Nut-Fruit-Nut

Central Coast almonds, olives, and walnuts

By Eric Bryan

“Santa Barbara County has a long, narrow strip of sea-coast, fronting south, [. . .] which is believed to be peculiarly fitted for the culture of the almond.” So wrote Charles Nordhoff (August 31, 1830–July 14, 1901) in “California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence – A Book for Travellers and Settlers” (1872). Nordhoff began his travels through California in 1871, and reported on the agriculture of the Central Coast.

Nordhoff was born in Erwitte, Prussia (Germany), and emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1835. After schooling in Cincinnati and newspaper work in Philadelphia and Indianapolis, Nordhoff joined the U.S. Navy and sailed around the world. Following three years in the Navy, he worked as a fisherman and in merchant service. Nordhoff turned to journalism in 1853, writing for Harpers, the Evening Post, Tribune and Herald — all in New York. For his California project, he crossed the country by train and sent dispatches of his findings back to New York. The articles, revised and combined with additional material, became Nordhoff’s book on the Golden State.

One of the most notable journalists of his time, Nordhoff crusaded for equal rights for the newly freed slaves and for working-class people. His fascination with farming seems to have at least partially stemmed from his

Germanic work ethic, which placed a premium on industriousness. Carol J. Frost, Ph.D wrote in “The Valley of Cross Purposes” (2017): “Agriculture was the measure of a land’s value to Nordhoff, commerce and urban pursuits seeming only to fatten the ‘non-producers’ of the world.”

During his explorations on horseback, Nordhoff stayed at ranchos but sometimes roughed it; sleeping, he wrote, “on the green grass, with my horse staked out, my feet near a fire, and my body wrapped in overcoat and blanket.”

As you’d expect from his forays on the Central Coast, Nordhoff mentioned the cultivation of oranges, lemons, citrons and limes. But his agricultural reportage focused on almonds, olives and walnuts — crops which are almost nonfactors in Santa Barbara County today.

In San Luis Obispo County, however, there are currently nut orchards in Atascadero, Paso Robles, San Miguel, Santa Margarita/Pozo, and Templeton, while olives are grown in Atascadero, Templeton, and especially Paso Robles, where the Paso Robles Olive Festival is held each year in May.

Nordhoff noted the success of the Languedoc almond — imported from France several years previously — on the Central Coast. He reported that the Languedoc tree’s advantages were that it blossomed late, produced prolifically, and that the nut had a reasonably soft shell. Farmers planted 108 trees per acre, with each tree yielding about 12 pounds of nuts at five years, and 20 pounds of nuts at eight years. With almonds selling at 20 cents per pound, the groves would produce about $260 to $430 ($5,115 to $8,460 today) per acre. One farmer could single-handedly maintain 20 to 30 acres of almond trees.

The author told of groves of fine young olive trees growing in Santa Barbara County. Planted at 60 trees per acre, at 10 to 12 years old each tree yielded an average of 25 gallons of olives. Olives went for 60 cents per gallon, while pickled olives sold for 75 cents per gallon. Mature olive groves would produce $900 to $1,125 ($17,705 to $22,130 today) per acre. Nordhoff considered the area’s pickled olives better than those from France and Spain, and he predicted that the Central Coast would become the center of olive culture.

Also growing in the region were English walnut trees. Nordhoff described the trees as having “clean, grayish bark, and wide-spreading branches.” Properly cultivated and irrigated, the trees each produced 50 to 75 pounds of nuts at 12 years, and 100 to 150 pounds at 15 years. Farmers planted 30 walnut trees per acre, and one grower could care for a 30-acre orchard. With walnuts selling for 12.5 cents per pound, an orchard of walnut trees 15 years old earned $375 to $560 ($7,380 to $11,700 today) per acre.

Nordhoff’s glowing writings about the Central Coast earned him the affection of its residents. In early 1874 real estate broker Royce Gaylord Surdam laid out a Ventura County town, now known as Ojai. At the urging of local hotel proprietress Mrs. Blumberg, Surdam named the town “Nordhoff” in honor of the author who had written so much about the region. Nordhoff’s official founding occurred on April 6, 1874. The name was changed during the First World War due to the anti-German sentiment of the time.

Nordhoff’s grandson Charles Bernard Nordhoff also earned fame as a writer: He co-authored the novel “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1932).

Nordhoff on the Central Coast

In “California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence — A Book for Travellers and Settlers,” Nordhoff rhapsodized about journeying along the Central Coast from Santa Barbara to Hollister, “through so fine a country, and under such brilliant skies.” He noted that he “slept three hours at the little town of San Luis Obispo,” one of the stage stops on his route. Nordhoff wrote:

“California has certainly the finest climate in the world. At Santa Barbara I left my horse, on February 20, and rode in the stage through parts of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey counties, over the mountains through the long and magnificent valley of the Salinas.”

Paso Robles

From Almonds to Olives

In the latter 19th century, Paso Robles was known for its wheat production, but by the early 20th century grapes, fruit, and nuts were the district’s main crops. Almond trees, in particular, thrived in the region’s well-drained soil of clay, sand and silt, and the local annual rainfall was ideal for the watering of non-irrigated nut orchards. The quality of the area’s nut crop was highlighted at the 1906 World’s Fair, where Paso Robles pioneer and farmer Michael Gerst was awarded the prize for the world’s best almonds.

The Paso Robles Almond Growers Association was established in 1910, and commercial almond growing began in the region in 1912. The area’s almond industry exploded to the point where in the 1920s, it had the highest concentration of almond orchards in the United States, and Paso Robles came to be referred to as the almond capital of the world.

Paso Robles’ dominance in almond growing continued into the 1960s, when its output began to be outstripped by producers in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Although almond trees are still cultivated in Paso Robles, the district is known today more for its olives and grapes than for its almonds.