• Lilydale’s Maree and Leigh Arnold, with grandson Winston White. and son Ben in the hazelnut grove.
In the heart of Lilydale, farmers Maree and Leigh Arnold have been toiling away over the past five years establishing a hazelnut grove in addition to their beef operation.
The plantation began in 2018 with 700 trees, followed by another 6,500 in 2019.
They had planned to plant the final lot in 2020, however due to the pandemic it took most of the year for the stock to arrive from the mainland.
The third instalment of trees was planted in early 2021, expanding the grove to 11,000 trees, spanning 42-acres.
Archie’s Hazelnuts started out as an aspect of the farm Mrs Arnold could call her own, but has grown into somewhat of a whole family operation, with children Ben and Meagan also playing a hands-on role.
“I just wanted something that would keep me busy,” Mrs Arnold said.
“It’s grown a lot since then so we need everyone to help out in their spare time to keep it going.”
The family is currently halfway through this year’s harvest, anticipating around one tonne off the older trees.
Harvesting is labour-intensive with nuts picked by hand off the trees and using a nut vacuum for the fallen hazelnuts.
“It’s a lot of work to get a tonne of nuts,” Mrs Arnold laughed.
She said hazelnut trees take around eight to ten years to mature, so they will look at getting a mechanical harvester in the years to come as the grove becomes more established and their yield increases.
Daughter Meagan White said once harvested, the nuts are cleaned and dried for four to six weeks.
“Then we’ll crack them and roast them as we need them,” she said.
“At the moment we’re using a standard kitchen oven to roast then.
“We’re also looking into a panning machine which we’ll be able to use to chocolate coat the nuts.
“In the past we’ve honey roasted them with some seasoning, which makes them even more yummy.”
Once roasted, the hazelnuts are divided into 100g bags, ready for sale.
The Arnolds are in discussion with local IGAs, with hopes they will be stocked at multiple stores throughout the region.
As more trees mature and their output grows, they plan to widen their market and experiment with other products including hazelnut meal and oils.
Lilydale’s cool climate and consistent rainfall are perfect conditions for hazelnuts to thrive.
“Hazelnuts grow well where apples grow well and there used to be apples everywhere here,” Mrs Arnold said.
In the months to come, the Arnolds will be pruning the trees, maintaining rows and preparing for what is expected to be an even bigger harvest next year.
This article was first published in the North-Eastern Advertiser on April 05, 2023.
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