I have fond memories of growing up on a dairy farm in Loxton North, South Australia. Dad and Mum were share farmers and took a third of the profit from the dairy and the owner took two thirds. We lived on the farm for about 12 years.
This is my family circa 1972. Left to right. Front: Me, Scott, Teena, Jim. Back Mum & Dad. All of us are dressed in our best cloths for the Loxton Show. These were simple living times at their best.
There was a large fruit orchard next to the farm house and as kids we used to play there all the time. My brother Jim and I would climb the massive apricot tree and scoff down so many apricots that we would burst. We would try and pick oranges (Navel and Valencia) without getting pricked by the thorns. Of course there was a lemon tree, apple tree, quince tree, huge fig tree, pears, nectarine, peach and I think an almond tree. All trees were irrigated and it seamed that we were never without fruit. We even made the mistake of trying to eat a quince raw. Yuck, so horrible.
I think Dad pruned them each year and sprayed cow manure sludge from the dairy a couple of times a year. Mum used to preserve peaches, apricots, nectarines and pears with her fowlers-vacola kit each summer. We would have these fruits as desert with fresh cream from the farm every couple of days. I don’t think we ever bought fruit from the shop the entire time we lived on the dairy. Back in those days there were no such thing as getting fresh fruit out of season from interstate or overseas.
The sad thing is that the dairy farm is no longer due to climate change. As the Murray Rivers flow has slowed, there is not enough water to go around for all of the irrigators. Their water allocation gets cut smaller and smaller each year. As we were in such a dry area, the only solution to keep up production was to irrigate. The dairy supplied some of the Riverland’s milk each day (we had about 120 head of dairy cows), and our farm was surrounded by Orange groves and vineyards. The dairy is now just a dust bowl, and the oranges and grapes are all drip irrigated instead of open channel irrigation as in the past. Far more economical for them, but you just can’t drip irrigate pasture for cows!
Anyway, this brings me to the point of my post. I already have the following fruit trees growing on my suburban farm;
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Blood Plums
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Dwarf Jonathan Apple
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Dwarf ‘ANZAC’ Peach
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Lemonade
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Tahitian Lime
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Lemon
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Mandarin
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Apricot
Not content with that lot, Kim and I decided in late February to get 10 more fruit trees and create fruit orchard in the front yard. As my attempts to grow vegetables in the front have failed dismally due to the lack of rain and being able water with mains, we decided to put in drip irrigation to help them survive. It will be much easier than watering garden beds once a day. So here is what I bought from the Diggers Club and they arrived in the mail today in a huge box. The post lady struggled to get it through the gate!
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Dwarf Apples ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’,
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Dwarf Apple ‘Granny Smith’,
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Cocktail Pear ‘San Giovanni’,
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Cocktail Pear ‘Lemon Bergamot’,
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Cherry ‘Stella’,
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Nectarine ‘Goldmine’,
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Peach ‘Anzac’,
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Apricot ‘Moorpark’,
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Plum ‘Santa Rosa’, and
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Plum ‘Satsuma’
I will post some pictures tomorrow, as it was getting dark when they arrived. This lot set me back $210 which I personally think is a bargain. I will recoup it easily in the second season. Only nine of the plants came today, with the ANZAC Peach being sent in November. Apparently the heatwave we had in summer damaged a lot of their fruit stock.
So, over the next few days I will be preparing the holes for each of these trees in the front yard. I have to pull a few dead shrubs out that popped their clogs over summer and dig heaps of cow and chook manure into the beds. It will take me a while, and I will only be able to do it while Kim is sleeping in the afternoons, but I will get there. Maybe my strapping son Adam will volunteer to help me out on the weekend!
With lots of TLC and a good irrigation system, they will get through the first summer and fruit in the second. All of my childhood memories will become reality for my kids. What a great legacy to pass on and we should be self sufficient in fruit for our family. We might even be able to sell some of the fruit when all the kids leave home, or use it for barter. Either way, I am looking forward to getting them in the ground and giving these trees the best start I can.
Gee Gavin, you really sent me on a stroll down memory lane!
I grew up on a dairy farm in Victoria, and we also had a fruit orchard next to the farm house.
I really miss those juicy apricots, pears, mulberries, various varieties of apples and plums, picked and eaten whilst sitting in the tree.
Our old farm is now an industrial estate 🙁
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BevB
OH NO YOU DIDN’T!!!!! You did not just put up the MOST embarrassing family photo you could find!!!!!
