He couldn’t do what? Why? At the time Nand Singh Johl started farming, he couldn’t buy land, his grandson said. Reason: the California Alien Land Lawof 1913, which forbade people ineligible for U.S. citizenship fromowning land. So the elder Johl started farming rice with an American partner. In 1946, when the restriction was loosened, Nand Singh Johl was able to buy his first peach orchard, blazing the trail his grandson follows today.
Winter work What’s happening in the orchards now? A lot of hard work. Johl and his team typically spend the winter pruning branches and guarding against fungus and insect incursions. Around March, trees will start to bloom. Beginning around late March or early April, those blossoms will start to turn into peaches.
Too much of a good thing Yes, you can have toomany peaches. After the fruit starts forming, Johl’s crews work tomake sure the trees aren’t overloaded. “You have to hand- thin them, make them5 to 6 inches apart,” Johl said. “If you leave all the peaches on the tree, they will be very small, and the branches cannot hold that much weight and they will break.”
NET WT. 15 OZ (425g) FANCY GRADE
Savoring his work Farming may be hard work, but the intangibles aren’t lost on this longtime peach farmer. “It’s a beautiful fruit to grow,” Johl said. “When you walk in the peach orchard and peaches are ripe, it’s a beautiful scene—the way it smells, the way it looks.”
Vitamin C(an) That rapid canning, Johl said, holds in the nutrients. “You pick the peaches when they are just ripe,” he said. Because of that, canned peaches bring plenty of health benefits to your pantry: antioxidants, vitamins A and C, and folate, according to the California Cling Peach Board. Not a bad addition to your pie and cobbler, two desserts Johl named as prime uses of his fruit.
Kevin Hecteman khecteman@californiabountiful.com
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