Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/459886
26 FEBRUARY 15, 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com FRUIT TASTINGS are popular F or some, agritourism means entertaining with hayrides, pumpkin tosses, and petting zoos. But at Andy's Orchard, agritourism is educational and consists of the three T's: tastings, tours, and talks. Each summer, Andy Mariani of Andy's Orchards in Morgan Hill, California, usually hosts four or five fruit tastings to showcase the multitude of his stone fruit varieties. The two-hour events are similar to wine tastings, though on a much bigger scale, and include 45 minutes of fruit tasting, a tour of the drying and packing facilities, and a lectured harvest walk through the orchard. At each fruit tasting, up to 80 different peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, pluots, and cherries are prepared for sampling and displayed on long tables. After the tasting, volunteer docents lead small groups through the outdoor fruit-packing line and fruit dry yard at Andy's Orchard as they explain packing and drying processes. During the harvest walk, participants can pick fruit into small buckets. "It's not really U-picking but more a sampling of different fruit," Mariani said, adding that during the walk, some pick a bucketful while others select just a few pieces. Participants learn about the agricultural history of the Santa Clara Valley, how fruit are grown, the particular varieties they walk by—like how Rainier cherries are a cross between Bing and Van—and how to pick fruit. They even learn how to eat a ripe peach. The tasting event costs $15 per person; senior citizens receive a discount and kids under ten are free. Mariani encourages attendance by children because he wants them to see where their fruit comes from. At the end of the tour, participants pay a nominal amount for fruit in their bucket, based on weight. "Before food safety certification programs like GlobalGAP (Andy's Orchard is certified GlobalGAP), visitors could sample fruit in the orchard during the harvest walk," he said, recalling that kids would return with dark-stained lips from eating cherries. "But now, we can't let anyone eat in the orchard." Tasting sessions are unbelievably complicated, he said of the slicing and cataloging of so many dif- ferent varieties. But he gains important consumer feedback, which he uses to guide future planting decisions, and it's also satisfying to educate con- sumers about the diversity of stone fruit varieties and agriculture. Organized groups, as well as individuals and families, come to the tastings, an activity that's been held at Andy's Orchard for some 20 years. The sessions have become so popular that advance reservations are advised. In past years, 300 people would be a big crowd for a tasting session, but since Sunset magazine published an article about the tastings, attendance has doubled. —M. Hansen PHOTOS BY MELISSA HANSEN/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Andy Mariani's latest fruit venture is this one-acre block of tart, or what he calls sour-sweet cherries. Tart cherries are a rarity at farmers' markets in California. He's obsessed with flavor. His extensive variety mix of more than 150 selections has been carefully chosen with the consumer in mind. "In the olden days, you grew what grows well in your area and then tried to sell it," said Mariani. "Nowadays, you go to the market and work backwards. You have to know your market first, know what people want, and then try to grow it." That's why he began growing greengage plums, a small European plum with chartreuse green skin and dull, green-colored flesh. Greengages are some of the most popular plums in Europe, he says, but few grow the variety in the United States. David Karp, pomologist and writer, partners with him in the greengage plums. Sweet-sour cherries Mariani, always on the lookout for specialty and unusual fruit, recently planted a small block of what he calls sweet-sour cherries. "I never thought I would grow sour cherries, but I had a couple of tart cherry trees and found that people went crazy for the fruit," he said, add- ing that consumers didn't balk at the $10 per pound price. Some of the varieties are sweet enough to be eaten out of hand, while the more tart varieties are bought for home processing. Few growers in California produce tart cherries, so the fruit is something of a novelty. Mariani plans to bring sweet-sour cherries to the Santa Monica Farmers' Market—where restaurant chefs do their shop- ping—when his young trees come into production. He worked with Michigan State University cherry breeder Dr. Amy Iezzoni to identify and source tart and sweet-sour cherries for the one-acre plot. Varieties planted include Balaton, Danube, Jubileum, Montmorency, Belle Magnifique (an old Duke variety), and the German variety Schatten Morelle. Direct sales With the exception of cherries, he packs his own fruit and markets it through direct sales. He also dries some fruit for dried fruit sales. He markets his fruit through three main channels: wholesale, retail (through the on-farm store and selected farmers' markets), and a four- or eight- week subscription program that sends overnight ship- ments of tree-ripened fruit to the doorsteps of consumers. Last summer was the first that Andy's Orchard secured a coveted vendor spot at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers' Market in southern California. Ken Brown, his nephew and general manager, is in charge of the Santa Monica market. In the summer, Andy's Orchard employs about a dozen people. It takes about five to run the retail store managed by Lisa Silva. Brown works with the production crew of six full-time employees who pick fruit in the morning and pack it in the afternoon for the store or outside sales. Contract labor is used for cherry harvest. Mariani considers his cherries more like a commodity than his other fruit. "Cherries pay the bills and allow us to do things that aren't always the most efficient, like grow tree-ripened fruit," he said. He packs some cherries for sale in the farm store and direct shipments, but most of the crop is sent to Felix Costa and Sons, a Lodi, California, cherry packer. Challenges Growing fruit in a rapidly urbanizing area is his num- ber-one challenge. With homes on the backside of the orchard and a school across the street, orchard sprays must be carefully timed. Pilferage of fruit and illegal dumping in the orchard are also problems. Spotted wing drosophila has become his biggest pest problem. Until it appeared in the late 2000s, he farmed almost organically. He's found the pest doesn't seem to bother apricots and peaches much, but prefers smooth- skinned fruit like nectarines, plums, and cherries. He no longer traps for the insect but just assumes it is present and sprays every seven to ten days. It's also challenging to grow labor-intensive artisanal fruit. His tree-ripened fruit are picked six times, a practice he calls highly inefficient, compared to two or three for what he calls commodity stone fruit. Yield and packouts are lower, and picking is slow because ripe fruit must be picked gently and placed in foam-lined lugs with only two layers in a box. Mariani's focus on flavor and his unique approach to marketing has been successful, but uncertainty clouds the farm's future. Residential housing is closing in, and he has no children interested in taking over. There's a possi- bility that his nephew will continue the business, though it will likely need to be relocated. But for now, Mariani has found success in his market niche of customers who want tree-ripened, highly flavor- ful fruit. • A housing development encroaching on Andy's Orchard can be seen behind the wall of wooden lugs and trays used in fruit drying.