Following the Memory Trail

I’ve always loved apples. I spent a lot of time picking them when I was younger, either from the apple tree at my grandfather’s farm near Armidale or from the one growing on the vacant lot next to my grandparents’ house in Wentworth Falls (sadly, it was cut down when I was nine to make way for a house).

And every autumn I’d go with my parents to buy apples at one of the Bilpin orchards. They tasted so much better than the ones we got from the supermarket and I wouldn’t even bother waiting until we got home before eating at least one of them. In fact, I think my first ‘published’ article – it was displayed in the window of our local bank – was about picking apples.

Sadly, this tradition lapsed as I got older. Then one day, while doing an assignment, I came across the Hawkesbury Farm Gate Trail. The trail extends throughout the Hawkesbury Valley and along the Bell’s Line of Road through Bilpin to Mount Irvine. The producers mentioned sell cheese, eggs, honey, tea and a huge range of fruit, including my beloved apples.

I’d visited the Hawkesbury Harvest farmers market at Penrith, but I wanted to relive the fun of driving up there and buying the apples from the source. So last weekend my family and I set off up to Shields Orchard in Bilpin. When we got there, it seemed I was going to be able to relive my apple-picking childhood tradition – the sign out front announced that you could pick your own. It was raining that day, but that didn’t stop me charging out to the orchard, basket in hand, to get my apples.

Even in the rain, there’s something about picking your own apples. I’m not sure if it’s the fun of picking your own food, the smell of the fermenting apples lying on the ground or the taste – the one I ate on the way home tasted as good as I remembered. In fact, we were having so much fun that we picked enough to fill the vegetable crisper at home and provide my grandparents with some apples as well.

Shields orchard is home to at least 10 varieties of apples. The ones we picked that day were Pink Ladies, which overtook Granny Smiths as my favourite a few years ago. My boyfriend also bought a box of Braeburn apples, which you don’t usually see in the supermarkets. Shame really, because they taste fantastic.

Back home, I started examining the Farm Gate Trail again, already planning where I wanted to visit next. So stay tuned for further adventures on the Trail!

Laura Boness

Image: Laura Boness