Established on the Molonglo River floodplains, the Pialligo Estate orchards and market garden are always bursting with growth. They thrive due to the extremely fertile soil – and Farmer Pete.
One thousand fruit trees grow on the Pialligo Estate river flats, creating curved pathways, continuous avenues, and lush open spaces.
At Pialligo Estate, the head caretaker and his band of gardeners carry on farming practices that have sustained Pialligo for over a century.
While many local residents are stuck indoors during lockdown, Pete has his hands in the dirt by 6.30am.
“Stupid o’clock, I call it.”
Before lockdown, Pete’s farms supported a grocer, cafés, restaurant, and high-end function hall, all on the same sprawling estate. Many weddings would be held in the glasshouse, and children’s tours were given of the orchards.
Now the glasshouse acts as a production hub for pre-packaged meals for the grocer, and veggie boxes to go out to Pialligo clients. The grocer, operating through delivery and click-and-collect, is now one of the estate’s main sources of income.
“We’re managing to keep our head above water,” said Pete, who has been coming in seven days a week at times during lockdown. “The trees are still going to flower regardless.”
“I grew up on a property about the same size in Tasmania. My dad used to do all of this,” he gestured to the fields with a sun-weathered hand. “We were a big family, all picking peas and growing our own food.
“Potatoes, peas, beans, carrots, onions. Everything that I grow here today. That’s what I grew up with, so, subsequently, that’s what I want to eat.”
We tried a sample of his fennel crop. It was fragrant and bursting with the renowned liquorice taste. “I like knowing that anything that I produce will be fresh and full of flavour when I pull it out of the garden, and that the food made here is as good as it’s ever going to taste.”
“When you eat at the restaurant, you know It’s as fresh as I can possibly get it to you.”
Like many other locavore businesses, Pialligo Estate is rooted in community and reliant on consumers shopping locally. “At least at the moment, they really should,” said Farmer Pete.
“Like with my morning coffee. There’s a barista who has a little trailer on my way to work. I can either give him my five dollars, or I can go to Maccas. Except I know that Maccas is going to survive this. I want to make sure he’s surviving too.”
“It’s kind to shop local, and better to know where your food comes from. We source milk from local dairy operators, and when they come in to buy cabbages or cauliflowers, they can tell you Pete makes that down at the farm. It’s about being part of the community.”
As the seasons change, Pete prepares for the blueberries bursting into leaf, and the rose petals for candying. “Working here, you really are a part of the changing seasons, planning what you’re planting around the timing of it all.”
Farmer Pete shared that the future of Pialligo Estate may lie with the fishes.
“A hydroponic system, with fish in it and green crops feeding out, producing two things out of one medium. Then you can know where your fish is coming from and that it’s going to be fresh, too.”
“Whether that happens in my lifetime … Well, I do need to retire one day,” he laughed.
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