grown local Orchard man Andy Mariani stands among his flowering Red Baron peach trees.
life’s a peach allison shea malone
As the days
Summer is ripe at Andy’s Orchard in Morgan Hill /// by allison shea malone
grow longer and the sun gets warmer, taste buds start to crave the sweet and succulent flavor of a velvety summer peach, or maybe a handful of fresh-picked cherries or a perfectly plump plum. Growing more than 250 varieties of stone fruits—fruits with large pits instead of small seeds—Andy’s Orchard in Morgan Hill can easily satisfy those summer cravings. “We have it all here,” says Andy Mariani, owner. “We have 10 different varieties of peaches at any given time during the summer-
time. Some people are overwhelmed by all of it, but some people go crazy… They’ll come in and buy one of each, sample them, and have a little fruit tasting.” Mariani’s 40-acre orchard produces peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, and the crop he is most famous for, cherries. In 2009 Mariani was crowned Cherry Man of the Year by the Cherry Producers of California. “It is an honor,” says Mariani. “It is not like rock star status, but EUCALYPTUSMAGAZINE.COM | 25