God help me
xoxoxoxox
My word verification is also “LAME”
Oh you forgot the Mulberry tree that was in the houseyard near chook pen, very fond memories of climbing that tree with my best sunday school dress on and YOU telling me to put the fruit into my skirt pocket so i could climb down and then slapping my pocket….
Dad was pretty HOT in his day wasn’t he? Spunky Man!
xoxoxo
Wonderful memories, takes me back to my childhood days, when we used to help cut apricots for drying, and place them on long open wire mesh trays, after which they would burn sulphur to keep the colour in the fruit (and I suspect, to ward off the flies!) Not done that way now, thank goodness.
I recall often having a belly-ache, so probably more were eaten than were placed on the trays. I was always game to try anything and remember eating raw quince, green olives (straight from the tree) YUK-YUK !!! and crab apples (not much better than the olives)
Then the milk separator, how lovely the fresh cream flowing out, some eaten with home made bread and jam, while the remainder was kept to sour for the butter.
I can still smell the cellar full of preserves and fruit in my memories today.
Thanks Gav.
yes i used to have a nice head of hair in them days.yes gav you did bring back a lot a happy memories, iff we could only turn back the clock,oh well on with life
Not sure about the cherry; thought it was too warm in winter to set fruit. But my real hesitancy about growing soft fruits is fruit fly, though the drier summers have reduced its prevalence IMO.
We used to have an apricot tree in the paddock next to our house, which kept all the neighbours in fruit when in season. A friend had a giant mulberry, too, which we used to climb and scoff.
I’ve planted a whole bunch of fruit trees in our front yard as well. I really want my kids to know the excitement and joy of picking and eating fresh fruit while running around with their friends.
Love the family photo, Gav. LOL Weren’t we all dorks back then, I am including myself in that as well ;- )
You’ll have a wonderful fruit orchard soon. I’m very envious of your apricot. I’d love to grow them.
I grew up on 7 acres of plant nursery in the middle of the city but not a fruit tree in sight! However,now my mother has fruit all year round from her fruit trees, for all the family. Today I picked feijoas, apples, oranges and the second to last mango. Every single week of the year there is some fruit for us…. amazing….and only 2 miles from the centre of Adelaide.
It sounds like this post took everyone back in time. I suppose that was my intention, because when I received my 9 fruit trees yesterday, that is exactly what happened to me. Hence the story of our orchard on the dairy.
I am glad it made people reflect upon the good old days and hope it inspired people to plant more fruit trees where they can!
Gav
The description you gave of your childhood memories on your parents’ farm transported me right back there with you…well done. Your parents created a phenomenal sensory and tastebud-salivating experience for you and your siblings and I hope that one day soon your lucky little kiddies will recognize what treasures you’ve bestowed on them with your orchard and overall eco-responsible way of living. On another note, I am saddened to hear that climate change is so palpable in your neck of the woods. I was honeymooning in Australia way back in 1999 when a terrible fire was ripping through the area, and at the time, I was so naive that I simply thought it was an anomaly. Ever since then, I continually hear about horrendous fires near you…fires that rival the insane ones in my neck of the woods (in Colorado). It is a scary time that we live in.
I was just passing through and thought I’d throw my two bobs worth in.
I’m nearly 30 and grew up in a outer shire – suburban/residential home of Melbourne on the Western Basalt Volcanic Plains where my parents built and planted a striking cumquat out the back before I was a glint in my fathers eye.
The cumquat still exists today and I have to laugh when my mates and brothers test their ability to not squince when they eat one or complain as they spit it out, as it is quite sour. After a quick search for a photograph online (here: http://www.kirkendale.com.au/pages/cumquat.html ), I found info on wikipedia noting to eat the fruit with the flesh as it is sweet, giving a contrast to the sour.
That brings me to reason I’m passing through – by using google – I am searching for information about “dealing with climate change and fruit orchards” as the heat affected my 6 yr old plum orchard, causing the developing fruit to drop when around 8mm.
Hi Gavin, I’m interested in my own orchard. Which variety is best? I tried with raspberries and blueberries and got masses of leaves but no fruit then it died. Also, can I just clump them together on my small property or is it better to only get a few? Thanks for your help
Best to use trees suited to your climate, and on dwarf root stock if you can get them. That way you can plant more trees, closer together. Smaller yield but more variety. As for the berries, do you live in a cool climate? They love a cold winter before fruiting.