Three days later, I arrived again at the walnut farm on the outskirts of Brentwood. The farm, which had felt heavy the last time I came, had regained a little vitality, and above all, the people’s faces seemed to have gained at least a small measure of ease.
Frederick waved first, and beside him Brandon was waiting with his hat pulled low.
“Brian, you’re right on time.”
“Let’s take a look around first.”
We started with the south-facing slope, where the damage had been the worst. Just as I had told them last time, they had hung partial shade netting over the upper parts of the fruit, so the sunlight passed through the filter and spread softly. Under the canopy, micro-irrigation nozzles had been set at regular intervals, and their angles had been tilted slightly upward so that the mist brushed the undersides of the leaves.
“We adjusted the nozzle angles again yesterday evening.”
Brandon explained first.
“Good. What about the water temperature?”
“We covered the reservoir with shade cloth and only draw water in the morning, let it cool, then use it.”
“Well done.”
I took out an infrared thermometer and measured the temperature inside the canopy and on the surface of the fruit. Last time, the fruit surface had been 6 to 8 degrees hotter than the inside of the canopy, but today the difference had narrowed to 2 to 3 degrees. I hung a terminal on the lower canopy and read the internal humidity: 62%.
“I wouldn’t call it comfortable yet, but it does feel much better.”
Frederick quietly let out a breath and nodded.
“This happened because I wasn’t paying attention. I thought the workers would naturally teach Brandon well... They’d been told why I prepared certain things according to the temperature from time to time, but even they hadn’t remembered. So they had nothing to pass on to Brandon.”
Perhaps embarrassed by those words, Brandon turned his head away. The workers were at fault too, but he knew the greatest responsibility for this lay with himself.
“... I can see how that could happen. From the workers’ perspective, they may have just been following orders, so they probably didn’t bother remembering it.”
“This is Brandon’s first time going through something like this, so he must have been flustered too.”
“That’s right. He’ll manage. People learn by making mistakes.”
Brandon had probably been impatient as well. Of all things, his younger sister Chloe had taken over a 70-acre farm, even taking on more than a million dollars in loans. So Brandon must have wanted to prove something too, and with things turning out like this, he had to be even more rattled.
“I want Brandon to do that too, but, well... In all the years I’ve lived, I’ve learned a few things. Some people gain lessons from failure, while others gain nothing from it. How many people do you think started farming around the same time I did?”
“Hmm... I’m not sure.”
“There were four of us, including me, who started growing cherries in Brentwood. Just like you and Chloe’s friends, I had friends too. Among them, one had originally grown cherries, and two started with loans and support from the government. But only two of us are still farming now.”
“Ah...”
“One friend and I survived, and the other two sold their farms and left. We were all here in Brentwood, and we all suffered through heat waves and pest damage at the same time. The problem was what came after. One friend and I prepared for the next crisis, while the others didn’t think about it at all. I don’t want Brandon to end up like those friends who left this place, but things don’t always go the way I want.”
The fact that he said this even while Brandon was listening right beside him showed how much he wanted his son not to miss the lesson from this experience.
“So that’s why you were planning to sell the farm.”
“That’s right. In a way, yes. I thought it might be better for Brandon to invest his assets in financial products and work for a company on a salary instead of farming. The same went for Chloe. But Chloe has become a farmer I can trust now. Good heavens... You’ve seen the pear orchard Chloe made, haven’t you?”
“Of course.”
Frederick shrugged and smiled proudly.
“I never knew my daughter could be that diligent and capable. The tomato field has completely changed, and she’s filling all 70 acres with pear saplings. Seeing it was truly moving. Ah, enough of this useless talk. Maybe because I’m getting old, I seem to be getting more talkative.”
“Haha, not at all.”
He waved his hand and headed toward the eastern block. We walked for about twenty minutes, talking about this and that, before finally arriving. Looking at the trees here, perhaps because the windbreak was weaker, the edges of the leaves were still drying out, and lesions were spreading like specks on the tips of the fruit. Some of the fruit at the ends of the branches were already beyond saving.
I grabbed a handful of soil and rubbed it between my fingers. The particles crumbled easily and scattered like powder between my fingers.
“This block shows signs that the moisture isn’t penetrating properly. The soil’s organic matter content is too low, so it can’t hold up.”
Brandon asked cautiously.
“I thought this much would be okay... Can we save it?”
“We save what can be saved, and give up quickly on what needs to be given up.”
I took a wrench and spanner from the toolbox beside the tractor and went to the micro-irrigation line. I lowered the nozzle positions by two notches and finely adjusted the angle again, so the mist would brush the undersides of the leaves and scatter lightly over the fruit. If the droplets formed too large when sprayed, they would attract even more radiant heat, so atomization was important.
“Now, in this area, run it at 10:15 a.m. and 3:10 p.m., twenty minutes each time. If you run it longer, the roots will end up taking in hot water.”
“Got it.”
Brandon immediately wrote it down.
“Next, you’ll need to prepare for foliar spraying. Foliar spraying is a method where you spray nutrients the plant needs directly onto the leaf surface so they can be absorbed. If you dilute calcium sulfate (CaSO₄) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄) at a low concentration and spray them on the leaves, it helps moderate the transpiration rate of the leaf tissue, allowing the tree to cool itself. Most importantly, calcium strengthens the cell walls of the fruit skin, which gives it resistance against heat and disease stress.”
