The seasonality of truffle farming!

The time we see if the fruits of our labour, do indeed, bear any fruit!

It’s not just Games of Thrones and Aussie rules fans who get excited when the colder months come around – truffle farmers do too! You see, winter is the season for the all-important truffle harvest. The time we see if the fruits of our labour, do indeed, bear any fruit!

And this year is pretty special because it will be our first ever winter truffle season. That doesn’t mean that we decided last spring that we were going to start out on our truffle adventure; no, there’s been a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to the first winter harvest. Four years in fact. Since 2016, we’ve been planting, staking, weeding, furrowing and more – but we’ll save the details of that for another instalment.

With winter fast approaching, the mood on the farm is one of excitement as we watch and wait for the mercury to drop. Lucy, our beloved Lagotto Romagnolo puppy, is training twice a day to ensure when harvest time starts that she’s ready for the hunt.

Just a few weeks ago, we had a very positive early sign when removing the weed mats from the first of our 1150 oak trees: We unintentionally discovered a truffle! Our very first homegrown truffle. Is it mature? No. Should we have covered it over and left it? Probably. Were we speechless? Absolutely. But we were so excited by our accidental find that we’ve decided to make a bronze cast of it and keep it as a trophy! It’s left us all feeling extremely hopeful for what the colder months will bring. Truffles ripen during the cold of winter and as they mature, they release a distinct odour – making them easier to find. Harvesting them too early means they won’t have the full flavour yet, so patience is definitely a virtue in the world of truffle farming. In fact, we love that truffles can only be found within a very limited time frame, it adds something to the mystique of it all and makes the discoveries all the more special.

That said, the other seasons keep us busy on the farm too. Spring and autumn are all about pruning the trees and staking where necessary. The winds can get high in Flinders, so this is important to keep our trees in place and hopefully still supporting their truffles! Summer is when we focus on weed control and also irrigation if temperatures soar. So, there’s always something to do!

With winter just around the corner, we’re under no illusion that our first harvest is going to be both hard work and a learning journey for us all – Lucy too. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress!

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