Apple Orchard Down

In the 1960s and 1970s, driving the back roads of San Juan Valley for me meant going by apple orchard after apple orchard after apple orchard. Today, many of the orchards have been replaced by vegetable fields. I wonder what will be going in place of the apple trees that were recently pulled out around Lucy Brown and Duncan Roads.

FYI: I'm blogging about San Juan Bautista this week. Here are yesterday's post and Sunday's.

First Wild Mustard of the Year

 

This morning I saw an orchard on Enterprise Road full of wild mustard. I was quite surprised since there hasn't been rain since November.

A Nice Sign of the Times

Have you noticed this agricultural sign on the east side of the Highway 25 bend just north of Santa Ana Road?

I've seen another sign in San Juan Valley. I hope more signs will be popping up throughout our county.

A close up on the sign shows that it's from the Ag in the Classroom project sponsored by the San Benito County Farm Bureau.

Local Winter Squash

Boxes full of different organic squashes are available at The Farm—Bertuccio's Market.

Hanging Out at the Hollister Farmers Market

Today is Wednesday. That can only mean the Farmers Market is setting up on Fifth Street.  It starts at 3 p.m. and goes to 7 p.m., every Wednesday through the end of September. Fresh veggies, fruit, eggs, chicken,  meat, and flowers. Honey, tea, breads, cakes, and other handmade and handcrafted items from local artisans.  Can't forget the live music or yummy food ready to go. Yep.

The Hollister Farmers Market

If it's Wednesday, then it must be the Farmers Market Day in historical downtown Hollister.

Every Wednesday, from now until September 25, 2013, you can get your fresh local produce and meats,  breads, sausages, honey, and handcrafted food and wares at our farmers market. It's open from 3 to 7 pm. The produce and food vendors are lined along Fifth Street, between San Benito and Monterey, with many of the take-out fare in the parking lot between Fifth and the lawn in front of the parking garage. On the lawn, you can find craftspeople and nonprofit organizations, as well as entertainment.

Enjoy!

Bales of May Hay

Does anyone else think it's too early to be seeing bales of hay?

It would've been great if it had rained more this season. 

For information about our current water conditions in California, check out this link. And, for info and tips about conserving water, head over to the Save Our Water Web site.

O is for Olive Festival

Big news, dear Take 25 Readers! The first Olive Festival is in the works.

Yep, an Olive Festival! Organizers have set it for October 19, 2013 at the Paicines Ranch in beautiful Paicines, just down the road, south of Hollister.  Save the Date!

Olive trees were first planted in the area at Mission San Juan Bautista by the Spanish padres.  The mission used the olive oil it produced for essential goods that it could not make.

Today, we have several local olive growers in San Benito County who produce award winning olive oils.  Many of which can be bought at local businesses, such as San Benito Bene and Bertuccio's/The Farm, as well as from the producers themselves.

Here are some of the local olive growers that you can check out online:

• Brigantino Olive Oil
• Guerra Vineyards and Groves
• Oil of Paicines 
• Pietra Santa Winery  
• Sons-of-Sicily
• Suncoast Organic Farm

I'm going through the alphabet this month as part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  Click here to check out  other A to Z Challenge participants.

I is for Irrigation

Drive the length of the Highway 25, from beginning to end, and you'll easily understand how agriculture is--and has always been--a major industry of San San Benito County. Thank goodness for irrigation.

I'm going through the alphabet this month as part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  Click here to check out some other A to Z Challenge participants.

F is for Fair

The San Benito County Fair, that is.

This year, the county fair will be held October 4,5 and 6. To learn more, check out the San Benito County Fair Web site.

I'm going through the alphabet this month as part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  Click here to check out other blogging participants.

A is for Apricot

Today's post starts the A to Z Blogging Challenge. I'll be going through the alphabet during the month of April. No posts on Sundays though. The challenge was founded by Arlee Bird. Thank you, Arlee! You can check out  A to Z participants by clicking here. Now, on with the first post. . .

The Blenheim apricot, in particular. It's a smaller apricot, full of intense flavor, whether eaten fresh or dried.

Once upon a time, Hollister was surrounded with Blenheim apricot orchards. And, picking or cutting apricots was often the first job a kid of my generation got. The cut apricots were laid on trays and set to dry naturally in the sun. The few orchardists who are still in business continue the same process today. Two local sources for locally grown apricots are Apricot King and The Farm/Bertuccio's.

