46 | T T Kelly Deeks Orchard recovering from deluge Tree damage a few days after the flood. A metre of water went through the house. Just two weeks prior to the start of last year’s harvest, Willowford Alma Alta Orchard on the banks of the Ngaruroro River was submerged up to the lower canopies of its 18,000 trees as the Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle tore through the Hawke’s Bay, taking local produce, infrastructure, income, and about 25% of the region’s planted areas with it. “We have friends who lost everything, so we are grateful we had something to work with,” says Willowford Alma Alta owners Phil and Kirsty Greer. By 6am on St Valentines Day 2023, Phil and Kirsty’s driveway was underwater, after a culvert had blocked up forcing the creek near their home to break. By 8.30am the couple went to down to the stop bank and saw the river about to breach, heading back home to get everyone out. The river broke its banks soon after, sending a tide of water and debris straight through their home and orchard. The next couple of weeks passed in a haze of surreality, as the battered community pulled together to help whoever needed help. With water halfway up their internal staircase, Kirsty and Phil knew if they wanted to save their house, they would have to get the remaining silt and moisture out. “We did it within a day,” Phil says. “As well as friends, family, and orchard staff, other people were turning up with their wheelbarrows, heaps of people. We didn’t know them, they didn’t introduce themselves, they just came in a got into it.” In the orchard, it was imperative the surviving apples be harvested. With the lower branch canopy full of debris, ground so wet an silt so deep it was impossible to get a tractor or hydralada on to it. Kirsty and Phil thought they might never get the viable 50% to 70% of their harvest off, but they managed thanks to the huge support of three wonderful permanent staff, manager Tony Marett, foreman Neville Kirk, and the RSE community they have been employing for many years. “We had some people from Vanuatu and they were amazing,” Kirsty says. “They are so resilient. They have cyclones that hit their islands all the time and they knew exactly what to do.” It cost about 20% more to do this atypical harvest, with a lot more quality control required. Kirsty and Phil say their staff did an amazing job working through these challenging conditions, and lots of ‘shouts’ of ginger beer and stronger were required to keep morale high. Kirsty and Phil had to remove a lot of their damaged Jazz trees and also some Envy trees. The majority of their Envy trees have now been replanted. “If it was any other variety we might not have replanted, but we are getting good returns for Envy,” Phil says. Kirsty and Phil were well supported through their insurance process by their Hurford Parker insurance brokers and have recently completed the rebuild of the home originally built by Kirsty’s parents. Kirsty says one thing she can really recommend after being through this whole experience is having a great insurance broker in your corner. “You get so tired doing all the physical stuff, and the mental and emotional stuff, and they fight for you.” Their policy allowed for a year’s worth of rent payments which Kirsty and Phil cashed in to buy themselves a tiny home from HouseMe Hawke’s Bay. Another hugely supportive local company, HouseMe Hawke’s Bay threw in a free fridge and couch to help Kirsty and Phil back to their feet in the immediate aftermath. While Kirsty and Phil have always believed they live in some of the best, if not the best apple growing country in the world, post-Gabrielle growing has been more improved with new alluvial soils rich in organic matter. Continued wet months mean fruit has been smaller ever since, with increased occurrence of black spot and other diseases that thrive in wet conditions. Kirsty and Phil remain resilient. “You have to be resilient when you’re on the land.” Willowford Alma Alta Orchard REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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