ABOUT US
Howieson Farm
...along the Murray River
As a young boy, Farmer G lived in Koraleigh. He remembered it as a thriving community and going back there someday was always something he wished to do.
Farmer G and I always had a love for the country life so when the opportunity presented itself, we purchased an existing stone fruit farm in Koraleigh! Back then, the farm was only operated to cut and dry all the fruit and supply them to Angas Park. Much to our surprise, the locals started asking us for our fresh peaches (The Elbertas).
This prompted us to do a trial by selling them at Farmer G’s mum’s retirement village and it turned out to be a massive success! This then resulted in us investing in our first Howieson Farm’s refrigerated van in order to test out markets and it was so well received – consumers simply wanted fruit that tasted like real fruit!
With the popularity of our produce, we searched for other varieties in order to stretch the season as different heritage varieties are available at different times of the year. On top of that, the peaches produced would then have to go through handling and transport testing as they are hand picked just prior to market and driven direct to market all the way down from Koraleigh!
This has resulted in us growing a large proportion (95%) of old/heritage varieties.
We started planting in small lots of other trees like citrus, apples and seasonal veggies for in-between seasons and to increase our product range over winter when bringing dried fruit to the market. As we are at the mercy of mother nature, we have found it important to diversify to mitigate risks and unforeseen weather to ensure we secure market income.
At our farm, we do our best to grow our produce using minimal sprays. This has been affected over the past few years with the increase in numbers of Queensland fruit fly in our area. Wherever possible, we avoid the use of chemicals.
Our fruit is picked just days before bringing to market so everything is natural and fresh – no fruit is kept in refrigeration for long periods of time and fruits are tree-ripened too. Any surplus stone fruit gets cut and dried and made into treats and jams so nothing goes to waste!
Just a tip: our fruits do tend to sell out at the markets so if you’re after some, it’d be best to place a pre-order prior to market or, you can just come really early to beat the queue!
Lisa & Farmer G.