Ranch grows heritage stone fruit for a new generation
Story by Jolaine Collins • Photos by Lori Eanes
Listening toMichele Bera talk about being a farmer of heirloom stone fruit, it’s hard to tell what she loves most: scouting the rare varieties that thrive in her family’s orchards, informing her customers about each fruit’s heritage, or witnessing those customers’ joy as they discover the sweet differences among the many varieties of heirloom peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots she brings to farmers markets. “It’s fun to research each unique variety, and sometimes I’ll contact nurseries all over the world to find a source. You just don’t see a lot of these fruits anymore,” Bera said. “I like bringing them to farmers markets because people are interested in trying unique things that they can’t find in grocery stores. I’ll tell them a bit about the fruit’s history and when they try it, they fall in love with it,” she said. When the Bera family planted their orchards near the western Sacramento Valley town of Winters more than 25 years ago, their goal was to be different. “We decided years ago to go against the grain,” said Michele’s husband, Frank, who heads the farming details with his father, Frank Sr. “We began planting older, less commercially viable varieties—really planting for f lavor, taste and quality.” He was familiar with many of the 50- to 100-year-old heirloom varieties because he grew up farming them on his father’s ranch in nearby Vacaville. Still, many of the trees on his 15-acre property have been planted using a trial-and-error method. “We didn’t call nurseries and ask them for the really cool varieties. We did the opposite. We asked for stuff that people don’t grow, things that are hard to grow and don’t produce much, and things that don’t have the shelf life that you might find in a modern variety,” he said.
The Bera family, including Frank Bera, above, grows nearly 70 varieties of heirloom stone fruit on their ranch in Winters.
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