|
Saratoga's Fruitvale Avenue is known mostly today as an entrance to West Valley College and the civic center. But Fruitvale, true to its name, was once an avenue surrounded by orchards of fruit trees. Today, directly across the avenue from the baseball field at West Valley College, 11 acres of the fruit trees remain, surrounded by homes but marked by signs every spring steadfastly proclaiming, "Bing Cherries!" As the months move toward fall, the signs change: "Apricots," then "Peaches, Nectarines and Plums," and finally, "Tomatoes and Corn."
For 79 years, the acres have been tilled and nurtured by the Novakovich family. Three generations ago, Yugoslavian immigrants Matt and Mary Novakovich were the first to live there with their son, George, and three daughters. George subsequently served for 30 years in the Saratoga Fire Department, supplementing what the land provided for his family.
"The fire department saved our lives," says his widow, Leah, referring to the extra cash the job brought in. "A farmer's salary wasn't very much in those days." But today, Leah still depends on the trees on which two of her sons—Matt, now 50, and George Jr., 42—work full time. A third son, Dan, 46, continues in his father's footsteps as a firefighter with the city of Santa Clara Fire Department.
George Jr. lives with his mother in the yellow and white 1890s Queen Ann Victorian that was home to his grandparents, surrounded by the trees that allow him to make his living—some of them gnarled and splayed from 70 years of pruning. Brother Matt cares for the 14-acre "Heritage Orchard" surrounding the Saratoga Library just down the avenue—land that once belonged to the grandparents of his cousin, Saratoga firefighter Bill Seagraves.
The produce from both orchards attracts a constant stream of customers, who turn down the old drive leading past the house to the red and white barn, its roof gently sagging as it continues to serve its intended purpose—providing storage for farm equipment.
"Anytime we pass, I turn in. This is the third time this week," says Saratogan Masou Jafari who, with his 12-year-old son, Sahm, begins gathering five-pound boxes of the large purple Bings. "I give them away to friends." The Bings sell for $4 a pound.
The cherries were early this year and probably will last only another week before the apricots come in. The fruit changes each month through fall, and then the jarred jams and jellies, dried fruits, fancy dried apricots, pears, prunes and pistachios carry the sales through winter. Varying sizes of Novakovich Orchard gift boxes are popular during Christmas.
One big seller is pomegranate jelly. In order to get the sweet juice from the very hard-shelled fruit, George Jr. rigged an iron frame with a ram attached to his tractor hydraulic. The heavy weight was enough to split open the shells. The sweet juice is strained through cheesecloth, separating out the thousands of bitter seeds inside. "We're probably the only ones who do it that way," Leah says with a giggle.
During the holidays, a fourth generation of Novakoviches joins the family's agricultural tradition. Firefighter Dan's son, Kevin, 13, and daughter, Emily, 9, help out by running the cash register, much to the quiet pride of their Grandma Leah.
Novakovich Orchards is located at 14251 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga. The sales barn is open Sunday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during harvest. Closed Saturday. Call 408.867.3131.
|
Photograph by George Sakkestad