Thanks to everyone out there for a great year.  Thanks to everyone who is buying Beerenberg.  Thanks for all your great feedback and your passion.  We are always trying to improve and open up new products for you guys.  I really appreciate your thoughts.

Quick patch update: The Strawberry picking has been better than expected this year and the brave pick-your-owners who have been venturing out into the heat have been returning with really nice big strawberries.  The only problem is that we have been in short supply and the best ones go in the morning.  It’s cooler then too.

Have a good night tonight and stay safe.  See you in 2010!

Anthony

Managing Director, Beerenberg

I just counted 60 people out in the strawberry patch, with lots more coming.  With such high demand for strawberries on Christmas Eve, the berries are there but harder to find.  People are still heading away from the patch with full punnets, but it just takes longer to pick them.

Have a great day tomorrow everyone.  Christmas Day is the only day of the year our farm shop is closed, but we’ll be open again and ready to go again on Boxing Day.

Sally

It’s nuts on the roads.  Supermarket carparks are a real danger zone.  There are still 27 presents that you need to buy.  The budget is blown, the kids are bored on holidays and there is no fresh food in the fridge.  You have to work through this year.  There is no parking.  Everyone wants a piece of you.  Another “drinks” tonight with co-workers you can’t stand.  Being an adult at christmas time sucks.

Or does it?  You get some time off.  You get presents.  In Australia it is summer.  You get justification for grossly overeating and getting drunk.  You can catch up with crazy relatives.  You can have a laugh.

Christmas is a time for friends and family.  Make the most of it.  It is what life is all about.

Cheers,

Anthony

We’ve had so many visitors out picking strawberries lately, so they’re a little bit harder to find at the moment.  We’re still sending people out to the patch, but don’t expect the berries to be virtually picking themselves and falling into your punnet like they seem to at peak times.  You might need just a little more time than usual to get the amount of strawberries you want.  It’s often like this as as everyone comes to stock up for Christmas day.

Merry Xmas All,

Sally

As I mentioned a while back we have found some old family photos.

Because of all the excitement over the Aussie BBQ legends competition we are running, I thought I would try to find old BBQ photos from our family.

Here is our original family BBQ around 1970.  Mum is looking fashionable on the far left.

This BBQ was state-of-the-art.  Check out the coloured legs!

Mum with Paech family BBQ 1970's

I always remember the BBQ having one crooked leg. The legs screwed into the base.  It must have been pretty new when this photo was taken.

Chops and sausages are burning nicely.

Dad (right) relaxing after a hard day BBQing 1970's

Those were the days.

The final one is a really old one back in the 60’s with Grandpa.

Look at those cars!

Happy summer BBQing!

Anthony Paech, Managing Director

Cheers Anthony

With summer here we decided it would be fun to run a competition to find the nation’s best BBQers.  These are people who take BBQing seriously.  The idea is that you follow the link to http://www.aussiebbqlegends.com and enter with a story, photo or video about why you (or one of your mates) are a BBQ legend.

There are a number of categories.  We have made up some cool T-Shirts, caps and stubby holders that you can’t buy.  These will be for the weekly winners.  We also have got a brand new Beerenberg six-pack of sauces.   You get one of those too.

Check it out and give it a go!

Anthony

Okay, so once you’ve got your strawberries, it’s time to eat them.   Fresh strawberries, carefully washed and served at room temperature (not straight out of the fridge – you lose the taste!), maybe with a little cream, maybe not – yum.  But if you have the time and inclination to get a bit fancy with them, here’s some suggestions for you:

http://www.beerenberg.com.au/go/recipes/strawberry-recipes

I haven’t tried the salmon one yet, but I will soon because it sounds like a terrible combination and I need to know…

Patch Update:  Heaps of strawberries.  A bit rainy today but nothing to stop you from going out there (unless you’re a little bit precious about your hair or something).

Sally

I just walked out to the patch and took these photos.  Big, red strawberries everywhere.  Now that we’re through the heat wave and are having some much more sensible weather, it’s the perfect time to pick strawberries.  There were a few groups of people out having picnics next to the strawberry patch – a perfect scene.

Sally

I ventured out into the hot weather yesterday at 2pm and picked some strawberries.  I was expecting them to be a bit damaged from the heat but they were alot better than I expected.  I picked a container full in about five minutes.

Heat damaged strawberries have a brownish tinge to them and they taste overripe.  It is almost a fermented flavour.

Sun damaged strawberry

Then I stepped over into the next row and took this photo on the right.  Abundant, perfect strawberries.  So, if you’re out picking, there’s plenty of good ones but just avoid the few that are sun damaged.  Today’s maximum in Adelaide is 43 degrees so about 39 up here.  The weather bureau tell us we’re in for some relief from tomorrow and we can’t wait.

Abundant Strawberries November 19th 2009

Mum found some old slides in the bottom of the cupboard some months ago.  We have looked through them all and there are some real classics.

The Old Beerenberg Shop about 1974

This is the original shop, with Mum, the first shop lady Dulcie Smith and my little brother Robert.

It was also the packing shed for the strawberries.  The jams were made in another shed.

This shed was built by Dad in 1973.  Things were pretty simple back then.

The story goes that Dad was building the shed for strawberry packing.  This was prior to the freeway being put through and the road that runs past the shop was Highway 1, the Main Adelaide-Melbourne road.  This meant alot of thru traffic.  As Grant was hammering in the iron cladding, people kept stopping in their cars and asking for Strawberries to buy.  So he stopped hammering and made a door instead.  And that was the start of the shop.

Also, around 1974, Dad “improved” the signage.

The result shows a curious mix of ambition and farming improvisation.  Grant was never one to spend money in those early days.

I remember packing strawberries here into punnets in 1977 during school holidays.

Our new shop was built in 1980 on the opposite side of the road.

The old shop still stands and is now the farm machinery repair shed.

Cheers

Anthony