{"id":13304,"date":"2017-06-26T08:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T15:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=13304"},"modified":"2020-02-25T10:11:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T17:11:01","slug":"one-of-silicon-valleys-last-orchards-continues-family-farming-tradition-from-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/06\/26\/one-of-silicon-valleys-last-orchards-continues-family-farming-tradition-from-the-mercury-news\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Silicon Valley’s last orchards continues family farming tradition – from the Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

Apricot trees at Orange Heritage Park in Sunnyvale.
Photo by Gary Reyes, Bay Area News Group<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

By Gillian Brassil<\/strong><\/p>\n

SUNNYVALE \u2014 The summer heat brings folks out for fresh fruit, and Charlie Olson has been in the business for over 70 years, bringing Blenheim apricots to Sunnyvale residents since his family moved to California over a century ago.<\/p>\n

The farming family tradition began in 1899 when Olson\u2019s grandfather moved to California and started his farm on the land now leased by the family to the shopping center at the corner of Mathilda and El Camino. At age 13, Olson\u2019s father dropped out of school to take over the family business. Olson took over the family business in 1977, three years before his father passed in 1980. He now tends to the 10 acres of apricot orchard owned by the City of Sunnyvale.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarming is what I know best; it\u2019s in my blood,\u201d Olson said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a romance with me and the orchards and the people around me, it does something for your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legacy continues as Olson, now 82, is still operating Orchard Heritage Park behind the Sunnyvale Community Center. Olson\u2019s farm is one of the last of its kind in the Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

The apricot farm has 10 acres left of the original 43 by the Sunnyvale Community Center. According to Olson, there are about 80 trees per acre, meaning the farm has about 800 trees to prune, pick and take care of. There are three additional acres of cherry trees that Olson tends to by the Las Palmas Tennis Center. During season, Olson has between 20 and 25 workers helping. Out of season, Olson operates the farm with only one or two other partners.<\/p>\n

The apricot season is during June and July. Olson said the original family tradition was to open the day after the Fourth of July, however, the heat makes the fruit ripen quicker. Now the season starts closer to the middle of June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heat makes the apricots cook on the trees,\u201d Olson explained. \u201cWe have to pick them right as they change color.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olson said that the market for dried apricots is narrow, especially for the Blenheim apricots that the orchard grows. Olson claims that Blenheim apricots are the sweetest and \u201cbest tasting\u201d apricots, but are going extinct as they are the most tedious to care for \u2014 it costs around seven dollars to raise one pound of apricots.<\/p>\n

As a result, most apricots in the United States are imported from the Middle East. Olson said less than 700 tons of apricots were grown in-state last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with families on budgets, you can get cheap dried apricots from Turkey at Costco in these big bags and we just can\u2019t do that,\u201d Olson said.<\/p>\n

Olson said it takes about five pounds of fresh apricots to make one pound of dried apricots. He sun-dries his own apricots across from the barn where his office is.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the community center, Olson\u2019s co-worker for the past 25 years, Elisabeth Maurer, runs the fruit stand. There, farm hands sort the freshly picked and dried apricots as well as \u201cElisabeth\u2019s Jams\u201d made from the apricots and cherries grown in the orchard.<\/p>\n

Maurer said the typical day runs from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with the stand open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. seven days per week. Maurer has between four and six hands to help sort the apricots which are picked and loaded into the tractor truck running from the orchard to the stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to sort by soft, sunburnt, small, regular \u2014 sometimes we get a combination of small and sunburnt and we just make another pile that way,\u201d said Yannah, a recent high school graduate who has been working on the orchard for the past three years.<\/p>\n

Maurer said sorting is crucial to different tastes. For example, a sunburned apricot is generally sweeter with a crispy skin. These fruits are discounted as they do not save as long as the regular apricots. Regular apricots cost 15 dollars per five pounds.<\/p>\n

Despite the hard work, Maurer said the effort is worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is a labor of love,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cOur goal is to make people happy \u2014 and we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farm stand shoppers said they enjoyed the freshness of the apricots and the fact that the fruit was all local.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t get fresh fruit like this elsewhere,\u201d said one local shopper, John Lou.<\/p>\n

Although Olson and Maurer both love the orchard, Olson says his family farming line probably ends with him. His daughter runs the family apricot and cherry stand that started operating in the 50s, C.J. Olson Cherries, on El Camino and Mathilda. Olson said that the family farming tradition would probably end after this generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t get into it nowadays \u2014 it\u2019s hard,\u201d Olson said. \u201cFarm families get up and farm because it is your job, it is what you know. Times change and I\u2019m 82; the line stops here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gillian Brassil SUNNYVALE \u2014 The summer heat brings folks out for fresh fruit, and Charlie Olson has been in the business for over 70 years, bringing Blenheim apricots to Sunnyvale residents since his family moved to California over a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\r\nOne of Silicon Valley's last orchards continues family farming tradition - 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