Belarmino: Oh, the delicious produce of the San Joaquin Valley

By Tony Belarmino

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Recently I caught a whiff of the sweet smell of success. I am not referring to the smell of the orange and lemon blossoms wafting from my backyard. The winter wheat had been cut and in preparation for planting corn, dairy by-products were being spread.

When we lived in Denair, out-of-town visitors would would get out of their car in front of the parsonage and immediately ask, "What is that smell?"

Well, dairies have to be cleaned and crops fertilized. On the plus side, however, just south of us is one of the largest cheese factories in the world and a world-class tourist attraction, Hilmar Cheese.

Stanislaus County is a farming community and agriculture provides a lot to our economy. From where we live, I can drive north on Geer Road and either east or west on Monte Vista Avenue and soon be driving past mile upon mile of farmland.

Nuts are also a very important part of out economy. Most of our friends and relatives know that.

Six months ago, we visited a friend in Crescent City. Almost as soon the small talk was done, we were asked, "Did you bring almonds?" We didn't, but we put some in the mail shortly after we returned home.

My wife, Judy, is very close to one cousin. I was at the Turlock Post Office to mail a birthday present to her. The lady asked what was in the box. I said, "Walnuts that are a birthday present for my wife's cousin."

The lady looked at the address and replied, "Walnuts are a delicacy in Tennessee." We talked about how blessed we are living in this area.

Of course fruit is a vital part of our economy -- and diet.

We just spent some time in the Monterey Bay area. For both a breakfast and a snack we ate strawberries from that area. Our conclusion: Those berries were nothing compared to the sweetness of the strawberries we purchase from Mr. Yang on Monte Vista Avenue.

We also stopped for a snack at a fruit stand and bought a bag of cherries from that area. Immediately, we compared them unfavorably to the cherries we buy from Cipponeri Farms' fruit stand on Geer Road.

Peaches, apricots and nectarines are plentiful here. Later, melons will come into season, providing an excellent source of sugar and vitamin C.

The abundance of produce here really impressed us when we first moved here from Northern Nevada, and 18 years later, we still don't take it for granted.

A few days ago, I returned home from Cipponeri's with three bags of fruit. It led to a conversation with my neighbor's parents. "This is much easier than hauling an orchard ladder around," I said. He agreed.

Farms are a sign of success here in Stanislaus County, but that comes through the efforts of farmers running the business and providing that hard labor. I can do neither, but I love the food.

Belarmino, a Turlock resident, works at the Health Services Agency and is a chaplain with the Assemblies of God Disaster Response Task Force. E-mail him at RevTonyAG@aol.com.