A Glorious Harvest
“On a winter evening Adam looked up from his account book. It’s nice in California, he said. It’s nice in the winter. And you can raise anything there.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
Kiwi harvest time in California is December. Who knew? Kiwis are grown locally north of Santa Cruz along the coast at Swanton Farms. Athena, her daughter, Mr. R and I set off to discover how kiwis are grown and harvested. We drove north along the coast highway past Santa Cruz and stopped at Swanton Berry Farm’s main location to inquire about their kiwi harvest. It was the first week in December with sunflowers in full bloom, and strawberries still being harvested. The morning was clear and bright with promise of a glorious sunny December afternoon. It’s quite enchanting; the Pacific Ocean is on one side of the two lane highway and Swanton Farm is on the other. We drove north along the coast for another ten minutes arriving at the kiwi farm. With a borrowed Red Flyer wagon loaded with harvesting buckets we set out for the kiwi orchard walking past oak trees covered in moss and naked berry vines, gone dormant for the winter. With curious anticipation we walked up the hill to the kiwi orchard seeing rows of well manicured vines hidden under a blanket of dense broad leaves. Ducking under the canopy of leaves we entered another world carpeted with giant kiwi leaves still moist from the coastal fog. The thick gnarled kiwi trunks twisted up and across the trellis making a roof for us to duck under. At first we didn’t see the kiwi fruit. As we became accustomed to the light in the tunnel of vines we saw the fuzzy brown orbs dangling in clusters like huge grapes, just waiting for us to pick.