About us
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Cedar Creek Orchard is a 45ha property, which is nestled in the hills just outside the town of Picton, in Wollondilly Shire. The land was purchased by Hugo Silm (an immigrant from Estonia) in 1937, and it was first used as a poultry farm. The first fruit trees (apples) were planted in 1940. Hugo’s son, Roland, began to help with the expansion of the orchard when he joined the farm on completion of his schooling at Hurlstone Agricultural High School in the late 40’s. In 1980, Ron’s sons, Mark & Michael returned to the family orchard after completing their tertiary education. The business grew rapidly during the next 10 years, with tree numbers increasing from 6,500 to 30,000 during this decade. Michael chose to move into his own fruit export business in 1998, & Mark & his wife have continued on with the orchard.
The orchard is now in its 4th generation, with Damien, Mark and Lynelle's son, joining the farm in 2012. Sadly, Mark's parents, Roland and Laurel who were the backbone of the orchard, passed away in 2015. both aged 86. The business has grown into a large primary production entity, supplying fruit to Australia’s domestic markets (including Coles and Woolworths), and occasionally, to overseas customers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, & Singapore. The family has always strived to grow top quality fruit, with current plantings consisting of apples, peaches, nectarines, and persimmons, as well as producing their own brand of top quality apple juice. Over the years, the Apple Juice production has increased from 50,000 litres to 700,000 litres/year.
In the late nineties, we began planting specific varieties of fruit to satisfy the Asian export market, in the likes of Zee Sweet varieties of stonefruit and non-astringent persimmons, whilst still growing apple varieties such as Pink Lady, Gala and Fuji. With six full-time staff helping to maintain the orchard and run the production of apple juice, up to 20 more are employed during the harvest season to pick & pack the fruit, from the 23,000 trees which we currently have planted.