During the past 25 years, it’s become a Wagga summer tradition: Head to that cherry farm at Oura and buy some of the freshly picked fruit.
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But this summer, it will be slightly different.
The cherries haven’t changed. The early varieties are just about ready to harvest, and the Sir Dons are shaping up nicely for Christmas.
But for the first time in a quarter of a century, harvest won’t be organised by Ann and Noel Adams.
After 30 years on the Oura Road property – and 25 years of harvesting cherries – the couple have retired and handed the tradition on to new owners, Kristy and Mark Barton.
For Mr and Mrs Adams, the decision to go into cherries was deliberate.
They were moving to 100 acres at Oura and needed a crop that could provide a viable lifestyle. Cherries seemed to meet their needs.
It was a change for Mr Adams, who came from a potato farming background, but it was a challenge the couple wanted to take on.
“In the first year – 1992 – we planted 200 trees,” Mrs Adams said.
“We were too slow getting our order in, so that was all we could get.
We put them in and thought we’d done well. We were really excited.
“Then the same week, we read that 200,000 trees went in on a big operation at Tumbarumba.
“We were wondering what we were in for.
“But there’s not one of those trees left now. Sometimes bigger is not better.”
After the initial 200 trees were planted, Mr and Mrs Adams followed up the next year with 800 more, creating the total of about 1000 that still stand today.
Depending on the variety, it can take three or four years, on average, for a cherry tree to bear fruit.
For the Adams’ trees, it took about five years to get production fully up and running.
Worldwide, there are hundreds of different varieties of cherries, split between sweet and sour.
“Sweet” cherries are what most people recognise as those varieties marketed as “fresh cherries”.
The sour varieties are generally used commercially in products from jam and dried cherries to baking.
At the Oura farm, there are about 15 varieties. Perhaps the best known are the Sir Don and Sir Tom varieties, the big, dark fruit that have come to be so closely associated with an Australian Christmas.
Mrs Adams has long been fascinated by the subtle differences in the varieties, from the obvious changes in fruit size, flavour and colour, to the less immediately noticable properties like stem length and seed size.
“We sort of learned it all as we went,” Mrs Adams said of the early days of the cherry farm.
“There was the pruning and making sure the nets were in place, and then organising the picking and grading, and then selling the cherries.
“We learned slowly and things came up.”
One lesson the couple learned early was the importance of netting.
Along with hail, the threat of birds is constant. Out in the orchard, the quiet is punctuated by the regular sounds of the bird scarer. Without these precautions, the birds would have a field day with the fruit.
The trees can be watered by drip irrigation, but overhead sprays can come in handy, particularly if there is the threat of late frost.
Regular staff are employed during the season in the packing shed, with backpackers and university students most likely to take on the job of picking.
“I still love cherries,” Mrs Adams said.
“I’ve stood here at the grader all day, eating them as I worked. I’ve never become sick of them.”
Harvest quantities are variable, depending on everything from the tree variety to rainfall.
An individual tree could yield as little as five kilograms of fruit, or as much as 40 or 50 kilograms.
But much as Mr and Mrs Adams love cherries, the couple felt it was time to retire.
So Adams’ Cherry Farm has become Grovelands Cherries, with the sale in May to Mr and Mrs Barton.
The Bartons did not set out to buy a cherry farm.
Living at North Wagga and the owners of a small stock horse operation, they were primarily interested in the land, but when they visited the cherry farm, they decided to give it a go.
Mr Barton is an auctioneer, so the cherry orchard has become Mrs Barton’s baby.
She has been working with Mr Adams over the past six months, learning his tricks of the trade on pruning and tree maintenance.
Mr Adams said, for example, that keeping the trees at a reasonable height means pickers don’t need ladders.
He will be on hand to offer advice to the Bartons on getting through the first harvest and sales season.
It is only their first year, but the Bartons are already finding there are plenty of ways for the whole family to join in.
Twenty-one-year-old Jackson can turn his hand to most tasks, but even pre-schoolers James and Cooper are demonstrating their deftness in the orchards.
The boys’ smaller size gives them a different perspective on the trees, and they are quickly able to point out any fruit that has been overlooked during picking.
While Mr and Mrs Adams are looking to the future, and watching the new home they are building take shape, they’re looking forward to more time with their family, which includes 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
The end of the era of Adams Cherry Farm is the beginning of Grovelands Cherries’ time.
As she gets ready for harvest, Mrs Barton is considering the creation of a Facebook page so that customers will know exactly when fruit will be available.
She has also been able to reassure customers of one other important item: There will indeed be cherry pies on sale this year.