A bumper feijoa harvest
Heather Smith checks the trees for ripe feijoas. It's a bumper harvest this year after plentiful rain. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
On the slopes of Hawke's Bay's Te Mata Peak, many hands have been busy harvesting large plump feijoas.
The grower Heather Smith says it's been a fantastic season for the fruit which she fell in love with when she arrived from the United States nearly 27 years ago.
A couple of weeks ago on a warm autumn day Country Life hitched a ride with Heather up to one of her two orchards and found the pickers on their break enjoying the view in the shade of a shelter belt.
Read Heather Smith's story here
Heather provides flexible hours over the feijoa harvest which attracts many mothers to come and pick Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Many of her feijoas are destined for juice but Heather has also developed a range of other products including freeze-dried snacks and powder and a beauty product. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round