Ge-Ge Juices a crowd pleaser

At a bustling women's field day in a Boyup Brook shearing shed recently, about 100 women chatted and caught up while many more people ran stalls.

One of the most popular was a noisy stall run by Coralie Nix.

With motor running, Mrs Nix was making juice from fruit and vegetables and had drawn a crowd. Cakes and scones were piled high next to urns bubbling nearby, but many gravitated towards the fresh juices.

It was Ge-Ge Juices' first public outing and Mrs Nix, a local grandmother, said it was successful.

"My mother used to juice when I was growing up and our fridge would often be full of carrots, Mum's favourite juice," she said.

Mrs Nix makes all kinds of juices for her large family.

She moved to a farm 28km south-east of Boyup Brook, from Perth, almost 29 years ago, after meeting husband Glenn, a Merino wool grower.

They have six children - Candice, Rachel, Jordan, Ethan, Mason and Mckenzi.

Mrs Nix said the children had all grown up and the youngest, Mckenzi, attended Denmark College of Agriculture.

Mrs Nix now focuses on her own business venture, fresh fruit and vegetable juices.

"The name, Ge-Ge Juices, came about when my first granddaughter, Ruby, started talking and couldn't say 'Granny'. She would call me 'Ge-Ge'," Mrs Nix said.

"Now, sometimes the grandkids call me 'Juice Granny'."

The women's field day was Ge-Ge Juices' first event and Mrs Nix said she hoped to be at other local venues around the district and neighbouring shires.

She recently attended Boyup Brook's Pumpkin Festival and will have a stall at the Saturday markets in Donnybrook soon.

There is also a small order for juices at a regular event run by a town yoga teacher.

While she has been excited by the initial public response to her business venture, Mrs Nix said her farm's isolation made it tricky to access customers and she would need to choose venues carefully.

But she intends to try her best to make Ge-Ge Juices profitable over the following year.

"I love the feeling of knowing I'm providing people with healthy, raw, cold-pressed juices," she said.

The most popular combination is called "Radical Watermelon", which is watermelon, strawberries and lime. "That is the kids' favourite," Mrs Nix said.

Mrs Nix said another juice, 'The Greatest Green', was a beautiful cleansing juice with green vegetables, including broccoli.

Long-time friend Sue Dawes, of Kojonup, was on hand at the first stall.

"Sue helps me with my stall when she can, which is great, and it's a good excuse for us to have a girls' day out," Mrs Nix said.

Customers can have juice combinations or Mrs Nix juices special flavours on demand. Her personal favourite includes sweet potatoes and ginger.

Mrs Nix said she tried to buy local, fresh ingredients and use seasonal produce. Packaging comes in the form of compostable cups, lids and straws, or recyclable glass bottles.

Juices are raw, not treated, so Mrs Nix said customers received the full benefits of the juices.

• Home sweet home *

At Mrs Nix's family farm in a beautiful cottage garden, there are brightly-coloured flowers and a pretty design leading to the veranda.

From a distance, the garden looks like a little green postage stamp, in paddocks of dusty brown.

Half a dozen dogs and a cat are on hand to greet visitors and several horses out the back trot up for a carrot.

Mrs Nix clearly enjoys the outdoors. "I love my cottage garden," she said. "With six kids, gardening was where I could walk around and feel at peace and escape for five minutes.

"I'm now interested in growing, eating and juicing more of my own produce from my vegie patch."

For her own juices, which she has several times a week, Mrs Nix tries to follow a 80 to 20 ratio - 80 per cent vegetables and 20 per cent fruit. However, she said Mr Nix preferred the fruitier versions.

There are pumpkin vines just outside the back door and other fruit and vegetables, including beetroot, lettuce, kale, strawberries and cucumbers.

Mrs Nix said she only used vegetables grown in her garden for personal consumption.

"The vegie patch is slowly going to overtake the cottage garden," she said.