Last Saturday my wife and I drove to Woodlake to enjoy the Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens Berry Tasting Day. Ran into my business partner David Cox there as well. Guess we were thinking alike - great tasting fruit.
Woodlake is a small valley city of over 7,000 hard working people about 20 minutes east of us in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is in the citrus belt and heavily agricultural orientated.
I believe Woodlake's population is now over 80 percent Hispanic and is not a rich town by any economic measure. But that has not stopped the population from generously making something only found in the larger and wealthier metropolitan areas of the world. They have built a wonderful Botanical Garden on an abandoned railroad right-of-way next to Bravo Lake. The volunteers are part of "Woodlake Pride" and they have been making positive, visible changes to the city and its people.
Blueberry bush showing signage - typical throughout the Gardens.
Manuel Jimenez is one of our U.C. Extension specialists in Tulare County. His research includes highly successful plantings of berries in our hot valley - especially blueberries which can thrive when the right varieties are selected and right conditions are created. Manuel is also the guiding light of the Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens.
Jewel Blueberry - One of our popular low chill selections
It has been our great pleasure to play a small part in his work at Bravo Lake. Many of the fruit trees, grapevines, berries, vegetables were donated by our nursery. The edible section of the gardens is quite extensive with much more than just what we grow. I don't think I have ever seen so many types of chillies!
One of many named chillie varieties (image taken on 2004 visit)
The goal is to show the vast amount of great food that can be grown in our climate and soils and to educate the populace about how they are grown - and taste! In more recent years the Gardens has been expanding into the ornamentals and shades.
Public finding their favorite tasting blueberries and picking some to take home.
For me, Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens is a feast for the photographers as well. Not only do I get to make images of things we grow, but also of a vast array of interesting and colorful vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants/trees. On this same day, I ran across a number of photographers (a class actually) doing bird photography.
Sample image of the many flowers on display
I think for me the most interesting observation of the day was the utter delight as people tasted the Pakistan Mulberry fruit for the first time. In between all the blueberries and blackberries set out on tables to taste, there was a station to taste the Mulberries. It clearly was the sweetest. The tree the fruit came from was only a short distance away and quite popular as people picked their own. Most had never seen or even heard of mulberries except in the childrens' rhyme.
Cooke's Pakistan Fruiting Mulberry - An new discovery and unexpected delight for the visitors.
An interesting note: over the last two years our sales of all forms of the fruiting mulberries has surpassed the sales of the non-fruiting varieites - something I would have never dreamed about in years past.
My wife, Barbara, enjoying the Cooke's Pakistan Mulberry
(she's gonna kill me for posting this)
Congratulations to Manuel and your volunteers for providing a sparkling jewel for the Valley!
More photos of Bravo Lake Botanical Garden here.
Our original plan was to stop and eat lunch as the regionally famous taqueria that sits caty-corner to the Gardens but we had to postpone that idea since we filled up on so many sweet berries.
Ron Ludekens 6-17-2011