Nora Brils calls it her Garden of Eden – a tropical fruit tree orchard tucked away on a dirt road a few kilometres from the tiny village of Mooball, where she and husband Peter have lived for almost a decade.
The 13 acre orchard contains an incredible variety of trees – more than 40 varieties of fruit including everything from black sapote to ice cream beans.
Originally from Holland, where they owned a photography business, Nora and Peter fell in love with Mooball soon after they moved to Australia in 2003. They ran the Moo Moo Café before buying the orchard in 2007.
It had predominantly been an ornamental plant business, but Peter and Nora planted more tropical fruit and citrus trees and started a wholesale nursery.
The side of the business they are best known for locally, however, is their farmers market stall Jungle Juice, where they sell freshly squeezed juices made from their home grown, spray-free fruit.
Peter and Nora blend exotics like black sapote, soursop and dragonfruit into their juices to create unique and unusual flavour combinations. They also sell fresh tropical fruit in season, offering anything from jaboticaba to jackfruit.
Nora says it has been a joy to discover so many new fruits.
“I’d seen mangos, but nothing like sapotes and dragon fruit,” she said
“My favourite is the yellow sapote…it’s also called custard fruit. It’s very rich…like the structure of a boiled egg yolk but then it tastes really fruity. It’s really different.”
Peter and Nora put a huge amount of passion and hard work into the orchard, and bring this same energy and enthusiasm into their market stall each week.
Peter says he just enjoys being outside, experimenting with new things in the orchard and the satisfaction of growing food.
“Once you’ve seen you’ve grown something and people like it and you can make a living out it it’s great.”
• Story and photos by Kate O’Neill.
