Who: Orchardists Jade Miles and Charlie Showers, Black Barn Farm
Where: Stanley, Indigo Shire, Dhudhuroa Country
Jade, how would you describe what you do?
We grow fruit, fruit trees and perennial plants. We predominantly grow apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries, currants, quince and traditional cider apples. We do a lot of pick-your-own fruit.
It has a reputation for being a real social occasion.
So it should. Growing and harvesting good, nutritious food is essential for human health, and enjoying it together is innate to human nature. People bring their picnics and a bottle of wine, and whole families congregate and make the most of a warm afternoon. People can eat what they like and pay for what they take home.
Do we need to spend time picking our own fruit?
We do have a selection of apples and pears that we pick in the morning for people who are short on time. We also have a stock of frozen berries. We also make our own teas and other seasonal farm produce. We supply local restaurants with our goods during the season.
When is the harvest season?
It starts with the berries in December and continues through to late autumn with the apples and pears. We sell our fruit trees in pots during this time and as bare-rooted stock over winter.
Your fruit always tastes so wonderful – what’s the secret?
We believe healthy, nutrient-dense food comes from maximum tree nutrition, which relies on super-healthy soils. That takes time, biomass, biodiversity, and carefully managed disturbance. We follow permaculture principles and have planted a diversity of fruiting species and varieties, rootstocks and understorey species, and keep soils biologically active by using inter-row cover cropping and applying woody mulch.
How do we get to taste your fruit?
Come and see us at 60 Lower Nine Mile Road, Stanley, or visit our website to check out our range of feasts and workshops (blackbarnfarm.com.au).