David Flinter runs his commercial organic macadamia farm unlike most growers. In fact, he believes he may be the only farmer who chooses to hand-pick the hundreds of thousands of nuts grown on his property every year.
Hidden in the lush upper reaches of the Manning Valley on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, Mr Flinter's property spans 240 hectares and has more than 3,000 macadamia trees.
"Everything we do is based on permaculture sustainable farming techniques," Mr Flinter said.
"We've put in half a dozen different varieties [of macadamia trees], which allows us to do our hand-harvest method staggered.
The usual method of harvesting macadamias is to collect them using purpose-built tractors once the nuts fall to the ground.
While Mr Flinter said he loved the results and satisfaction hand-picking his crop gave him, he admitted this season had been particularly gruelling without the usual availability of backpackers to help with the harvest.
Mr Flinter has been assisted by a team of about five family and friends with this year's harvest and many of them have been working 12-hour days.
"We have different lengths of rakes [to get the nuts off].
"We climb the trees or we're under the trees and pull down the nuts onto the tarps and then they get pulled to crates."
Mr Flinter said hand-harvesting worked best for his property because much of it was too steep to get machines on.
He also believed it ensured his nuts were not damaged when harvested.
"The quality of our product is reflected in the techniques we use for harvesting," he said.
Mr Flinter supplies more than 200 shops across Australia and sells his products at multiple farmers' markets.
Living off-grid
At 19, Mr Flinter purchased the farm property, packed up his belongings and left his life in Sydney behind to lead a sustainable, off-grid lifestyle.
For three years, he lived in a tent on the land as he constructed – by hand – his off-grid home.
"It all started out with just my backpack and a tent," he said.
"I've been lucky enough to build my own house and establish a standalone power solar system.
Reaping the benefits
Mr Flinter said living and farming sustainably has had a positive impact on the environment.
NSW National Parks recently discovered a group of critically endangered Manning River turtles living in a creek that runs through his property.
The park rangers estimated the turtles were about 80 years old.
"I did ask them how we keep them [the turtles] here and they said just to keep doing what we're doing," he said.
