The new sign for gate sales at The Berry Farm celebrating 50 years of business. Photo / Supplied
Boysenberries and Heritage raspberries and have been 'sold at the gate since '68' at The Berry Farm, Hastings.
Owners Di and Matthew Charlton have been successfully selling the berries through the gate for 50 years.
"We bought the property, located on the corner of Tollemache Rd East and Riverslea Rd South, in 1983.
"The previous owner planted the boysenberries in 1968. It was harvested the following year," says Di.
Following the harvest the owner started doing gate sales with the Charltons following in his footsteps.
"We have carried on the previous owner's tradition of selling through the gate, originally with 'Pick Your Own' boysenberries."
They are as passionate about the berries as the customers they get year on year.
"The same customers have been coming to The Berry Farm each year for the 37 years we have owned the property and now people in their 40s and 50s come in and say that they picked fruit when they were 12 or 13 years old, often remembering how many punnets they picked in a season and exactly how much they earnt.
"We are passionate about growing berries on the very fertile two and a half hectare block and love encouraging the public to buy fresh, ripe fruit that has not been in a cool store.
"Most of their customers are in their later years and snap up the jam berries, saying how easy it is to make raspberry jam and wondering why the young ones don't make jam."
The Berry Farm is open every day in December and January with boysenberries and in February, March, April and May with "delicious old fashioned" heritage variety autumn raspberries.
The eight men arrived in New Zealand to find the jobs did not exist.