October 22 Update:
Sadly the fruit set this season on the sweet cherries is not good and we are unlikely to be able to open for pick your own. We’re yet to see what the morello sours will bring.
We hope the weather will be kinder so the orchard can yield lots of beautiful cherries for us to open again in summer 2027.
It’s not one simple reason but the effects of extreme heat and water stress last summer during bud form and an unusually mild winter would have affected pollen strength and blossom health. The blossom came out ok but in this condition would have had a shorter pollination window, making them extra reliant on bees for pollination in a small window of time. Unfortunately during this all important pollination time the bees we had brought in were very inactive. Cold nights and frosts followed by hot days and hot scorching winds during blossom didn’t help. Early fruit set in some areas was looking ok but there has since been a lot of shedding of fruit. Oddly we have isolated trees which have cropped reasonably well, but they are few and far between. Gut wrenching. The workload and costs don’t stop, just the income does.
We are really sad not to be able to welcome visitors again this year. It’s extra frustrating as we’ve had to fight some mad, bureaucratic battles with the NSW Government and insurers this year just to be able to keep the farm open.
The good news is that the trees are mostly heathy. There are some dead limbs and we’ve lost some trees to that brutal heat last summer but mostly they are looking good and we’ll keep caring for them to grow next summer’s crop.
If this heat is our new normal we have some very serious thinking to do about whether we transition to new varieties with lower chill requirements or whether cherries are not going to remain a viable option in this changing climate.
Spring 2026
The orchard is bursting to life. Every season it amazes me how quickly the trees move from dormant, bare branches to the burst of blossom and then leaf. It is such a dramatic, magical change that nature creates each spring.
We have early fruit set in the sweet cherries, and grateful to see some fruit there. It has been a very unusual year with extremely hot late summer and a mild winter. So far it is looking good for the main varieties.
Bookings for pick your own will open in November once we know what the season will bring.
The morello sour cherries are later – they have just come into bloom now (10 October) and they are again likely to ripen closer to Christmas or soon after.