Pick-your-own cherry time again

[Diane]

Won't be long before it's cherry-picking season again! For those of you new to Adelaide, or who haven't been before, it's a fantastic way to spend a sunny afternoon, and picking (and eating) cherries, warm from the sun, is what really tells me Christmas is just around the corner here!

 

There is a map on the Cherries SA website you can print off that shows all the cherry shed-door sales places, and all the pick-your-own places, or if you do a search for "cherries" on PIA you can probably look for previous year's threads and recommendations. Looks like Stella Creek might be starting this month (always best to ring places first though) - and the scenery in the hills just makes the experience perfect.

 

God, my mouth is watering already...

 

Here's the Cherries SA site: http://www.cherriessa.com.au/

[Rachiegarlo]

oooh yummm cherries :)

[Guest gerbras]

We have been open at Stella Creek for 3 weeks now. We are still working through our early varieties. We are picking four varieties at the moment. Our big crop of cherries should be ripe in about a weeks time (so should be ready for the weekend of 10 & 11 December), and then through until Christmas. From this Saturday, we will have our sausage sizzle and cherry icecream available. So its all happening!

 

Check our website for all the details - we are updating every day now (and sometimes multiple times a day!): www.StellaCreek.com.au Look forward to seeing some "Poms in Adelaide" at Stella Creek soon!

[Guest fredhargreaves]

Hi Diane - are you on a retainer from Stella Creek - they are always about 50% dearer than anyone else in that area. I always start at Forest Range Cherries first (on same street) because I've been going there for years. Unfortunately they are so popular that they do sell out from time to time. I have used others who seem to come on-stream after Forest Range finish - even they are dearer but not as bad as Stella Creek.

[Diane]

Hi Diane - are you on a retainer from Stella Creek - they are always about 50% dearer than anyone else in that area. I always start at Forest Range Cherries first (on same street) because I've been going there for years. Unfortunately they are so popular that they do sell out from time to time. I have used others who seem to come on-stream after Forest Range finish - even they are dearer but not as bad as Stella Creek.

 

LOL Fred, no we've been to one or two different places - just that Stella Creek seem to have varieties that start earlier than some of the other places, so as I posted this at the start of the season, they were the only ones I could see on the list that had already started. Best place we went to last year was a private place that we went to with the Sprite Owners Club - but that remains a secret!!

[Guest Trakki]

My kids love going cherry picking but to be honest it is cheaper for us to buy them at woollies. By the time we have paid for 2 adults and 5 children (for example at Stella) thats $20 then the price of the cherries on top of that. I understand why they charge as so many people 'sample' the cherries they have to make their money somewhere but even though the kids enjoy it my pockets don't lol.

[Guest bobthecherryman]

Hi All - I am Bob, the owner of Forest Range Cherries. I have been growing cherries here for about 17 years and doing PYO for more than 12 - not sure - a long time - can't be bothered to look up exactly when - and yes - I'm a Brit , born London then Manchester mainly from age of 10 on.

 

I noticed some traffic on this subject last year but couldn't be bothered leaping in. I always have th ebest prices - customers tell me my quality is also the best - that's mainly down to having good varieties - so I don't worry much about promotion these days - the threads seem fairly slow.

 

@fredhargreaves - looked at your back posts - thanks for all the plugs - please make yourself known next time you come - I'm not always at the counter these days so ask the boys where I am. BTW agree with your other posts - esp re fin advisers etc - no doubt they're no different back home.

 

@trakki - At my place recently, if you had picked 5kg each, you and your wife say, and the kids say 2kg between them that would've been 12kg of cherries at $5 so $60. You would automatically get 2 adults and 2 kids in for free for that and with me at the counter I would never charge for a 4 year old (my son;s a bit meaner) and never ever ever for a 2year old - so that's $60 for 12k of cherries. Not sure what Woolies are charging - they play games with the prices but at my local Foodland they are $13 so that would be $156 there. Stella Creek are charging $8 /kg - even they would prolly rebate you the entrance fees but it would cost you $96 there.

 

I know it's a bit tough if you don't what many cherries but my business is geared mainly towards big pickers. OTOH I've installed gauge one train set with matching slot cars in the shed just to amuse the kids (an entirely selfless act on my part). There's a pick on my website http://www.cherries.net.au. Actually if you just want to see the train just pop in - I don't care if you don't want any cherries. I'll prolly be closed this weekend but I'm hoping for a big day on Saturday 17 Dec

 

At the end of last season some independent fruit shops had beautiful cherries at $5/kg - prolly a loss leader but they surely wouldn't have paid more than that for them. The reason was Coles - who have 40% of the fresh fruit outlet - were running early season garbage and still trying to get around $10/kg. Consequently the market was gummed up and hills growers with fine product couldn't shift it.

 

No doubt you are familiar by now with how cruddy supermarkets here are compared with back home. When I first got here (many moons ago) it was the other way round. the worst thing is the lack of competition - both for the consumer and the supplier. The best option in SA is generally Foodland IGA or for fruit independent greengrocers and the central market.

 

Anyway - that's it - anyone generally - if you come to my place yourself known - we don't get many Brits - except if you're one of these weirdo's who wants to slag everything from back home and bore us with how wonderful everything is now you've shifted to the cultural desert on the edge of the universe then maybe just keep shtum.