It’s part of the Peninsula identity—the farm gate and the roadside stall. We’re also famous worldwide not only for our pick-your-own cherries in spring, but for the big, fat, juicy strawberries that are ripe and ready for picking from spring to autumn.

One of our best-loved pick-your-own experiences in the country is Rocky Creek Farm. Set on a quiet farm surrounded by towering pine trees in the heart of Main Ridge, the Gallace family carefully grow and tend different varieties of strawberries, as well as succulent cane fruit. It’s a family affair wandering the rows, looking for the fattest strawberries and raspberries to put in the basket. With a café and produce store on-site, it makes for a fun and affordable day outdoors (244 Shands Road, Main Ridge).

Another colourful crop ready to harvest this summer is the thousands of sunflowers planted on a beautiful farm in Flinders. In spring, Jay and Nick Young at Flinders Farm Gate  planted 300,000 sunflower seeds that have now grown into sunflowers over a metre tall, with deep yellow and black blooms as big as a dinner plate! They thrive on a farm with spectacular views over Flinders to Phillip Island, making it an ideal destination for small groups of friends. Their range of pick-your-own also includes around 2,500 stunning dahlias and hectares of different varieties of fresh garlic, which are harvested on the farm at the end of summer and then dried to cure (Follow on Insta @flindersfarmgate for seasonal details).

Another great fruit-based farm gate is Balnarring Preserves. A few years ago, Balnarring local and passionate grower Melissa Perkins started selling a few jars of excess jams from a red-painted box outside her Turners Road farm. Today, she harvests blueberries from over 2,500 plants to make freeze-dried fruit. She also picks stone fruit, figs, berries, and flowers, and makes a range of fruit leathers, preserves, and award-winning cordials. Balnarring Preserves are stocked in the best food stores on the Peninsula, but Melissa still stocks her now enlarged roadside stall—a rustic corrugated iron-topped stand perched between two old stringybark trees—with her full range (13 Turners Road, Balnarring).

Out in the bays, the mussels are plump and sweet, with summer being the perfect time to get a feed of locally grown mussels. One of the smallest producers in Port Phillip is Dromana Mussels. They are grown in the cool, clean waters off Safety Beach and are known for their large size, heavy weight, and succulent flesh. Steamed in a pot or cooked straight on the barbie, they are perfect with a chilled glass of Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris. They are harvested and sold within hours at Peninsula Fresh Seafood near the Dromana Drive-In (Unit 2/10 Thomson Terrace, Dromana).

On the other side of the Peninsula is local identity Michael Harris, a.k.a. Harry Mussels. His mussels, grown just off Flinders Beach, are loved by local chefs, who appreciate their rich, full flavour and succulent, sweet flesh. He sells his mussels direct from his boat on Flinders Pier and cooked from his little food van affectionately known as La Conchilia (The Esplanade, Flinders).

Wherever you get your produce from this summer, make sure you put some Mornington Peninsula-grown food on your family’s plates.

By Richard Cornish