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Celebrating 35 Years of Nuts & Persimmons – June 2005
One night at the dinner table, about 5 years after we started Flanigan Farms, Owen said, "We are working too hard….nearly all hours that God sends. Let's find someplace in the country to go on weekends. Then we will have to get away from the office.”
As we looked for the right spot, the tradition began of having our "board meetings" in the car each weekend. Julian, in the hills above San Diego, had always been a favorite place to visit. And yes, 32 acres of pristine forest was available. What a delightful spot to get away from the tension of the city. It wasn't long however, until we realized that a 3 ˝ hour drive each way, took a big chunk of time from a weekend.
We looked again. This time in the Fallbrook area where we had heard people were actually growing macadamia nuts. We found a beautiful place with a little house and an orchard with deep orange persimmons hanging on leafless trees. The price of this gem was too high, so we looked some more.
In 1980, a realtor friend showed us the place that is now our "Little Farm". At the time, it had rolling hills, a little creek, a well, a house and a tractor. It was virgin land, no commercial crop, only some family fruit and young pine trees. Owen loved driving around on the tractor and putting in irrigation lines so we too could grow macadamia nuts.
We sprouted the nuts from seed in Santa Monica, tended them carefully, and when they were big enough, we took them to the "Little Farm" and planted them. One December night a freeze came over our little farm and we lost 80 of those young trees. Maybe, we thought, macadamia nuts are not the right crop for this land. Remember those beautiful persimmons on that other place. Yes, they were so good, if we cannot sell them, we will eat them.
That is how this natural nut company, now providing tons of nuts every week to the marketplace, is now also selling persimmons, fresh in November and December, and dried all year.
It is 25 years since we found the "Little Farm". Some of those little pine trees are now over 40 feet tall, and have been attacked by the bark beetle that has so devastated our forests. They will have to come down. Yet, the persimmon orchard has expanded to over 600 trees. The rains of this past winter gave them a good soaking down deep, so they are joyful, with large deep green leaves. This can actually mean less fruit this year, as the strength of the trees may go more to foliage.
It has been a spectacular Spring. The hills are green and are graced with a symphony of wildflowers each joining in, with their own color, yellow, orange, white, lilac, purple. Native plants are showing blooms that are very seldom, if ever, seen.
So we celebrate the first 35 years of our journey with Flanigan Farms. Each new season has had its' own story to tell. There is a deep feeling of gratitude as we turn each page with new anticipation.
Thank you for being on this journey with us, as we continue the mission for good health. Excerpt from Spring 2005 newsletter Patsy Flanigan |
