Moving beyond the freeze

FARMERS markets these days carry the unmistakable air of an army after a battle. Even three weeks after the disastrous mid-January freeze that swept through California's farmlands, there are noticeable gaps in the ranks of vendors left by farmers who just don't have anything to sell. Of the fruits and vegetables that are on display, some look a bit bedraggled and worn. And hanging over everything is a sort of buoyant optimism that feels a little forced.

Yes, he'll probably lose all of his 5 acres of avocado trees, says Ojai farmer Jim Churchill, but they were old and set up on a drip system that didn't work so well anymore anyway. This is a catastrophe, but it is also an opportunity for a fresh start. Besides, he managed to save most of his precious Pixie tangerines.

Vicki Bernard of Bernard Ranches says she lost all of the approximately 100 new trees she had planted in the last couple of years at her Valley Center ranch near Escondido, but thankfully the Riverside orchard came through without much damage.

Tony Thacher of Friends' Ranch, also in Ojai, guesses that he lost 35% to 40% of his citrus fruit, but he's excited about a new product he's created necessitated by the short crops -- "juice cocktail" bags he calls "Friends' Blend" of mixed navel and blood oranges, Minneola tangelos and some Valencia oranges left over from last year's harvest.

Prices for citrus are higher, on average about $1 a pound more than before the freeze. Behind Thacher's stand hangs a poster with pictures of ice-covered trees and the hand-written legend: "Please be understanding. Our prices have gone up. We've spent a lot of time and money growing trees and fruit and trying to protect them from the cold."

Citrus was far from the only crop affected, even though it probably suffered the worst long-term damage.

Strawberries were also frozen, losing fruit and flowers. But unlike tree fruit, strawberry plants can produce fruit for 11 months of the year, so while the freeze may have meant losing a couple of weeks of production, it didn't mean the end of the season.

Tender greens, herbs and lettuces were affected too, but these also recover quickly. Right now, there seem to be fewer of them than normal and the ones that are there often look a little wilted and shopworn.