Jason Bremmer walks with daughter Shaila in the 20-acre apricot orchard, left. The family sells apricot jam, above, fresh and dried fruit, apricot pies and brownies at their fruit stand.
talk to each customer. Ten-year-old Shaila Orozco helps in the fruit stand and kitchen, and folds boxes for the pies. “I greet them, ask them what they’re looking for, what kind of variety and how much they’re looking to get,” Darius said. “I make sure the fruit is on display,” Francisco said. “I make sure I’m nice to the customers and not rude, and make them want to come back.” Bremmer, who also runs a restoration construction company, learned about customer service when he worked in sa le s and ma rket ing for a cable TV company. He insists his chi ldren be friendly and helpful to each customer. “That’s the way you build relationships. That’s the main thing I try to teach them. If you can talk to people, you can do any job,” Bremmer said. So, what’s it like to work side by side in the family business for 30 days with no time off? “It does get pretty hectic, especially because we’re all living together. You could definitely feel the tension rise between one another. But other than that, it’s pretty easy because we can talk to one another fairly well and
communication is just key,” Sanchez said. Bremmer acknowledges that although the harvest is short, it feels longer because of the intense work: “After a month of working every day, 15- to 16-year-old kids get tired,” he said. Sanke y s a id t he commun it y i s g r ate f u l for Bremmer’s Farm. “They are a hard-working family operation who have a great little stand set up,” she said. “I honestly feel that with Colusa, being such a small county, that small mom- and-pop operations like this mean so much more to our local population. We would much rather support our local farmers than go buy produce from grocery stores that may be importing fromdifferent states or countries.”
Judy Farah cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com
MORE ONLINE Bremmer’s Farm grows five apricot varieties. Learn how they differ in taste, size and appearance at californiabountiful.com.
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May/June 2021
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