Ballantyne’s Strawberries has grown delicious, juicy goodness for more than 30 years
Ballantyne Strawberries will have something bigger and juicier on offer this year as owners work overtime to ensure berries are available for harvest.
Mackay
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Margaret Ballantyne has toiled overtime for six weeks to ensure the popular strawberry harvest that draws hundreds to her patch of paradise is not delayed too long.
The Ballantyne Strawberries farmer, who has owned the farm with her husband for more than 30 years, has done the work of nine people to ensure the crop is ready for the influx of visitors.
Mrs Ballantyne said the COVID pandemic had shrunk the labour workforce with her and her husband having to hire workers from Melbourne in time for harvest.
The duo has owned Ballantyne Strawberries, a short drive from Calen, for more than 30 years.
Mrs Ballantyne said they relocated from Middlemount to Cameron’s Pocket so they could raise their children on a farm.
And standing before the rows upon rows of strawberries and now blueberries, it is clear to see the Ballantynes have growing fruit down to a fine art.
“I’ve got 45,000 plants,” Mrs Ballantyne said.
This included sunflowers plus a new strawberry variety planted on the hillside to keep them nice and dry.
“We’ve never grown them before but the grower told us that we’ll be fighting people off with sticks because they won’t be able to stop eating them because they’re very big and really sweet,” Mrs Ballantyne said.
She said the trick was to pick them when they were ripe to get maximum flavour with the season expected to run until at least late September.
“This year, we’ve put (new) irrigation down the middle of each bed so if it gets too hot we can cool them down,” Mrs Ballantyne said.
The system is also used to feed each plant its special nutrient mix four times a day.
Mrs Ballantyne said they were expecting thousands of visitors this year with more than 30 gazebos set up in 2020 to cater for the crowds.
Visitors can expect a friendly visit from Straw the border collie plus plenty of fruit-inspired desserts.
For the official opening date, stay tuned via the business’s Facebook page.
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