Break Time

From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, my dad irrigated many of the farm fields in San Benito County, including some off Bolsa Road, aka Highway 25. He and the fields were my babysitter when I was a small kid.  Sometimes at the end of the day he would let my tiny chubby hands turn off that cartoon-looking pump that somehow fed water to all those irrigation pipes.

To this day I love the lay of the fields as they sprawl towards the hills. The quietness that I remember of the fields still translates whenever I look at them. And, yes, there are days when I drive the Bolsa that I can see me, the little girl playing alongside the irrigation ditches as her father does his work.

Okay, enough of the sentimentality. This here blogger is taking a rest from posting on Take 25 for a a week, maybe two.  Enjoy the summer days and nights.

Until later, dear readers,
Su-sieee! Mac

Cute—and Yummy—Eggs

I was not even thinking taste when I saw these small eggs. They were just so cute! I was thinking about a way to remove the insides so I could have the shells intact for. . . Sigh! Crafting will have to wait for another day.

Eggs from the Hain Ranch Organics are always top quality, as far as I'm concerned. (So are its chickens, by the way.) But, that afternoon at the first Hollister Farmers Market, I didn't need any yummy eggs. So, I took a photo of the cute eggs and bought myself a pound of the local family farm's delicious organic walnuts.

Hain Ranch Organics is one of the several local farmers who sell their wares every Wednesday afternoon (3 to 7 p.m.) at the Hollister Farmers Market. Have you had a chance to check the market out yet?  Click here to see the market's photo album of its 2012 opening day.

This A Way, Folks!

That's the Swank Farms sign on San Felipe Road. It's pointing the way to its produce stand, which, unfortunately, is still closed.

However, I like to think that right now the sign is pointing to downtown Hollister. Yep, 'cause tomorrow, May 2, starts the Hollister Farmers Market, and you'll certainly find the Swank Farms there with their yummy produce.

The Hollister Farmers Market runs every Wednesday, from 3 to 7 p.m. all the way up to September 26.  Same place: Fifth Street, between San Benito and Monterey streets.

Hurrah for farmers markets!

Some Goats, a Rooster, and a Horse

Here's a reminder of how things looked before farm lands around Hollister were converted into neighborhoods. This farmstead is less than two miles east of downtown Hollister. It also had a few llamas hanging around.

2012 San Benito County Farm Day

Looking west from the Hollister Business Park

Tuesday, March 20, 2012, will be San Benito County Farm Day. This is a special annual event held at Bolado Park for the third graders in our local schools. Farmers and ranchers provide the schoolchildren with the opportunity to learn about nutrition and the cool agricultural community in which we live.

For more information, visit the San Benito County Farm Day page on Facebook. Also, check out Down on the Farm, by Alice Joy, an article about the 2007 Farm Day event, which was published in the Hollister Free Lance.

100 Things I Like: Irrigation Pipes

A farm at the southern end of  Cienega Road

Yes, irrigation pipes.

My dad irrigated fields for many of the farmers in San Benito County, from after WWII to the early 1970s. When I was a small kid in late 50s and early 60s, I used to go to the fields with him. He trusted me to close the irrigation pipe's water gate to a row when he held up his shovel on the other side of the field and waved it to tell me the water had reached the end of that row. He also had faith in that small kid's tiny fat hands to tightly close the valve on the water pump at the end of the work day.

For more 100 Things I Like About Living in Hollister, click on that link.

100 Things I Like: The Pinnacle Farm Stand

Fresh, organic, and yummy-licious locally grown vegetables and fruit. That's why the husband and I like to head over to the Pinnacle Farm Stand in San Juan Valley almost every Saturday. The farm stand is open from  8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more 100 Things I Like About Living in Hollister, click on that link.
 

100 Things I Like: Agricultural Machinery

A bunch of birds running en masse down Cienega Road?

No, a tractor.

Just as cool to imagine or to see slowly making its way.

For more 100 Things I Like About Living in Hollister, click on that link.

100 Things I Like: The Growing Cycle on the Bolsa

As you drive in or out of Hollister on the Bolsa (Highway 25), you can see food grow right before your eyes. For real. Day in, day out. All year round.

Sometimes, like yesterday, you can see plowed fields ready to be sown. . .

while nearby fields are being harvested. . .

We're rather fortunate.

For more 100 Things I Like About Living in Hollister, click on that link.