The Last Orchard

Me sitting in our backyard, c. 1955.  Cherry tree to the right..

I grew up in an orchard in San Jose, or the remains of one.  In the early 1950's, Joseph Eichler decided to build a tract of houses in a fruit ranch he bought from an Italian man we knew as "Mr. Mazzera," who kept his bungalow near the tract.   Our house was only a cement slab when my parents made a down payment in 1953.

The orchard was pretty much decimated during construction,  but our lot came with three of the original trees:  a plum tree in the front yard, and a cherry tree and cherry-plum tree in the back.

Our house, with the plum tree in the front yard and the cherry-plum tree towering over the back, c. 1955.

 

When I was in elementary school, there was still an orchard across the street,  and I remember smudge pots spaced between the trees on cold nights to protect the trees from frost.  By the time I was in junior high, the last of the surrounding orchards was gone.  Over the years, the plum tree in our front yard produced less and less fruit, grew more gnarled, and finally died.

 

Last Saturday, my friend Lin and I, wandering around an artists-cooperative gallery in Saratoga, came across this watercolor, called "The Last Orchard in Campbell."  Campbell is a district of San Jose near where I grew up.   The trees in the painting seemed familiar, and I realized that they reminded me very much of the plum tree.

 

"The Last Orchard in Campbell," by Nancy Patka

Lin and I  left the gallery and went to lunch, so I wouldn't do anything rash, but of course I was rash and went back and bought it.

 

Here it is on my wall:

 

 

 

The orchard in the painting actually exists, the woman in the gallery told us, and Lin thought she knew where it was.  We may have to go check it out.