Today a van of we city folk visited an organic orchard run by Jeremy and Antony Wallis, called Colo River Citrus, located at the confluence of the Hawkesbury and Colo rivers, in one of the most beautiful small valleys I’ve seen within an hour’s drive west of Sydney.

Tafe’s Outreach Program in association with Cafe Cana are running a sustainable living course and I’m teaching it with Paddy Lane.

Our visit today was a chance for the students to see how oranges are grown, picked, sorted, packed, sold and marketed.  Cafe Cana and its volunteers will make marmalade jam with the oranges we picked.  As the oranges are very ripe some lemons will be mixed in with the oranges to prevent the jam being too sweet.

Just before we left our Sydney base, the house in Darlington that’s been donated to Cafe Cana, and which the students are making sustainable for energy, water, sewage and food, a neighbour spoke to me about the compost bin the students put on the street and are maintaining.  She and I walked to her house at the other end of the street.  She wants a bin, too, and would be delighted if the students could help her maintain it.

So the students, most of whom have had a fairly tough time of life, have gained the understanding and acceptance of their neighbours who now wish to copy their example.

When I got out of the van just now and said See You Later to them I mentioned this achievement of theirs; it’s the best qualifying certificate they can get, I reckon, the acceptance of their neighbours.

Enjoy some photos I took with my new phone – it’s early days with this piece of equipment and the quality will be better with practice but there’s enough clarity there to convey a sense of the day, the place and the journey; enjoy, and may the oranges be with you, Michael

Farmer Antony greets our van

Antony talks to students about oranges

Orange sizes sorter

View from shed over orchard

Orchard with Hawkesbury river beyond

Saying hellos with noses on way to picking oranges

Class gives Jeremy the other farmer two trees