Every family needs a farmer

LOMAS Orchards farm has been a family-run operation since 1938 and is presently run by third generation family, Alan, Linda, and Neale.

Lomas Orchards is a working farm specialising in heritage apples and pears, stone fruits, strawberries and vegetables. It is the last surviving orchard along the Wallington Road, an area which was once a thriving farming region with more than 14 orchards.

Once upon a time Lomas Orchards’ customers would travel from all over Victoria to the farm to buy cases of apricots for preserving, however consumer habits have changed and so have the orchard’s customers.

Lomas Orchards prides itself on growing specialist heritage apples and pears that originate from all over the world, and educating the public on these lesser known varieties. Some of the heritage apples have a very short season (some just two weeks).

Some of these apple varieties you may not have tasted are: Five Crown, Northern Spy, Mutsu, Jonathan, and Reinette. Lomas Orchards currently grows more than 60 apple varieties and have a free apple tasting day each year in March with more than 30 varieties available for you to try.

The farm shop is stocked with seasonal fruits and vegetables and open all year round. Lomas Orchards encourages people to eat seasonally, so produce is local, fresh, with low food miles. Currently, the farm shop is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10-4pm.

It wouldn’t be a Wallington farm without Lomas Orchards’ famous strawberries – they are some of the best tasting ones you will ever eat. Lomas Orchards offers pick your own strawberries from November to May – keep your eyes peeled for the orchard’s opening weekend in November.

Not only does Lomas Orchards grow the produce, the team also offer educational tours for schools, kindergartens, playgroups, and clubs. Bookings essential.

The month of May kicks off the orchard’s winter pruning and grafting workshops. These are hands-on and limited to 10 people per workshop so Lomas Orchards’ can give individual attention and ensure you have the skills needed to prune your own trees.

Each workshop focuses on a specific variety of fruit – apricots, stone fruits, espalier, and apple/pear – as pruning methods can be different. Educating people how to maintain their own fruit trees and grafting is very rewarding for the Lomas Orchards team, but more so participants who see benefit from their own yields.

Grafting your own tree with a pollinator saves the cost of purchasing another tree and is something you can learn in these workshops.

To keep up-to-date with what is happening on the farm, changes to hours and events follow @lomas_orchards on Facebook and Instagram, or for more information, head to lomasorchards.wordpress.com

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