About us
One family, red soil and 500 bayberry trees
We're George and Cici. This is why we came to Silvan, and how we plan to keep growing here.
Why a farm
There were lots of reasons
We're George and Cici, originally from Zhejiang in China. We have three very energetic boys – on our old 800-square-metre block they could climb onto the roof or dig a hole big enough to stand in. Like most parents, we didn't want them glued to screens. We wanted them out in nature, finding things that fascinate them.
We live here; our parents live in China and are getting older. Moving them here means a new language, climate, transport and doctors; moving back no longer suits us either. So we thought: why not a farm? If our parents come, there's always something to do on a farm.
Before the farm, we built websites. Work got busier and busier during the pandemic, and George started using AI to help write copy, make images and write code. But the deeper he went into code, the more he felt it wasn't the life he wanted. He wanted to get back to nature and clear his head.
Why natural farming
Bringing back the taste of childhood
The fish and crabs were gone
George grew up in the countryside, with something to play with every season – catching fish and crabs in the creek, cutting bamboo for toys. When he went back as an adult, the creek was empty: years of pesticides on the fields had damaged the whole ecosystem.
Home-grown tastes the way it should
In Melbourne we couldn't find good versions of many vegetables we loved, so we grew our own: composting peels and scraps, bringing in sheep manure and worms, building a worm tower and making wood ash. By harvest time we barely needed to buy vegetables all summer and had plenty to share with the neighbours. It tasted like childhood.
The "Pu" in Pude
So when we bought the farm, George's first principle was to farm naturally: no pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers, letting nature's own cycles do the work. Our hens live in the fig orchard eating insects and grass, and their manure goes back into the soil. Back to simple and unadorned – that's the "Pu" in Pude.
Our first year
From an overgrown orchard to trees full of bayberries
No experience and no road map. This is how our first year went.
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June 2025Taking over a neglected orchard
The trees hadn't been pruned in years. The canopy was so dense that little light got through, the ground was buried under thick leaf litter that kept rain from reaching the soil, and many trees were sick or damaged.
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Winter 2025Pruning, clearing, and fixing "Hero's Hill"
All winter we pruned tree by tree and raked out the old leaves. The steep, potholed track into the farm – we call it "Hero's Hill" – was regraded too.
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19 December 2025Opening day
We refunded our very first customers and invited them to come and taste for free. Watching a toddler eat more than twenty bayberries in one go, we knew the year had been worth it.
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Dec 2025 – Jan 2026Our busiest, happiest month
Up the hill early to pick, then sorting, packing and delivering to shops and pick-up points. On one scorching day we got heatstroke picking – a friend's glass of iced bayberry juice saved the afternoon.
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September 2026The bayberries have set fruit
After the spring rain the flowers dropped and strings of tiny green fruit appeared – rice-grain size at first, now as big as peas.
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December 2026Season two – we'd love to see you
We open from mid-to-late December, for only about a month a year. Places are limited – we'll email you before we open.
People in the orchard
Visitors we remember from our first season
No cameras, no one watching. Out in the orchard, our visitors treasured the fruit even more than we did.
"Don't pick that one, sweetheart – it's not ripe yet. Let me find you a ripe one, and let that one grow a bit longer."
"We adults don't need to pick – we just want our child to experience it. I promise we won't eat any, and we'll pay for the three she picks."
"My stomach's full of bayberry juice!"
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Bayberry picking, fresh figs, eggs back in stock… we only write when there's something good.
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