Newman students harvest their first almonds – by hand

The new almond orchard at Orestimba High School has yielded its first nuts, picked by hand rather than machine so as not to damage the young trees.

More than 200 students have taken part in the harvest, which started last week on the 3.5-acre site. Many of them are not agriculture students, but they can still learn about how the crop grows, said Randy Rocha, a special education teacher who helps run the campus farm.

The trees were planted in early 2015 and will be harvested starting next year with the shakers used throughout the Central Valley almond industry. For now, the students simply reach into the limbs and knock the almonds off with their hands.

“You can see by the look on their faces how thrilled they are,” Rocha said.

About 400 students have helped with various stages of the orchard – installing irrigation, planting, pruning and now picking. The nuts will go to the Stewart & Jasper Orchards processing plant west of Newman.

The campus farm also has about 15 fruit trees of various types, along with 10 grape vines and a pumpkin patch.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Newman students harvest their first almonds – by hand."