It didn’t seem like he understood what I was saying, but this time as well, Brandon moved his hand quickly and wrote it down in his notebook.
“Spray this entire block before sunset today, at the concentration I’ve marked. Tomorrow morning, do the eastern block, and the day after tomorrow, the northern block.”
“I just connect the spraying equipment to the tractor, right?”
“Yes. Do it when the wind is weak. Set the spray angle 10 degrees above horizontal.”
Pest control was best done at dawn. We took out the pheromone traps stacked in the garage and installed them at regular intervals at the height of the treetops. The urgent priority was to reduce the number of egg-laying adults, and Brandon also understood that chemicals wouldn’t reach larvae that had already bored in.
“Start insecticide treatment at five tomorrow morning. Finish before sunrise. Use the chemical on the list for the first round only, and for the second round, switch to alternate spraying.”
“Do you know what alternate spraying is?”
When Frederick asked, Brandon hesitated. Seeing that, Frederick looked frustrated, but explained slowly.
“It’s a method of spraying different types of pesticides in rotation. If you keep spraying only one type of insecticide, only the individuals with genetic resistance that allows them to survive that chemical remain and reproduce.”
“Ah... I understand.”
While Brandon nodded and went off to give work instructions to the laborers, Frederick spoke.
“This year’s walnut harvest will probably be a big loss. In truth, that’s farming. That’s why we grow multiple varieties, to prepare for situations like this.”
Corporate farms often grew one variety on a large scale, but farms run by a family usually did not. It was risk management for unexpected disasters like this.
“Humans have always developed by overcoming crises like this. Try to think of it positively. You’ve provided Brandon with an experience that will help him grow.”
“That’s how I’m thinking of it. Speaking of which...”
Frederick looked at me with something expectant in his eyes. I could tell what he was about to say.
“Are you asking if I can help with the walnut farming too?”
“When you helped with the cherry farming, there were things I’d heard of, but there were also methods I didn’t know at all. There must be things like that for walnuts too, right?”
I nodded.
“There are, but...”
“There are?”
His eyes sparkled.
“As expected, it would require a large investment, and many things would have to change. And most decisively, with cherries, I can make wine and maximize profits that way, but with walnuts, there are many difficulties on that front.”
“Hmm... That’s true. I suppose that’s a weakness of walnuts as a crop.”
“That’s right. Even if we tried going into walnut oil or something like that...”
“Walnut oil?”
“Yes. The farm owner would have to handle the branding personally, so it would be a heavy burden. So I can help, but because of the inherent limitations of walnut farming itself, my help may not be enough to create a decisive turnaround.”
“Hmm... I understand for now.”
If it had been almonds instead, something might have changed, but walnuts still had a long way to go. Even if I helped improve profitability here, if I took 30% of the profit from that, the improved earnings likely wouldn’t amount to much difference, so I drew the line.
Uncle Frederick must have understood what I hadn’t fully said, because he nodded with a stiff expression.
“I’ll have to think deeply about it.”
“Yes.”
Now that he was thinking not simply about handing the farm over to his son, but also about its future, he would undoubtedly have a great deal to consider.
---
The Annual Grower Meeting hosted by Sonoma County Winegrowers was much the same this year. The conference hall was unusually crowded, and farm owners from Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Green Valley, and elsewhere sat in rows.
On the screen were the words [Sustainability in Practice, The Future of Sonoma Pinot Noir], and items such as vineyard sustainability, varietal diversity, contract renewals, and water shortage measures had been put on the agenda.
Elias Grendel stood at the back of the hall by the table where coffee and pastries had been laid out. He believed that meetings like this should now be led not by an old man like himself, but by the younger farm owners.
Just then, a low, weighty voice came from behind him.
“Mr. Elias!”
He slowly turned his head and saw Mark Harrington in a gray suit and burgundy tie, wearing a polished smile. As always, he gave the impression of never losing his refinement or composure.
“Mark, you came too.”
“I couldn’t miss an occasion like this. Especially since interest in Pinot Noir exploded after the movie Sideways, and profits have grown as well, hasn’t it? I don’t think anyone could afford to miss it this year. Ah, by the way! I heard that the contract for the largest block on your farm ends this year.”
Mark had already contacted his farm several times, yet spoke as if he had only just remembered. Elias gave a wry smile.
“That’s true.”
“If it hasn’t been contracted yet, would you consider selling the grapes from that block to us? I will present them at the highest quality, without allowing even the slightest blemish on the reputation of your farm’s grapes.”
“Hmm...”
“At some point, you stopped selling grapes to our winery, and that has pained me. Surely you’re not still holding on to what happened in the past, are you? Ah, have you heard any news about Daniel?”
“I’m sure the boy is doing well.”
At the extremely dry reply, Mark nodded.
“I see. In any case, if the contract hasn’t been finalized yet...”
Before he could finish, Elias answered calmly.
“I’m sorry, but the contract for that block has already been settled.”
“Ah... Is that so?”
To the disappointed Mark, Elias said with a faint smile on his lips.
“I decided to hand it over to a winery I’m quite looking forward to.”
For an instant, Mark’s expression stiffened slightly.
“May I ask where...?”
“Do you know Redwood Winery?”
When the word Redwood came out, undisguised displeasure appeared on Mark’s face.
“I know it. Redwood...”