Words and images by Richard Cornish

The days are cooler, the nights longer, and gentle rains fall on the still-warm earth. Autumn has arrived on the Mornington Peninsula after a season that has tested even our best growers.

“Spring was cold to start with, then the rains just stopped,” says Andrew Bryant of Bryant’s Organics. His family were pioneers in the organic movement, turning their backs on chemical pesticides and fertilisers back in the 1970s. Today they farm the free-draining dune country at the back of Boneo enriching the soil with green manure crops and homemade compost. Their produce is harvested fresh daily and sold almost exclusively through their farm gate shop at 271 Old Cape Schanck Road.

“However, it looks like it could be a very productive autumn,” adds Andrew. “If it doesn’t get too cool too quickly, then we will have an extended season as the soil is still warm,” he says. “Because the start of the season was so cool, apples, for example, that we would normally harvest weeks ago are just coming off the trees now.”

Andrew says he will be picking pears and apples throughout autumn and is hoping for a second crop of sweet corn. Out in the vegetable beds, the Jarrahdale pumpkins are being left in the elements to harden their skins. “Hard skins mean they keep longer,” he says. Hothouses will see tomato, cucumber and eggplant production continue for several months, with carrots, spring onions and Asian greens set to be harvested in abundance through autumn.

Up in the undulating hills of Red Hill South, Brendon Edwards from M. Edwards and Son are keeping a careful eye on his apple trees, laden with nearly ripe fruit. “Yeah, it was a slow start to the year,” says Brendon. “That cold spring and hot blast during summer really slowed things down.” Brendon has followed in his late father’s footsteps and runs the orchard using certified organic practices, feeding the soil to grow healthier trees which produce truly delicious fruit.

Brendon’s daughter Sophie picks a Fuji apple. One bite and you realise why Edwards apples have been recognised internationally for their exceptional quality. Audibly crisp and mouth-wateringly juicy, the sweetness is balanced by clean acidity, and aromas of old-fashioned apple and freshness fill the palate. The apples are picked, washed and graded in the old family packing shed. Some are sent to the cool store, where they are carefully chilled and stored under a controlled atmosphere to ripen later in the season. Selected fruit is boxed and sent to local retailers like Red Hill Cellar and Pantry, just across the road from the packing shed. Other boxes are shipped as far as 25 kilometres to Peninsula Fresh in Baxter, or down the hill to Torello Farm, Dromana; The Organic Grocer, Rye; Benton Rise Farm, Tuerong; Nourish, Balnarring and Bryant’s Organics, Boneo.

While apples and pears are the major horticultural autumn crops of the Peninsula, wild fungi are a popular cool-season pursuit. Under the miles of pine tree windbreaks lining our lanes and roads grow slippery Jack and pine mushrooms which are now being wild-harvested and sold through farm gates and at farmers markets. These edible fungus are perfect for pasta ai funghi or a mushroom duxelles to cover a beef Wellington.

If you prefer cultivated mushroom varieties, consider the stunning culinary mushrooms grown by Dave Walford and his wife, Samantha Blaine, at Mushroom Forestry. Based in an old cool store outside Hastings, the pair use sterilised native hardwood sawdust to grow specific strains of shiitake, oyster mushrooms and lion’s mane under tightly controlled conditions. Dave is a former chef and grows his gourmet mushrooms for well-known Peninsula restaurants such as Barragunda, Cape Schanck; Crittenden, Dromana; and Mr Vincenzo, Mornington.

“I love my shiitake,” says Dave. “They have a natural onion-like umami flavour, so I roast them whole with oil and butter, thyme and lemon zest, and serve them with braised beef.”

His fine-stemmed enoki mushrooms are dredged in rice flour, dipped into a light batter of tapioca and rice flour seasoned with smoked paprika and ground cumin, then deep-fried until golden and finished with a touch of fine salt. Lion’s mane, Known for their health-giving qualities, they are becoming increasingly popular by the wellness community. Lion’s mane  are delicious when dry pan-fried, perhaps with a small knob of butter, then slathered in miso butter and topped with kelp salt. Known “People are looking for healthy sources of protein,” says Dave, “and our mushrooms are it.” Mushroom Forestry fungus are available online www.mushroomforestry.com.au or at Torello Farm, Dromana or Benton Rise Farm, Tuerong.