Apricots in Paradise: Tracing the Roots of a Garden Legacy

It is snowy and cold in many parts of America this time of year. But March, in the San Francisco Bay Area is the time of year our many fruit trees begin to bloom.

I had not intended to spend the rest of my career, after the publication of California Apricots: The Lost Orchards of Silicon Valley (History Press 2013), writing about apricots. It is just that people can't seem get enough information about them. I can certainly understand that.

In fact, I'm working on a new book about six exceptional people who made a difference in California history, from 1769 to 1931. I'm wrapping that manuscript up now and that book should be out this fall, again from History Press.

Last Minute Booking at Andy's Orchard

With friends at Books Inc., in Mountain View. We had a really busy day!

I just did CALIFORNIA APRICOTS book event #37 on Saturday, 12/14/13, at Books, Inc. on Castro Street in Mountain View. This wonderful independent bookstore was swamped as shoppers dropped in for Christmas gifts and browsed the many titles. The people who work at Books, Inc. are great at customer service too! Doug, Alex, Loren--you know who you are!

Anyway, this is just to let my readers know we have one more event scheduled (#38) ... before we all take off for the rest of the year ...

Events Calendar for CALIFORNIA APRICOTS: Check Out New Entries into Early 2014!

This is a photo from our latest book signing at Barnes and Noble Eastridge. We had a nice crowd for the first rainy day of the season in Northern California!

The last of the fruit trucks of the season are hauling plums and prunes and raisins to market in Northern California, and the San Joaquin and Central Valleys. It means autumn is here. Still, there is still a good-sized schedule of events coming up for CALIFORNIA APRICOTS. Stop by an event, and pick up a signed copy: then you can check that off your holiday shopping list! Coming up soon:

Saturday, September 28: Noon to 4:00 p.m. Saratoga Heritage Day: book signing and apricot nibbles at 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, Saratoga, CA. 95070. This should be fun as it includes folks in historic costumes along with goodies to eat. It is being held in one of the few cities in California whose entire downtown district was named in 1950 a California Historic Landmark. Join us! 

California Apricots: Harvesting For Good

Alta Mesa orchard in Palo Alto, California. Apricot season is early this year.

As the shadows lengthened on this June evening, I had an appointment to meet Susan Osofsky in an apricot orchard not far from my Los Altos home. Osofsky helps organize volunteers to pick the bounty of fruit in the Santa Clara Valley that would otherwise go to waste. 

Imagine. Apricots going to waste. I'll be right there with my bucket!

Apricot's for All Seasons

I've had apricots on the brain lately, haven't I? Since the recent rescue of the historic J. Gilbert Smith/Los Altos Civic Center apricot orchard in Los Altos, California, I've been pondering: what is the seductive draw of this lovely, scented, peachy colored fruit? And why am I so darned fond of it?

Some of it, I think, is its association with the sunny, dry, California summer days I spent in the open spaces of the San Francisco peninsula of my youth. The rest, I believe, speaks to the richness of the fruit's flavor and the relative shortness of its season. This warm-from-the-sun, sweet, scented fruit is ripe for just a few weeks each summer. And then it is gone.