I skipped the fruit and vegetables subject in the last couple issues of my newsletter because I just could not think of a good candidate to write about during my composing time period. But almost immediately after that newsletter issue went to press, it struck me. The fruit I know the most about has to be the “Orange”. I was born and raised in a family that grew oranges for a living.

Yes, my mom and dad grew oranges. My mother’s parents grew oranges. A couple of aunts and uncles grew oranges. The city where I grew up is famous for the oranges (the city of Riverside). Our family grew three varieties of oranges in our groves - no, it was four varieties. We did have one tree that was a “blood orange”.

The blood orange was very unique and different to us kids, and also to our buddies. The fruit on that tree did not taste that great, and in hindsight I remember the juice as being somewhat sour. But, it was a “blood orange tree”, meaning that its pulp was red in color. When I was a pre teenager, us kids would often seek out that special tree in the orange grove and pick a few “blood oranges” off of that tree.

The other three varieties that we grew were the Valencia, the seedling (a juice orange), and the Washington navel. The seedling orange was solely used as a juice orange and had somewhat of a sour taste. The taste of the Valencia was between the seedling and the Washington navel, and often was peeled and directly eaten similarly to how the Washington navel was always eaten.

I am going to focus on the Washington navel, because that was my favorite and it probably has to be yours as well. Let us start from the beginning. The “beginning” as I know it is that this navel type orange originated as a bud sport on trees growing near Bahia Blanca in Southern Brazil. It was first imported into the U.S. during the 1870’s. The tree cuttings first went to the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C. where they were propagated into six trees. The resultant trees were then sent to California and Florida. The trees that went to Florida did not flourish – in other words they died.

In the ideal climate of Riverside, California, the three seedling trees that they had received, resulted in an exceptionally delicious, seedless, easy-to-peel fruit. In addition, the slices were very easy to separate. These three trees later provided the grafts that were spread all over the United States, and even into other counties. By that time, it had been named “the Washington Navel Orange”. You can recognize this navel orange because it often has a large navel type growth on the blossom end.

An orange tree is evergreen. This means that they have bright green foliage year around. During blossom time (late winter) it has a very fragrant flower. The fruit of the Washington Navel orange is at its best during the late fall to winter months, will hold on the tree for several months beyond maturity and also stores very well. That means it could survive long distance shipments – by ship and by rail - during those early days.

Today the main source for this temporary, traveling, labor force comes to us from Mexico and other Central America countries. But that was not always so. Remember the Chinese that were imported to build the railroads across our nation. When the peak of the rail laying was phasing out, their families often migrated to California and searched out temporary work in other trades. During the early periods of the orange industry, the pickers were mainly Chinese. However, as soon as a Chinaman thought he had enough money to last for the rest of his life he would return to China.

As the Chinese workers were moving back home, the Hindus from India were being enticed by the California Packing Industry to come to California and gain wealth by becoming pickers of oranges. For a few seasons everything worked fine, but soon many of these employers decided that enough was enough. Hindus were too much trouble. They quarreled among themselves continually – day and night.

So the need for the pickers of oranges went elsewhere. The Orange Industry thought they had found the ultimate solution when they reached agreement to allow for the importation of Japanese pickers. They were fast workers. They actually worked out quite well until the US citizens started to complain that they were displacing “white workers”. I wonder when that was – 1939 or 1940?

During World War Two, it was the Mexicans that came into this country to be the harvesters of fruits and vegetables. During the war, and a year or two after, Mexicans were lent by Mexico to help with labor in the U.S. These workers were known as “Nationals”.

The orange is a tree that is not difficult to grow, but has certain limitations. Very low temperatures and very high temperatures adversely affect the tree and its fruit.

When we were kids, radio station KFI Los Angeles, carried “fruit frost warnings” during the winter. On a cold night when the temperatures were projected to get below freezing, they would interrupt our favorite radio show “I Love A Mystery”. The station would report that the temperature would get below 32 degrees that night. If the temperature stayed there for a few hours, the foliage would get damaged. When the temperature went below 28 degrees, even the fruit might become damaged.

During mid winter, temperatures almost always would drop below freezing. During these days, we could get hired to light smudge pots in nearby groves. We didn’t smudge our own grove, but most other nearby growers did. We would get picked up about 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning. It was always very cold. The worst part was riding in the back of the truck getting to the orchard.

At the designated time, everyone would grab a torch and head down the rows and light the pots of oil. Then you would wait around and when the sun started coming up, you would be told to start refilling the pots with oil. You would always be late getting to school on those days. The soot from the smudge pots would be all over you, and probably even inside of you. Even the kids that did not do smudging would have black nostrils from breathing that sooty smoke.

One final point. The orange groves were surrounded by tall Cypress trees. These trees make great places for young kids to build tree houses. The view was fantastic from up there. The orange trees, being less than 20 feet, formed a sea of green beneath you. You were way up above the orange trees and a kid could see forever, even further than Poppy Hill.

At this time that I am writing this article (July 2005), I find that nursery stock for a new Washington navel orange tree is not available in the southern California area. This variety of tree is currently sold out until the October 2005 timeframe.