Lisbon Lemons in the Salinas Valley
“A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas river drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees—willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottles, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pond.”
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
Although I have lived in Monterey County, California most of my life I had no idea lemons were grown just a half hour drive from my home until last year. Lettuce, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, celery, tomatoes, wines grapes of these I knew, but lemons? I very much wanted to learn more. I contacted Brokaw Ranches and Nursery home office in Ventura and inquired about a tour of their Lemoravo Ranch located locally in Monterey County. Brokaw Nursery LLC began Lemoravo Ranch in the early seventies. The lemons are grown and harvested year round for Sunkist. Kirk Williams, whose father Jim is one of the founding partners of Brokaw Nursery offered to give Athena and me a tour of the lemon orchard near the city of Soledad. Lemoravo Ranch is nestled in an alluvial plain, in the foothills of the Santa Lucia Mountains. We drove south from Salinas along Highway 101 until we passed the city of Soledad and then headed west past Mission Soledad to the ranch. When we first met Kirk we didn’t know what to expect; there wasn’t a lemon tree in sight. It was only when we drove up into the Santa Lucia foothills that we saw the magnificent lemon orchard and surrounding vineyards. Perched above the valley floor, the 400 acre lemon orchard at Lemoravo Ranch affords a view east, across the valley to the Gabilan Mountains and the Salinas Valley agricultural fields and cities below. The view was just as spectacular and refreshing as the lemon trees full of Lisbon lemons ready to harvest in January.
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