The Orchard Keepers

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Harcourt, VIC
The Orchard Keepers

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🍑 Delicious organic fruit Nov-April 🍒 Community Supported Agriculture 🍐 Castlemaine + other markets 🍎 Grown with love on Dja Dja Wurrung country 💚

03/11/2026

Our newest batch of Fruit Crew are settling into the rhythms of the farm really well, and are happy to jump in enthusiastically to any job. We are smashing out the thinning this year with all of the apricots done and a good start on the plums, those Fruit Crew new to thinning quickly moving on from worrying about all the fruit that is being picked off and becoming quite efficient already. It is a necessary task though if you want big and juicy fruit (and we certainly do! yum!)

They've also had their first few theory lessons, including a grafting lesson with a practical demo out in the farm garden and a very detailed lesson all about the care of cherries, selecting varieties to plant and how to pick and store them.

We have had a wonderful first few weeks with our new fruit crew, thanks again team you really make our days in the orchard so special.

15/10/2026

A very big welcome to all of our new (and returning) Fruit Crew to the 26/27 season!! We are so looking forward to growing this year's crop of Fruit with you, and watching you all grow your skills and knowledge about fruit growing.

This week we started with a farm tour, and then got started with the first hands-on job this season - thinning the apricots. Some of the crew found it a little sad to pull off all those baby fruits, but it will mean bigger, juicier apricots for us all to enjoy in the summer.

12/10/2026

Look at how fast Fruit Crew can get the trees ready for grafting! 🤣

It may look drastic to cut all the limbs off except for one little nurse limb, but it gives the grafts the best chance of success. Each of the stumps will be grafted onto, and in a few short weeks this tree will be growing as a different variety.

04/10/2026

We've been doing grafting lessons! A few of our 25/26 Fruit Crew Alumni have been joining us over the last few weeks to help with some grafting. Most of them had never grafted before and were very nervous and timid for their first few grafts, but they got the hang of it very quickly and it was fantastic to watch how confident they become by the end of the session.

If you'd like to join us for our next season of Fruit Crew head to
https://theorchardkeepers.com.au/volunteering/ for more information.
We are kicking off with our first sessions next week, but it isn't too late to apply!

It may look a bit drastic, but we are converting some mature plum and apricots from varieties we have in excess to some of our more rare varieties, helping to balance out our harvest. They should take off quickly with their extensive root system.

25/09/2026

We’re delighted to announce we’ve opened applications for the Fruit Crew Volunteer Exchange Program for the 2026/2027 season!

Joining Fruit Crew will give you a chance to learn practical fruit-growing skills, connect with your local organic farm, take home oodles of fresh organic fruit, and have fun outdoors with a team of like-minded people. We have a theory lesson each week, and lots of hands on experience to put it into practice, and a cuppa, cake and a chat at morning tea.

If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, we'd love to have you.
head to
https://theorchardkeepers.com.au/volunteering/

21/09/2026

Spring has sprung in the orchard and the peach, early apricots and nectarines are all flowering. We've had some lovely days out on the farm in the last few weeks. It's one of our favourite times of the year, there is a bit of sun, and always some variety or other in bloom.

29/07/2026

We were pretty happy with our quince harvest this year! This tree is huge, ancient and somewhat left to its own devices - once established well, they are pretty hardy and reliable trees! These ones will be poached for our pantry, roasted to enjoy after dinner and sold to our community at our local farmers' market. We love to hear all of the lovely things people make with our quinces!

29/07/2026

That’s all folks! Thanks to all of you who have supported us over the season – we had an experiment with dropping the large whole sale markets this year, and we have to say – the Castlemaine market shoppers are really wonderful, thank you for supporting local produce, grown using organic methods. We love seeing you all each week and chit chatting about fruit with you. Our customers are often quite knowledgeable about the farm and our varieties, asking when we will get the greengages in, or how the season was for the beurre bosc. So, whether you bought from us once, or were a market regular, we appreciate your support, and look forward to seeing you when we come back in the summer, when we'll return with the first of the cherries!

It’s also been another lovely season with our Fruit Crew, they have now graduated with a heap more tree care skills and a few more jars in pantries. Fruit Crew days are highlights for us on the farm, it is a pleasure to spend time with people who love to chat about fruit trees nearly as much as we do. We’ll be opening up applications for next seasons fruit crew in September, so let us know if you’d like us to add you to the mailing list.

It was a long season this year, with the early arrival of the cherries, and the late arrival of everything else, but we thank you for being with us! See you in the summer!

20/07/2026

Address

69 Danns Road
Harcourt, VIC
3450

Website

http://www.theorchardkeepers.com.au/

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