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Orchard Keepers Honor Tradition: Jaramillo family brings delicious varieties of apples to market

October 24, 2007
Orchard Keepers Honor Tradition
Jaramillo family brings delicious varieties of apples to market

Farmers' Markets DENISE MILLER For the Journal

Editor's note: Every other week during growing season, Denise Miller of the New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association spotlights local growers and their crops. Starting Nov. 7, her column will appear on the first Wednesday of the month, keeping you up to date with winter produce.

Friday was irrigation day. Wearing a flannel shirt and rubber waders, Solomon Jaramillo slogged through his orchard for the third and final watering of the season.

About 14 miles up the road from Jaramillo's family orchard in La Mesilla (just north of Española) lies the Santa Cruz dam from which water is released through the centuries-old acequias, or ditch system.

Seeing this much water in the high desert is always exciting, he says, as is the knowledge that it will help keep more than 400 of Jaramillo's fruit trees alive over the winter.

The orchard boasts peaches, pears, quince, cherries, apricots and grapes, but right now it is apple season, and you don't have to look far to see apples hanging from the trees and freshly packed in boxes ready for transport to one of the many growers' markets the family attends.

At market, look for Jaramillo's Top Red Delicious, Red Spur Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty and Winter Banana varieties -- all crisp, juicy and extraordinary in their taste variation.

While apples grow in many areas across the state, people in the north will tell you it's hard to beat the taste of a northern New Mexico apple. And when we're lucky enough to have a year without late spring frosts (which can kill up to 85 percent of the region's apple crop), it's always great to head to market and stock up on a variety of apples for the whole family to crunch or enjoy in apple pies, tarts or sauce.

Solomon and Erma enjoy going to market to see old friends and meet new people. "People get what they like, and we like to give people good quality for their money," said Solomon, who nearly didn't pursue farming this large orchard he purchased 50 years ago.

To hear him tell the story, it is only due to a series of events that he is now selling at markets or farming at all, for that matter.

Raised in Abiquiu, Solomon grew up on a farm. So he knew it was hard work. "I swore I'd never be a farmer," he said.

Then during the winter of 1971 when the temperature dropped significantly below zero, the entire orchard froze. Suddenly he realized he should replant all the trees so he would have something to do when he retired from being a principal in the Española school district.

At first he sold strictly to distributors. Then, after one order for 300 boxes fell through, the Jaramillos decided to try selling at farmers' markets. It's been a love affair with growers' markets ever since.

Solomon said irrigation day is always exhausting, but with many years of experience, he knows exactly how to direct water. Flooding orchards is a common practice in areas where the old acequia system is in place, and it's especially useful, said Solomon, where sandy soil makes it difficult to direct water flow.

Even after planting grasses to help hold the water, Jaramillo still likes to use a combination of flooding and creating furrows with his tractor and shovel.

Running their orchard is a family endeavor for the Jaramillos. In addition to Erma, their grown children Marlene, Kimberly and Larry, along with each of their spouses and the grandchildren, all share the heavy workload of this fiveacre orchard.

Early this morning before helping out with one of her grandchildren, Erma picked four bushels of apples.

"We probably shouldn't be climbing ladders anymore at our age, but what else are we going to do with all of this fruit?" she commented.

Fortunately, the Jaramillos know just what to keep doing with their delicious fruit -- and that is to keep bringing it to area growers' markets, just as they have done for more than two decades.

GROWERS' MARKET CALENDAR: Most markets start closing for the end of the growing season near the end of October. There are exceptions, though. The Albuquerque Nob Hill Growers' Market closes Nov. 8.

Markets open for the winter are Los Ranchos Growers' Market (second Saturday of each month starting in November, 10 a.m.-noon); Santa Fe Farmers' Market, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, early November to March; and Los Alamos Farmers' Market, Nov. 22, and first Thursday of February, March and April, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Unitarian Church, 1738 N. Sage St. Los Alamos also has a holiday market at Pueblo Gym, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Dec. 1.

FEATURED GROWER

WHO: Solomon and Erma Jaramillo (and family), Jaramillo Orchards

WHERE TO FIND THEM: Albuquerque Growers' Market, Albuquerque Downtown Market, Eldorado Farmers' Market, San Felipe Farmers' Market

FEATURED CROP: Apples

SEASON: Mid-August through October