Little Yarns: Sue Heward
Singing Magpie Produce – Monash, SA
Sue Heward of Singing Magpie Produce. Photography by Meaghan Coles.
Our first Little Yarns for 2023 heads to Monash in South Australia’s Riverland, where we caught up with Sue Heward, owner of Singing Magpie Produce. This award-winning business celebrates premium quality sun-dried fruits, grown from a 100-year-old family-owned orchard. We use their beautiful sun-dried figs in our Duck & Fig Terrine, and they really are the best around. Read along to learn more about the Heward family orchard and why they’re the tastiest (and most sustainable) fruits you’ll ever try!
Tell us what you do at Singing Magpie Produce and how your business started?
Hi I’m Sue Heward, a fourth-generation orchardist and the founder of Singing Magpie Produce. So now that also makes me a food manufacturer but some context to this story is helpful.
In 2021 my family celebrated a centenary of farming on our Monash family orchard, which was first planted by Jack Heward (my Poppa). In our 2023 harvest we picked 20 plus tonnes of figs and a similar amount of quinces (limited grapes given a terrible vintage and pecans to come).
After 28 years of global career-building, my family and I returned to the family orchard in 2016. In January 2017 Singing Magpie Produce was launched – this is our story so far.
What does a typical day of work look like for you?
Every day is different so this is hard to say – we could be in harvest so picking and sun drying figs, it could peak Mother’s Day period (now) so packing online and wholesale orders. Then there are a lot of other jobs thrown in – hand-slicing quinces to sun dry, jarring sticky quince figs, tempering chocolate for our chocolate-enrobed goodies.
Singing Magpie Produce box. Photography by Meaghan Coles.
What do you love most about your job?
My work is varied, creative, delicious and often with few boundaries. After working in the Government and non-government sectors for all of my health professional career I love being back on the orchard.
What is your favourite product that you create?
Gosh, I’m torn and possibly very biased because I do love them all. There is a lot of diversity in what we produce. Whether it be our Semi Sun-Dried Black Genoa and White Smyrna Figs, Sticky Quince Syrup, chocolate enrobed goodies through to our Fig Leaf and Rose Tea. To be honest I only create products I 100% love.
Could you talk us through your approach to sustainable and low impact farming?
We try to keep it simple. We don’t use pesticides on the figs. We try to put back into the soil as much as we take out with regular mulching. We prune the trees; the trimmings are made into mulch and compost and returned to the soil. Weeds don’t worry us so much, it’s more about keeping them in check – especially through harvest – so we can pick.
Solar powers our packing sheds. We grow figs, pick them, pack them fresh for market or jam and dry the rest. Our semi-dried figs are sun-dried and have no preservatives.
Our water is very limited, we are mostly drought stricken so the orchard is watered using drip irrigation. On a relatively small environmental/geographical footprint (our planted orchard is eight hectares) we have vertically integrated the orchard production to survive.
Singing Magpie Produce fruit platter. Photography by Meaghan Coles.
What award are you most proud of receiving for your business?
Gosh I feel every award is a privilege.
Right back in 2017 we won the Regional Champion award at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show for our one-of-a-kind Smyrna Sun-Dried Quince with a silver medal for our Black Genoa Figs.
In 2019 we were state winners at delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards for the Sun-Dried Smyrna Quince; Gold at the Australian Food Awards, for the Sun Dried White Smyrna Figs, Silver: Sun Dried Smyrna Quince, Bronze: Sun Dried Black Genoa Figs; Sydney Royal Fine Food Show, Gold: Sun Dried White Smyrna Figs, Silver: Sun Dried Smyrna Quince, Black Genoa Figs; and a finalist at the SA Premier’s Food and Beverage Industry Awards.
In 2020 and 2021 we were winners at the delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards for our Sun Dried Black Genoa Figs and at Sydney Royal Fine Food Show, Gold: Sticky Quince Syrup, Silver: Sticky Quince Figs
One of our most recent awards was for one of our newest products – Silver: Fig Leaf and Rose Tea at Sydney Royal Fine Foods.
What makes Singing Magpie Produce different from other dried fruit products on the market?
We strive for excellence in every product we bring to market.
How do you love to spend your time outside of running Singing Magpie Produce?
Gardening, I would garden all day if I could and enjoying every minute I can being with our 10-year-old daughter Frankie.
Little Acre Foods, Duck & Fig Terrine.
Where can our customers find your products?
We sell direct to customers online via our singingmagpieproduce.com.au website. People can also find there a listing of stockists from across Australia.
What is your favourite Little Acre product and what do you like to pair it with?
Hands down the Duck and Fig Terrine.