The Familiar
by Wendell Berry
The hand is risen from the earth,
the sap risen, leaf come back to branch,
bird to nest crotch. Beans lift
their heads up in the row. The known
returns to be known again. Going
and coming back, it forms its curves,
a nerved ghostly anatomy in the air.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As one would suspect, from viewing the rolling hills and valleys of Lake County, agriculture is one of our biggest industries.
We are famous for our pears, walnuts and prolific vineyards, which produce award-winning wines.
The landscape was like a magnet for pioneers too, drawing them in, enticing them to stay here in our uplands and lowlands alike.
Our wine history can be traced back to the 1850s when the area's Mediterranean microclimates invited settlers to plant hundreds of acres in vines.
When Prohibition struck in the 1920s, Lake County farmers decided to grow walnuts, pears and other crops.
According to the book, “Stories and Legends of Lake County,” Henry Wambold began to farm on his Blue Lakes resort property in 1899. Then, the resort was called Laurel Dell.
His wife canned some of the string beans and offered them for tasting. Could this have been the start of Lake County's famous Blue Lakes beans?
Before long, the Wambolds were growing beans on a larger scale. Other farmers followed suit, and canneries is Bachelor Valley, Lakeport and Upper Lake sprang up.
Most pioneers planted fruit trees out of necessity, needing fresh fruit. In 1885 Lake County apples and pears were entered into the World's Fair in New Orleans.
Here's what the San Francisco Chronicle said about our county's fruit in the Dec. 16, 1885 issue, “Without doubt the finest as well as the largest exhibit of fresh fruit in the display is that made by Lake County.”
Our county's walnut industry humbly began around 1880, near Clear Lake's Konocti Bay. Other orchards were planted on rise of Mount Konocti.
One farmer, J.B. Laughlin, sent Luther Burbank some walnut samples which Mr. Burbank enjoyed. This positive publicity caused quite a stir in the interest of Lake County's walnuts, and resulted in ever more walnuts being planted here. The tasty treats garnered blue ribbons at Sacramento's State Fair time and again.
Many farmers grafted varieties of English, then French walnuts onto the black walnut for a hardier variety. Varieties grown included Poe, Franquittes, Mayettes, Paines and Eurekas. The tonnage for the year 1946 was around 1550 tons.
Lake County's Bartlett pears became popular after the New Orleans World's Fair when, in 1889 L. P. Clendenin planted several acres of Bartlett and Winter Nellis pears. Other farmers followed Clendenin's lead, planting and farming pears.
A marketing problem soon arose, since there was no railroad to transport the delectable fruit. As they say, “necessity is the mother of invention” and, after much experimenting took place the farmers found that the Bartlett pears dried well, producing “slabs of amber.”
An apple and pear dryer was constructed by J.B Laughlin and E.P. Clendenin, and then more pear-drying sheds were established in Upper Lake, Scotts Valley and in Big Valley.
With the popularity of dried Lake County pears came canned pears, around 1923. There was approximately 20,000 tons of pears grown in 1928, and still production was rising.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.