Full circle peaches
When I saw the golden clingstones tucked in my Fair Food box this week I smiled and thought to myself – I know these peaches.
When I call Steve Dimit he’s in the truck heading to Melbourne with a load of fruit. He yells above the engine noise and puts me on speaker.
Dimit’s Orchard is a Goulburn Valley icon. Steve’s family have been growing stone fruit just outside Shepparton on Yorta Yorta country, since 1952.
The Dimit’s are particularly famous for their peaches.
How’s the season I ask. Steve wistfully answers it’s the worst he can remember.
Back in November a hail storm snuck into Shep at three in the morning tearing apart large trees up and down the main street. Out at Dimit’s the grey light revealed around half the crop is too damaged to sell (that’s it in the pic below).
In the packing shed usually 90% of the harvest will go to market, this week Steve explains that they’re throwing out around 40-50%.
The family are long-time supporters of Shepparton Foodshare donating around five tons of fruit last year.
This year Steve says it’ll be a lot more than that. The rest is going to the cows.
I commiserate.
“That’s farming mate.”
I can see him driving, lips tight, head half nodding to the side…
In a couple of weeks Steve explains they’ll be harvesting the late Italian red peaches. These sort-after deep crimson, yellow fleshed clingstones were thinned out after the hail. Steve’s hoping they’ll get at least something finish to the season.
I tell Steve that Fair Food’s been selling a lot of IPM fruit and veg lately.
“Oh yeah.”
Steve was the grower who got me thinking about selling fruit and vegetables grown using Integrated Pest Management aka IPM – it’s a farming technique that actively avoids using pesticides, instead promoting predator insects to control insect pests.
Years ago the Dimit’s, who are conventional farmers, had a stand at the old Footscray Wholesale Market next to our potato and green grower, Joe Sgro.
One time I got talking to Steve about spraying, it was late summer and Steve says to me that they hadn’t sprayed at all that year. Something I get the impression is a regular occurrence.
When I ask Steve if I could try one of his peaches he waves me to help myself.
As I eat I don’t realise Steve is an IPM farmer, though back then I don’t even know what an IPM farmer is.
What I do realise is how many people I know who would love to get their hands on these delicious spray-free peaches.
It then takes around a dozen years and a cost of living crisis for Fair Food to discover IPM farmers and their produce but luckily it means we finally get to share Steve Dimit’s peaches.
Steve has to go, but lets me know with a little pride that they haven’t used pesticides in the orchard this year.
“Less poisons the better eh.”
You can find Dimit’s yellow clingstone peaches here and if we’re very lucky we’ll see some late Italian reds in a week or two (that’s them below).
Have a great week
Chris
