Thank you to the Waikato Times for sharing our story. Richard Walker, you did a great job capturing a little bit of the history and character of the orchard authentically and beautifully.

'Don’t bother asking orchardist John Woolford about the numbers. How many fruit trees? How many hectares? How much fruit is sold through the shop?

Woolford laughs. He doesn’t know. In a way, he doesn’t care.

Annie Perkins has been asking those questions as well, as she starts taking over Newstead Orchard from John and his sister Jean on their retirement.

Understandably, she would have liked to know how much fruit they were selling in a season, so she could budget, forecast, plan. So she asked the question too.

“And John said, ‘you don't know what you have until you've got it’, because we could have a hailstorm tomorrow and wipe out everything on the trees.”

Seemingly, what’s really required is stoicism. Maybe a leap of faith.

Actually, Perkins worked out the hectares herself, about five planted mainly in apple, pear and plum trees.'

Read the full article here: https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/rural/360586494/apples-all-way-orchard-looks-second-century