Photos from Google Images
We met some very interesting hazelnut farmers today who have owned their property since Easter – and achieved big things since then.
Carole, Nathan, two-year-old Emma and their son-to-be of Glengarry, near Exeter, were very welcoming, honest and willing to share their experiences (bribed only slightly by my choc chip banana muffins). They have 150 acres and are planning on planting 7000 trees eventually (1650 one- and two-year-old trees so far) as well as the nursery they purchased from Harvey’s first contact at Hagley.
The four of us talked soil conditions, locations, wind breaks, nut varieties, pollination, casual staff, irrigation and much more as the kids played, with Noah promising Emma that she could play with his train set when they visited our house – cute.
While their commercial farm is much bigger than our anticipated 1000 trees or so, they moved to Tasmania to start a farm for similar reasons to us – gap in the market, lifestyle and a chance to live off the land. Harvey even offered to help out when they install their irrigation system in a few weeks so he could learn more!