Can you believe this cherry orchard is the last remaining piece
Of the Olson Cherry Farm in Sunnyvale...
One block away from El Camino Real?
These are some very old trees.
I was surrounded with orchards like this when I was young
We played hide and seek
Underneath the sweet smelling blooms of spring
And made forts out of the mustard grass...
It was a sad day indeed for a 10 year old girl
When the bulldozers came to pull out the trees
Across from her elementary school
Replacing her orchard of joy
With a new tract of homes called "Oak Knoll"...
Before the fertile soil was covered
With high tech buildings and asphalt parking lots
Silicon Valley was filled with thousands of acres
Of apricot, plum, pear and cherry trees...
My heart skipped a beat
And a smile filled my face
To see a minuscule remnant of my past
On such a lovely sunny day
2 comments:
Every year more and more agricultural fields and orchards are ripped out in Hollister and replaced with housing tracts. Makes me so sad every time one disappears. Some day it will look like San Jose, too. :(
Ahh...I remember it before someone coined the phrase "Silicon Valley." Horrible. And yes, I cringe every...single...time I hear or read it.
(You may be surprised, but San Jose still has a few large orchards...come on down to the "408" and I'll take you on a tour :-))
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