In this weeks outdoor adventure, we visited West Prosperity Walnuts at Toolamba in the Goulburn Valley. It was harvest time and especially exciting as it was the first harvest for this particular orchard. The Maloney McCall family ( Daryl, Stacey and their five daughters), had planted walnut seeds just over seven years ago and their trees had finally matured to a stage where they are now producing a good crop of nuts!

The kids loved picking the walnuts, choosing the ripe ones to throw into their buckets. A fresh walnut tastes almost sweet so the kids also enjoyed cracking some open and eating them.

It was great for the children to learn about how a crop grows, when it is time to pick it, what happens to a particular tree as it matures and starts to produce fruit or nuts. These days everything is so available all year around that we have all lost touch with the cycles of the seasons and their effect on agriculture and the food we eat.