Mt Gayndah Organic Citrus

The organic 'flu-buster

With three generations of citrus farming in his blood, it's no wonder that Les Darrow is not prone to getting the 'flu. "I'm always eating citrus - while I'm picking, when I'm packing - it's an important part of the quality control!"

He and his wife, Benita, own and run the Mt Gayndah Organic Citrus orchard, nestled between the Burnett and Reid rivers 400 km north-west of Brisbane.

Founded by Les' grandfather in the 1920's, the younger Darrows have taken the farm to another dimension. "We're very environment conscious - greenie farmers I suppose you could call us -  and when we went totally organic about three years ago. The organic system we use is a synergy which includes all the principles of sustainable farming. We believe in looking after the earth."

The 9000-tree orchard grows Imperial mandarins, Honey Murcott mandarins, Navelina early navel oranges, lemons, limes and red grapefruit - all high in Vitamin C, the natural flu-buster.

"We hand-thin to get rid of small fruit, we prune to minimise the fruits' skin thickness and we test the trees regularly to make sure that they are at an optimum nutrient and water level. We don't start harvesting too early in the season, we hand-clip the fruit from the tree when it is at its best, and we are really thorough about sorting out dry fruit."

Finally, Mt Gayndah citrus fruit is given a thin lick of eco-friendly, chemical-free wax to make sure it arrives in perfect shape.

Les says the fruit has the last word. "I'm very biased, but our fruit does taste better!"