People from Sydney's Vietnamese community view picking lychees as a way for their urban-raised children to gain an understanding of farm life and food production.

For more than 20 years busloads of predominately Vietnamese and some Chinese have descended on Ted and Elizabeth Knoblock's lychee farm just south of Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales mid north coast to pick the striking red fruit.

"My kids. All they see is lychees on display in the shops. Very rarely do they see a lychee on a tree," explained Hanh who, with her husband and three sons, was furiously working with secateurs collecting the ripe lychees.

Generations including father and son join in to pick the red fruit. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

"For them seeing that it is grown from a tree, picking it and bringing it home and the process from a tree to shop is a really good connection.

"A lot of kids these days eating fruit and vegetables don't know where it comes from."

On this day Vietnamese/Australians ranging from school age to parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents were laughing and at times tasting the lychees as they picked them from the 400 or so trees on the Knoblock's farm said to be Australia's southern-most lychee growing operation.

Hanh who is a pre-school teacher in western Sydney and her husband a pastry chef both arrived in Australia as babes in their mothers' arms who had fled Vietnam arriving by boat.

The trip to gather the lychees is all part of the lead up to Lunar New Year.

It is important not just to pick the fruit, but also the leaves that surround them.

They are then taken back to Sydney where some are used in religious ceremonies, feasting and given to family and friends who cannot make the journey.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 45 seconds 4 m 45 s A Big Country: Pick your own lychees for lunar new year ( Michael Cavanagh ) Download 2.2 MB

"The leaf is nice in terms of freshness and in terms of offering to the gods," Hanh said.

"It is fresh and new. It is not something old. It is vibrant and still has colours. A leaf that sticks out it is a nice gesture for the gods."

The Bengal lychee is popular for its colour and leaves at Lunar New Year. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

Hanh believes experiencing the farm helps her three sons understand the hard work their parents put in to make a life in Australia and what a farmer goes through to get the food to the table for them to eat.

"For every lychee they pick they experience the effort gathering it and putting it into the bag," she said.

"Our kids have been brought up to understand that everything you do there is hard work involved. It is not just everything comes to you."

After picking, the lychees are weighed and then paid for before being taken to Sydney for Lunar New Year. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

For the Knoblocks their involvement with the Asian community over Lunar New Year reflects how they got into lychees 40 years ago.

While farming in Victoria they decided a move north and farming something different would be the way to go.

They were considering growing snow peas in a vacant paddock, and Mr Knoblock put the idea to a Chinese fruit merchant who had travelled up from Sydney.

While he agreed he could sell the snow peas, he cautioned Mr Knoblock about the perils of a bad back from growing them.

"What about lychees? We can't get them. Why don't you plant lychees? It is an ideal climate," Mr Knoblock said.

"We looked into it. Some said we were mad; others said go for it. So, we went for it."

Since then the Vietnamese and Chinese have travelled to his farm, paying a fee for entry along with what they pick.

"Freshness and maturity is the big thing," he said.

During the year the demand is for varieties such as the Kwai Mae Pink and Wai Chee.

But for the Lunar New Year celebrations it is another variety which is sought after, despite it being regarded as inferior in taste.

"That's the Bengal variety. They love it as an offering to Buddha and as a gift."

The Bengal is deep rich red in colour lending itself to seeing in the New Year.

With 2018 the Year of the Dog, those who had made the trip north to see an example of farm life lapped up the experience.