When is a Bird also a Fruit?

 January 30, 2025

"Someone once threw me a small, brown, hairy kiwi fruit, and I threw a wastebasket over it until it was dead." ~ Erma Bombeck

While we waited for our excursion to begin, we walked along the wharf. I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this tugboat. Robert was my dad's name.  

Rotorua, also known as Tauranga, is in the aptly named Bay of Plenty region. Captain Cook gave it that moniker because the natives were friendly and willing to trade essential goods with the explorer. It's also near the most volcanically active part of New Zealand. Remember that tragic eruption on nearby White Island in 2019? 22 of the 47 tourists and guides on the island at that time died or were never recovered and the others all suffered terrible burns.

If we'd wanted, we could've signed up for a tour to visit the geyser area (not White Island, of course!), but we used to live five hours away from Yellowstone Park. We'd camp in this thermically active park every year to be amazed by the regularity of some thermal features and to see how the techtonic plate had shifted to shut down some areas and open up others over time. But as we're not serious fans of the smell of sulphur, we elected to visit a kiwi farm instead.  

Actually, the two things are related. The reason kiwis grow so readily here is because of the rich volanic soil. The typical kiwi farm is only a couple of hectares (a hectare is about 2.5 acres) but the land produces in abundance. Growing kiwis is heavily regulated and requires a license. The vines take 7 years to reach maturity and are able to produce export quality fruit. 

Kiwis plants are either male or female and aren't able to self pollinate because they don't produce nectar. Plants are arranged in six rows of female plants with one row of male ones running down the middles. Farmers rent bees in the millions for a week at 1 cent a bee to pollinate their vines. After a week, the beekeepers move the hives out so the frustrated bees  can go back to nectar producing plants and making honey.  

 The farms are protected with wind breaks and are divided into separate types of kiwis--the familiar green fleshed fruit and a more esoteric golden variety. There's also a red one in the works but it's not widely available. 

The golden kiwi vines are trained to grow up into teepee shapes and the fruit is more prone to damage. Farmers have difficulty hiring local workers to harvest kiwis. It is hot, back-breaking labor, so guest workers are brought in from Asia. They are housed and well-supported for the three month season. Green kiwi harvesters are paid by the number of bins they fill. Gold kiwi workers are paid by the hour because they must go slower to avoid bruising the fruit.

After our trip to the fields, we were treated to a Maori dance group while we snacked on kiwi slices, biscuits and tea.

 
Is this more than you ever hoped to know about kiwi fruit? 

I confess I was weirdly fascinated by what it takes to produce these odd-looking little nutrient-dense powerhouses. And we haven't even reckoned on how they ship them around the world! 

But I expect to buy them more often when I get back home. It'll be a sweet, healthy reminder of our time here in NZ.