchard activities. For example, growers strive to grow a Pink Lady apple of a 75 mm diameter, because this has been shown to be the size of apple that consumers are looking for. Apples significantly bigger or smaller than this just won’t sell as well.

As we head into spring and the first blossoms appear, some growers may also consider a process of root pruning, where the tree roots are gently ripped to reduce tree vigour and improve consistency of yields from one year to the next. Bee hives are introduced into orchards to assist with pollination. Good pollination is critical in achieving target yields and the target number of fruit per tree.

Then growers assess the numbers of flowers and viable fruit buds. On many trees, various methods of fruit thinning are then required to reduce the crop load. This is usually achieved through a mixture of chemical applications of plant hormones to induce some shedding, followed up by hand thinning. This is another manual process that occurs during spring, where excess fruit is individually picked off each tree and thrown onto the ground.Through the season, growers then continually monitor and assess the growth of their trees as well as the size of the fruit. Often, growers will go through and do a summer prune to remove excess canopy that is shading the fruit – another manual process.

Growers also closely monitor pests and diseases and use integrated pest management techniques to minimise any damage to fruit. In the heat of summer, sunscreen may even be applied in periods of extreme heat to minimise the effects of fruit sunburn (a special food-safe fruit sunscreen)! Often extremely expensive netting structures are used to avoid damage from birds.

Closer to harvest, if fruit size is a problem growers will adjust their water and nutrient management accordingly, and also may consider a second hand-thinning. Many growers also roll out a reflective matting onto the ground surface that helps reflect light into the lower canopy and improve evenness of fruit colour.

At harvest, all picking is done by hand, to ensure fruit is not bruised or damaged. At this point, any obviously blemished, pale, misshapen or poorly sized fruit is discarded straight onto the ground. Fruit is picked at the correct ripeness for its storage needs, then immediately cooled as quickly as possible to ensure it is maintained at optimum freshness. Fruit that is identified to be at risk of not storing well will be sold straight away. Fruit that is to be stored for longer will be kept in high tech cool rooms where gas levels and moisture levels are controlled to ensure maximum fruit quality after storage.

At the point of packing, growers have to aim for at least a 90% pack out rate. This means that at least 90% of the fruit they supply to the pack house will be sold as first grade fruit. As much as possible of this fruit needs to be of the optimum size range to get the best returns. Any lower pack out rate, or if they get the sizing wrong, they will be losing money. The returns on second grade fruit going to juice or processing just aren’t enough to tip this balance.All their activities throughout the year are targeted towards providing a product that is deemed in demand by the general consumer. What is referred to in industry as the “mars bar fruit” – something that looks and eats exactly the same every time, no matter what part of the tree or orchard it comes from.

This story is not unique to the apple industry. It is across all fresh fruit and vegetable production.

So the question becomes is all this effort and in-field wastage really necessary? Further more, by the very essence of demanding consistency of product, are we as a result creating a more mediocre eating experience? Are we providing a consistently good product, but missing out on the surprise experiences that occur through natural variability and complexity.

Are we jeopardizing the very variability that is essential to natural order and life? Are we missing the chance natural genetic mutations that may provide new opportunities for further exciting eating experiences?

What are your thoughts? What do you look for when you go to buy your fruit and vegetables?

Reflections of an apple orchard in Autumn

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Susie Green

One thing that farmers are often overlooked for is their deep affinity for the land. A farmer has an intrinsic sense of appreciation for the physical landscapes around them and never takes them for granted.

I am fortunate to live on an apple orchard and every single day I feel incredibly lucky to be where I am. No matter how stressed or unhappy I may be after a particularly difficult day, a walk around the property has an incredibly calming effect. It never ceases to amaze me how often my breath is taken away by the beauty of my surroundings.

Autumn in the heart of apple growing country is in particular a very special time of year. It is the time when the long toils of the year come to fruition, when the fruit ripens and is harvested. It is a hive of activity!

The sounds of autumn here are listening to the low rumble of tractors shifting bins of apples, the clank of ladders and the gentle chatter of pickers in the orchard. It is the growl of trucks carrying bins of fruit to be packed or stored, with a steady line of trucks heading to the cool stores well into the evening. It also means very long working days as growers start at first light, pick all day, then work to get bins out for the next day and put fruit away late into the night,

Autumn is also when the night temperatures drop, with cold, crisp mornings followed by clear, sunny days. The cool nights and warm sunshine combine to bring out the best possible colours and flavours in the fruit. The cold morning air and hint of frost or dew on the ground takes your breath away when you take the first few steps outside, then invigorates your body. Before long, the sun creeps up over the horizon and gradually warms you through. Then as the sun plummets over the horizon again at the end of the day, so does the temperature, ready to begin the cycle again.

Autumn in an orchard is also a brilliant display of colour, with leaves changing to a kaleidoscope of yellows after the fruit has been harvested. By late afternoon, the dusty air filters the sunshine to a golden yellow, reflecting off the white trunks of the eucalyptus trees and the dry grassy paddocks nearby, contrasting with the deep greens of the orchard grass and the brilliant pinks and reds of the fruit still ripening on the trees.

In an apple orchard, Autumn is also characterized by the sweet smell of ripe fruit on the trees and in the cool rooms, and discarded fruit fermenting on the orchard floor. The smells of autumn in an apple orchard are divine!

But the greatest joy of all is biting into a crisp, sweet, juicy apple that has been freshly picked from the tree. Savouring the loud crunch resonating through your ears, the intense flavours and magnificent juiciness.

As harvest draws to a close and winter approaches, now is the time where apple growers take stock, review their activities for the year and consider the commercial gains or losses of their enterprise. However it is also a time to pause and be grateful for having the privilege to be caretakers of this amazing corner of the world and to provide fresh, healthy food to our communities.

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