Fallbrook

Despite the rough end to last week, we decided to drive up to Fallbrook on Saturday (located in San Diego County) to pick out avocado trees for Jamie and my Dad. Fallbrook is known as the avocado capital of the world. Once upon a time this was true but these days most of the avocados are grown elsewhere. Although, they are probably still one of the largest producers of avocados in the U.S.

Yet, even though they are known for producing avocados, we sure struggled to find the nurseries selling the young trees. But, it all turned out for the best. As we were losing energy searching for a particular string of nurseries we stopped at Taco Bell to refuel and re-strategize our approach. After eating, my Mom saw someone who looked like they just might know what we were talking about and asked for directions. He was a very nice man and since he was heading that way offered to show us a good nursery he knew of. So there we went. He had said he would point when we reached the nursery but decided that he really didn't have much to do and accompanied us to pick out a good tree. While we were looking, he offered to take us to his grove and give us some of his own avocados. We all were a little hesitant, trying to figure out what his angle was or what he was trying to sell us. But after he had taken the time to show us the nursery we felt obliged to go and see what he was talking about. So after Dad and Jamie picked out two good looking fuerte avocado trees, we followed him to his place. His place turned out to be his home, which unfortunately, burnt down in the fires of 2007. He has yet to rebuild but they are now ready to get started. Him and his wife moved to Fallbrook in the 70s and bought a fruit stand to pay for the mortgage. They didn't know anything about fruit but started learning right away. They have since gotten out of the fruit selling business but continue to have avocado and other fruit trees on their land. He gave us two different varieties of avocados, the fuerte and the reed avocado. The reed avocado is huge and round. It's suppose to have a more nutty flavor and as soon as it ripens I will let you know what we think. An interesting point he brought up was that most grocery stores carry Hass Avocados because they do not bruise as easily not because they are the most flavorful. So can you imagine what else we are missing out on just becuase it won't travel well??

The view from his land was amazing.

We thanked him and he then offered to take us back to the freeway to get our new trees home. This has to be one of the nicest men we have ever met. He certainly made the trip special.

As we headed back we decided to make one more stop. Temecula is on the way home, so we decided to stop at one of the wineries for a quick tasting. A great way to end our trip =>

The wine was fantastic and the trip well worth it. Now we have to plant the tree. Unfortunately, avocado trees are a bit fussy when they are young. They like well drained water (a lot of it) and hot conditions. They also do not have any bark, so until their branches are long enough to cover the trunk you have to be careful that it doesn't get too much direct sun. I guess we will see how green a thumb we really have.

Here is one last picture of the view from the winery.