Modern Silicon Valley may not feel it has a lot in common with Santa Clara Valley's recent agricultural past. But many friendships blossomed in the orchards. Ask Charlie Olson of Sunnyvale's Orchard Heritage Park. He will tell you.
It wasn't very long ago that tech visionaries like Steve Jobs and David Packard were cultivating their own apricot orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. Before Jobs died, he finalized plans for the new Apple campus in Cupertino and decreed it be surrounded by fruit trees of all kinds. Packard, of Hewlett Packard fame, had his own orchard in Los Altos Hills--sixty acres of apricot trees, now cultivated by his foundation.
How did the growers and the tech pioneers interface? Here is a story I've written for the Los Altos Town Crier that will tell you something about that.
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2 comments:
Just ordered your book on apricot orchards--I grew up in Los Altos, summer was all about apricots, and dried apricots were the candy of my youth.
There is a group trying to help save the apricot orchard at the California Nursery Historical Park in Fremont. Those apricot trees are struggling, and they are looking for someone with local knowledge to help manage the trees. Perhaps you know of someone who might be able to help?
Looking forward to reading your book,
Mae Clark
mae.b@att.net
Hi Robin,
Just ordered your book on Apricots--really looking forward to it! I grew up in Los Altos, and apricots were the candy of my youth. Happy memories spent at Robleda Acres halving apricots to dry in the sun.
Any chance you know of someone who could help the volunteers at the California Nursery Historical Park in Fremont with renovating/preserving their Apricot orchard? It needs help.
Thanks,
Mae Clark
mae.b@att.net
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