...........wise decision to grow these fruit trees

 

A few years before we decided to build a farm....I had visited my brother's farm up by the Mendocino coast. Tucked away down a dirt road.....next to a creek.....surrounded by tall redwoods. It was something out of the 1900th century that farm house and the outbuildings. I learned a few things there..... over on the first visit.

I noted that there were no orchards....not even a few selected trees to harvest a small crop from. Also....no berries. He was strictly growing what I call salad produce........the stuff to make a salad. My thought on this was how can anyone really make that much income selling the same thing that the guy is selling next to your booth at the farmer's market? In fact ......many other booths sell that same produce.

Our solution here at our farm was basically simple.....grow what the other farmers are not!

This was a very successful decision. Berries were the first long term crop to install.....long term because one does not get any fruit until the second year. If that was bad.....our fruit trees were even longer of a wait....and a few varieties we are still waiting for the fruits of our labor. The fruit trees were planted on our second and third year. Recently we added more trees to the pluots and peaches.....then a new elephant plum orchard......because the demand for our fruits have been a sell out each season!

The fig trees ............another outstanding  decision we made to install. Last year we sold about 2/3 of our crop......this year we sold out! The word has gotten out that we grow black mission figs....and that we harvest the fruit correctly. What I mean by correctly is this: the fruit must be plump and very soft to the squeeze. This produces a sweet candy like fruit. Too early and the fig is bitter as hell......dry. I suspect the reason why many folks don't like figs is because their first time eating a fig.....it wasn't ripe. Like eating a green banana.....it's bitter as heck. Oh......we plant twenty more fig trees last March....and we expect to sell out each year.

So the bottom line advice to the newbie farmer........grow what you don't see at the local farmer's markets. Orchards and berries are far easier to maintain that row crops (if you are a small farm without the fancy big boys' field equipment).

Did you know that figs made their first commercial product appearance in the 1892 introduction of Fig Newtons?