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To farm in San Diego County

Avocados, marijuana, eggs, bees, ostriches, end of the farm

Many of his farm workers support families with six, eight, and ten kids.  - Image by Robert Burroughs
Many of his farm workers support families with six, eight, and ten kids.
“Each Hinky Dinky store in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota now sells more California avocados than the entire chain did just ten years ago."

40 percent of U.S. avocados come from San Diego

Alternate bearing is particularly pronounced in the Fuerte variety, and for this reason North County growers are increasingly planting the Hass. The Hass is a relatively consistent bearer, and in addition, can produce up to twice as much fruit as the Fuerte. Its black, pebbly skin is thicker than that of the Fuerte, making it less susceptible to bruising and damage during shipment.

By Gordon Smith, Jan. 11, 1979 Read full article

This area is so good for growing cannabis for the same reasons it’s so good for growing flowers. Marijuana buds are flowers.

Grown in the sun, sold in the shade

The local product, which is sometimes called “red hair,” or “Fallbrook Red,” sells for somewhere between $1000 and $2400 per pound, depending on the quality, the local supply, and the quantity purchased. Given those prices, almost anybody with a green thumb and a big back yard could make simple gardening very profitable.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Rollins Bybee, March 1, 1979 Read full article

The chickens eye visitors with suspicion.

Chickens and eggs, eggs and chickens

The chicks brooded in his father’s old hay barn. John Sr. constructed what may have been the first laying house made out of wire cages. “Poultrymen from miles around came to see my layers in cages, ” he proudly recalls. “They couldn’t believe that a chicken could live in a twelve-by-eighteen-inch compartment and lay eggs.”

By Manny Ramos, May 17, 1979 Read full article

These bees flying over Sweetwater have collected enough eucalyptus nectar to make about 40 pounds of honey per hive.

The cumulative hiss of thousands of wings

Mikolich moves bees to the Imperial Valley, for melon pollination, onion seed pollination, and alfalfa seed pollination. Hives there are usually set under “shades,” shelters that protect them from the sun. “I’ve been out in the fields,” Mikolich says, “when it’s been 125 degrees. Bees stop flying at 105 and go just for water, to keep the hive cool."

By Douglas Whyknott, May 15, 1997 Read full article

Could this be a pyramid scheme?

Long-necked bonanza

Stonebreaker got the call on Friday. He was told that 8 or 9 of the baby birds had died, and by Saturday morning, the number had climbed to 35. “They wanted me to come right then, but I was totally booked, and by the time I got done it was about 9:00 p.m.” Stonebreaker offered to leave Del Mar at 4:00 the next morning.

By Jeannette DeWyze, May 12, 1994 Read full article

Richard Cacho: “You never know. Florida might freeze. I’m sure they pray just as hard for us to freeze."

Death of a growing season

“These plants are a little stubby for me,” he says, fingering the pea-green cucumbers already sprouting from the stalk. "These nodes are too close for comfort. You don’t want the fruit condensed together like this. You want them spread out on the vine, to make the most use of the water.”

By Neal Matthews, March 17, 1988 Read full article

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Many of his farm workers support families with six, eight, and ten kids.  - Image by Robert Burroughs
Many of his farm workers support families with six, eight, and ten kids.
“Each Hinky Dinky store in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota now sells more California avocados than the entire chain did just ten years ago."

40 percent of U.S. avocados come from San Diego

Alternate bearing is particularly pronounced in the Fuerte variety, and for this reason North County growers are increasingly planting the Hass. The Hass is a relatively consistent bearer, and in addition, can produce up to twice as much fruit as the Fuerte. Its black, pebbly skin is thicker than that of the Fuerte, making it less susceptible to bruising and damage during shipment.

By Gordon Smith, Jan. 11, 1979 Read full article

This area is so good for growing cannabis for the same reasons it’s so good for growing flowers. Marijuana buds are flowers.

Grown in the sun, sold in the shade

The local product, which is sometimes called “red hair,” or “Fallbrook Red,” sells for somewhere between $1000 and $2400 per pound, depending on the quality, the local supply, and the quantity purchased. Given those prices, almost anybody with a green thumb and a big back yard could make simple gardening very profitable.

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Rollins Bybee, March 1, 1979 Read full article

The chickens eye visitors with suspicion.

Chickens and eggs, eggs and chickens

The chicks brooded in his father’s old hay barn. John Sr. constructed what may have been the first laying house made out of wire cages. “Poultrymen from miles around came to see my layers in cages, ” he proudly recalls. “They couldn’t believe that a chicken could live in a twelve-by-eighteen-inch compartment and lay eggs.”

By Manny Ramos, May 17, 1979 Read full article

These bees flying over Sweetwater have collected enough eucalyptus nectar to make about 40 pounds of honey per hive.

The cumulative hiss of thousands of wings

Mikolich moves bees to the Imperial Valley, for melon pollination, onion seed pollination, and alfalfa seed pollination. Hives there are usually set under “shades,” shelters that protect them from the sun. “I’ve been out in the fields,” Mikolich says, “when it’s been 125 degrees. Bees stop flying at 105 and go just for water, to keep the hive cool."

By Douglas Whyknott, May 15, 1997 Read full article

Could this be a pyramid scheme?

Long-necked bonanza

Stonebreaker got the call on Friday. He was told that 8 or 9 of the baby birds had died, and by Saturday morning, the number had climbed to 35. “They wanted me to come right then, but I was totally booked, and by the time I got done it was about 9:00 p.m.” Stonebreaker offered to leave Del Mar at 4:00 the next morning.

By Jeannette DeWyze, May 12, 1994 Read full article

Richard Cacho: “You never know. Florida might freeze. I’m sure they pray just as hard for us to freeze."

Death of a growing season

“These plants are a little stubby for me,” he says, fingering the pea-green cucumbers already sprouting from the stalk. "These nodes are too close for comfort. You don’t want the fruit condensed together like this. You want them spread out on the vine, to make the most use of the water.”

By Neal Matthews, March 17, 1988 Read full article

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The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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Submit a free classified
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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