Macadamia farm ‘Twisted M’ is one of the best performing macadamia farms in the Gympie (Queensland) growing region. It has been owned and managed remotely for 31 years by Bruce and Pauline Maguire, who have now passed the baton to their daughter Claire and her husband Pat Wilson, who live on the property with their two children, Archie and Billie.

“Being a macadamia farmer is very rewarding, you get as much out of it as you’re prepared to put in. Our family loves the lifestyle as we always find time for the important things in life and the kids enjoy the space to run around. We also love the community atmosphere of smaller towns.” says Pat Wilson.

The orchard is 8 hectares with 2,600 macadamia nut trees.

Gympie floods

In early 2022, the farm was hit with very heavy rain around the time that Gympie flooded. This caused massive washouts and damage to the orchard floor and access tracks. 

During the cleanup and recovery phase the family set about laying 1000 m2 of turf and moved 400 m3 of soil that had been washed into gullies, spreading it back onto the orchard floor and focusing on areas where there was significant root exposure. 

They spread hundreds of tonnes of mulch, chicken manure, and gypsum and sowed seed in the orchard inter rows. Good spring rains then helped to create the ideal conditions for all this hard work to pay off with renewed growth of the trees, grass and inter row plants.

Harvest time

“Harvest season (March-August) is easily our favourite time on the farm. At the start of each season, we all make our predictions on how many tonnes of macadamias we think we are going to harvest by the nuts we can see growing in the trees.” 

“We get the extended family and even friends involved to help at harvest time, a round of harvesting at our farm can last a good 4-5 days (that’s without equipment breakdowns or poor weather). We work long days but we always plan some nice meals and always have time for a few beers at the end of each day.” 

Enjoying the bounty 

“Our favourite way to enjoy macadamias is raw, freshly cracked straight from the shell. Our kids Billie and Archie love them too, they would sit down, crack and eat macadamia nuts all day if we let them.” 

“Another favourite way to eat them is freshly cracked then roasted on the BBQ hot plate with Masterfoods ‘All Purpose Seasoning’.”

“We do have a family recipe to share as well ‘Grandma Maguire’s Macadamia Biscuits’.”

Recipe

180g butter

1 cup of sugar 

Cream together then add 1 egg

2 cups self raising flour 

1 cup macadamia nuts chopped 

1 teaspoon vanilla essence 

Add to mixture and mix well  

Cook at 180 degrees for 15 minutes

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Fifth family member

Fifth family member Rosie is a 15 month old female purebred border collie. “Rosie was the runt of the litter. She is completely obsessed with the chooks as well as our daughter Billie. They have a very special bond and they are inseparable at home. 

It has to be mentioned that Rosie is far from a working dog, she loves nothing more than to curl up on one of the freshly made beds or the couch and sleep half her day away.

Rosie will often come with us to school drop off, camping trips (if dogs are permitted), or out in the boat when we go fishing. Rosie is very much the fifth member of the Wilson family.”