Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

We’ve often thought that it would be so cool for all of you to see the transformation that can occur in someone’s orchard through the course of a single year as part of our Grow Great Fruit membership program.

Last year we saw a video by Amanda and Corey at Rockpile Off-Grid Homestead. They were struggling to get a harvest from their newly established orchard.

We saw a great opportunity to share the story of that experience, so we offered these keen (but inexperienced) fruit growers access to our Grow Great Fruit program. In return, they would share their story along the way.

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Luckily for us, Amanda and Corey were on board, and have declared 2025 ‘Year of the Fruit Tree’ on their property! They’ve just shared their first video on their YouTube channel.

They’ve included a bit about their first successful harvest and what they have planned next.

The best way to learn fruit growing is with a good plan

As a first step for their “Year of Fruit”, they’ve signed up for our Learn.Plan.Succeed course. They’ll be making an action plan for the coming year.

This short course provides a great framework for the year ahead. It should give them a sense of what’s coming in terms of tasks and skills to build through the year to get the most out of their fruit tree growing. (There are still some spots left if you’d like to join them on this course!)

Some of the things we’ve also talked about in one-on-one membership calls include netting enclosures, how they’re watering their trees, and their plans for the future.

These are such common things to consider at their stage of the journey! They were pleased to hear that there will be some weekly classes as part of the program that should help build skills in these areas.

A man in a red t-shirt holding a square cane basket with a handle that is full of ripe red peaches. He's standing in front of a short peach tree covered with a frame made from white pipe.

Quick success with learning to grow fruit

Amanda and Corey have already made a great head-start with their fruit growing. It’s four years since they bought their property, and one of the first things they did was plant some fruit trees.

Despite their inexperience, they’ve had some early success.

Corey’s netting v.1 (see the photos above and below) worked well enough to protect a small peach and apricot harvest. They also learned a lot about what to do next time to improve the netting setup.

A man in a white hat and sunglasses standing behind a small apricot tree with ripe orange apricots. The man is looking at the camera and the tree is covered by a frame made from white pipe with netting attached to it.

Partners in a fruit-growing journey

Amanda and Corey will be sharing a few more videos across the course of the year. You’ll be able to watch them put what they learn into practice on their homestead.

We’re excited to have someone telling the story of the Grow Great Fruit program experience from the other side.

We’re also excited to try something different to reach people who might find our courses useful. Like lots of online businesses, we advertise on social media platforms. But we don’t necessarily love where our money goes.

In our home lives we’re entrenched in the sharing, local, and community economies. We’d love to do the same in our online business!

We’re looking to connect with people in ways that keep resources flowing in our fruit-growing community rather than into the social media companies’ pockets.

So gifting a membership to Amanda and Corey in return for them sharing their story feels aligned for us. If you have other ideas for things we should try, let us know!

A split screen recorded during an online Zoom session. On the left hand side is a man in a grey tshirt and a woman in a black and white striped tshirt sitting in their lounge room. On the right hand side is a woman in a grey tshirt and a man in a green workshirt sitting in an office with yellow walls.

Check out their video, and subscribe to their channel for more fruit growing and homesteading updates. They’re a fun channel to watch, always enthusiastically doing something on their homestead!

They also run the welcoming and helpful Australian Homesteaders Community Facebook group. Check it out!

We’re looking forward to the year ahead with the Rockpile team, and hope you get a kick out of seeing their orchard story unfold too!

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