Mel recalled picking plums and apricots on his grandfather”s farm on Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose. The LaRussas have the passion, as well as pride in what they”ve created on the hillside farm. If you don”t have a passion for it, you”re not going to make it.” “It”s not about the money,” Lathrop said. Still, Lathrop gave up a more financially rewarding career as a steel fabricator to work on the farm that”s been in his in-law”s family for more than 60 years. “Berries are a lot more lucrative,” he said. He wouldn”t recommend planting apples to a newbie farmer. The farmers market arena is small and crowded, he said. Prevedelli Farms ranch manager Sam Lathrop said finding a niche is the only way to make a go of it, and even that”s tough. The Prevedelli family sells the more than two dozen varieties of apples they grow near Corralitos, as well as the jams made from the farm”s berries, at Santa Clara Valley farmers markets. At Gizdich Ranch, Nita Gizdich famously branched into pie-making, as well as offering pick-it-yourself apples and ollalieberries. Other growers also have found selling apples by the ton doesn”t pay the bills.
Two years ago, they decided to go the u-pick route. The LaRussas tried marketing their apples to specialty grocery stores in Silicon Valley, but couldn”t earn enough to make it worthwhile to hire harvesters and truck the fruit to market. Making apples pay in an area where land values are high is a challenge. Raspberries grossed nearly $55,000 an acre. On average, apples grossed $6,069 per acre in 2012, according to the crop report. Former orchards now host hoop houses filled with raspberries and blackberries. In 2012, apples grew on 2,050 acres, down by almost half from 20 years ago, according to the 2012 Santa Cruz County crop report. But competition, foreign and domestic, as well as the rise of the berry, have forced most apple orchards off the county map. In the early 1900s, a million trees blossomed on 14,000 acres, and packing sheds sprouted from Watsonville to Aptos to ready the fruit for shipment to national and international markets. Once, apples brought prosperity to the valley.
It”s apple season in the Pajaro Valley and LaRussa said his early variety Fujis are among the first to ripen.
So they”ve turned their farm into a u-pick operation, selling the chance to stroll and picnic under the trees with family and friends along with certified organic apples at $1.50 a pound. The LaRussas started the orchard as a “retirement project,” Mel said, “a hobby.” But they”ve made a significant investment, and would like at least to break even. “We”ve yet to turn a profit,” admitted Mel LaRussa. Since then, they”ve planted some 2,000 apple trees - Fuji, Cameo, Pink Lady, Gala, Honeycrisp and Gravenstein - at Clearview Orchards.īut while their orchard has grown, their bank account has not. In 1996, they bought eight acres on Trabing Road to start a farm. Mel went into real estate, Carol into interior design. Life took the Los Gatos couple elsewhere. WATSONVILLE - Mel and Carol LaRussa grew up amid orchards, Mel in the Santa Clara Valley, Carol in the Midwest.