JUST off the Sturt Highway in Monash lies a century-old family orchard of over 1000 fruit trees and a vineyard, all growing in the rich soil of the Riverland, with an award-winning dried fruit business to boot.

Since moving home from the ‘big smoke’ of Melbourne in 2016, Sue Heward has brought Singing Magpie Produce to the Riverland and beyond with fruit from her family orchard, and other Riverland producers, to create premium products sold nationally.

The Hewards harvest 1000 fig trees, 200 quince trees and 50 pecan trees throughout the year.

The hand-picked figs are the star of the show and have been known to sell out before the start of the next season, with quinces following close behind.

“On a good year, we’ll get about 40 tonnes (of figs) and last year we had about 30 tonnes,” Ms Heward said.

“We just finish the fig harvest and the quinces start, and in the middle of all of that, we pick the grapes as well.

“We have a long harvest. We start in December with the figs, and we’re still picking quinces in June and then throw the pecans in the mix as well… it’s pretty busy.

“Singing Magpie doesn’t stop. It goes all year, so it’s a juggle through harvest.”

The picked figs are spread out on a drying rack, semi dried under the Riverland sun and placed into cold storage ready to be packed into Singing Magpie orders.

“Once we start sun drying, we just keep going all year until we run out,” Ms Heward said.

“We try not to run out, but last year we sold out. When you’ve got people who want figs all the time, you want to be able to service them. But if figs aren’t there, they're not there.

“This year it looks like a really good crop, so hopefully we have enough to get us through to next season.”

The idea of selling figs as a semi sun-dried product came from Ms Heward, who wanted to have a “point of difference” from other products – mostly imported – on the market.

“There’s not a lot of dried figs in the market, and there’s definitely not a lot of Australian dried figs,” she said.

“You don’t really see the black genoas in Australia unless you grow them.

We sell them whole, rather than cut them in half like a lot of others. We find that they stay sticky and juicy, and we use no preservatives.”

Singing Magpie Produce, which celebrated its fifth birthday in January, was awarded its second successive gold medal for its black genoa figs, in the From the Earth category at the delicious Harvey Norman Produce Awards in 2021.

In 2019, the sun-dried smyrna quince was named state winner at the same awards.

“I think awards are really, really important,” Ms Heward said.

“We don’t have a marketing budget, so it’s a great way for people to find out about the product.

“It’s also a really great way to connect with chefs and food service, and people who want a premium product, who might not find you any other way.”

For years – before Singing Magpie Produce was created – the Hewards have supplied fresh quinces and figs to businesses like Maggie Beer, Beerenberg and the Adelaide Wholesale Fruit & Vegetable market.

“We have been a supplier to Maggie Beer for nearly 40 years,” Ms Heward said.

“We were probably one of her first suppliers. Beerenberg hasn’t been quite as long, but they do a really great job in supporting South Australian producers.”

While the semi-dried fruit is the popular choice among Singing Magpie customers, Ms Heward outsources to help create other premium products with produce from the orchard, including a sticky quince syrup and sticky quince figs.

“A lot of people ask us ‘do you have any seconds?’ and we don’t do seconds, because everything is value-added to make a premium product,” she said.

“Whether it’s the sun-dried figs, or the figs in the sticky quince syrup, they all end up being a premium product.”

For the year ahead, the Hewards hope to build a packing and manufacturing shed to increase their usable space on the property, develop more premium creations using figs and quinces, and collaborate with local producers and manufacturers.

“We’re always looking at what we can bring to the market and it’s all about the Riverland,” Ms Heward said.

“So there’s always a bit of product creation going on – just to be able to profile the unique and diverse products made in the Riverland.

“I just think I’ve got an opportunity to showcase those local products, as well as ours.”