Our
story
In 2014, we decided that we wanted to transition away from the hustle and bustle of city life and work that took us away from our children more often than it brought us together.
We had a vision of:
• Producing natural goods that were of the highest quality and underpinned by our values of ethics, integrity and trust.
• Building a business that made world-class, value-added products made from locally sourced ingredients.
• Being able to share our successes with our customers, suppliers and staff by creating mutually beneficial relationships.
• Being environmentally sustainable and integral part of a local community.
Six blocks of arable land, not far from Christchurch on the Canterbury Plains, containing an orchard of three thousand hazelnut trees and a sprinkling of fruit trees have seen that vision become a reality.
When the opportunity arose to purchase the orchard, we already knew about the health benefits of eating hazelnuts, but next to nothing about caring for the trees.
So it was an offer too good to turn down when the existing owners offered to teach us all they knew about the growing and harvesting of this delectable delicacy.
Fast forward to now, and our business has grown. We now grow, harvest and create our delicious and nutritious foods on-site; connecting paddock to plate with authenticity, passion and love.
Through a collaboration with a New Zealand chocolatier, we also produce dark chocolate covered hazelnuts. Move over scorched almonds; there is a new deliciously decadent, kiwi favourite, sweet treat available now.
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Providing nutritious products with a focus on paddock to plate is important to us so we do not import hazelnuts. When demand is large, we can rely on the support of other likeminded growers in the area we have developed close relationships with.
The majority of our trees are of the Whiteheart variety which produces high yields and is perfectly suited to the soil and weather conditions of the plains.
Hazelnut trees are wind pollinators (do not require pollination by insects) so they need more than one variety to be grown in the same area, which is why when you visit our orchard you will see more than one type of tree.
Our trees produce nuts every year, so harvest time keeps us busy along with maintaining the health of our orchard, cracking and roasting nuts on-site and packaging them up fresh, ready to be enjoyed – how does hazelnut butter stirred in with a creamy vanilla or chocolate ice cream sound?
