Apricot and Prune trees

Apricots and other stone fruit were a commodity and could be sold either fresh or dried and the Allens did both. When the Allens bought the ranch, apricots were the most profitable items in the orchard. Thee was a lot of work to be done to clean up existing and plant new oranges and lemons on the property, it would take a season to do so but the apricots were ready to go!

Come harvest time it was all hands on deck as the trees became heavy with fruit and wooden crates needed assembling and both the jarring and the drying processes were labor intensive and came all at once. The entire family and all of the ranch help joined in the task. They cut and dried some and shipped the rest in crates whole. It was profitable for the family while they cleaned the existing orchards and planted new varietals of grapes in the vineyard.