Producer Profile.
By David Gaines.
 

Southland Farmer Brings Cherimoyas and Other Exotic
Sub-tropical Fruits to Harbor Area Farmers Markets.

   Only one farmer brings the highly perfumed, sub-tropical cherimoya fruit to any of the Harbor Area Farmers Markets. They are in season January into June; and he brings them to the Long Beach Downtown Market and the Cerritos Market (and a limited supply to the Long Beach Southeast market) from 17 trees that were planted by his son.
   "I've had many customers over the years at the Long Beach Downtown Market tell me that they had cherimoyas in their native countries," Karl Nejely affirmed. "These people have been from tropical and sub-tropical countries all over the world, from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Mexico, and South America. I think that the fruit brings back memories of their homeland."
   The cherimoya fruit, originally from Ecuador and Peru, is considered one of the most exquisite fruits in the world. It grows in their mountain valleys, and was eventually introduced into Mexico and Central America. The best phrase to describe the delectable taste of the cherimoya is "melting in the mouth."
   The cherimoya varies in form but is usually oval or heart-shaped. The light-green surface of the fruit varies in appearance, from smooth to ridged. The flesh is creamy white, soft and juicy, with dark half-inch seeds. It has a custard-like consistency, with a rich and aromatic flavor, and a blend of sweetness and mild acidity resembling a cross between a banana, pear, pineapple and strawberry. (More info on the cherished cherimoya.)
   The former teacher began to pursue farming full-time when he retired from teaching. There were several different types of fruit trees on the property when his family moved in, which was purchased from one of the original pioneer families in the area. His family settled on a small portion of the once-huge acreage that the pioneers had owned under the federal Homestead Act. Karl started with 2.5 acres and now has a little over six acres filled with avocados, loquats, kumquats, sapotes, Navel and Valencia oranges, mulberries, limes, lemons, cherimoyas, pomegranates, guavas, and tangelos.
    "The sapotes are very popular with my oriental customers. And as far as I know, no one else is bringing the mulberries, sapotes, or cherimoyas to the Harbor Area markets," he affirms.
   Avocados and many of the other sub-tropical fruits that he produces do not grow well north of the Southern California region. And even in this temperate area his sub-tropical fruits have a more favorable site to grow safely, since he is on the crown of a hill. (The top of a hill is preferable since it is usually ten or twelve degrees warmer than in the valley only a few hundred feet below).
   During the winter months, citrus fruit is often damaged in the lower-lying areas without smudge pots to warm the trees or wind propellers to mix the cold air with the warmer air. But Karl doesn't worry about damp fog on the top of the hill, as the dense cold air is heavier and flows downhill. This is why the cherimoyas grow especially well on the top of his hill.
   Karl eventually evolved into selling his other tree fruits, one of the first being from an old mulberry tree on his property. The producer is still the only farm in the Harbor Area Farmers Markets that sells mulberries, and all from the one big tree. It only produces for a short time, during May and June, and the purple berries are hard to pick but always very delicious. By contrast, the avocados mature over a long period of time on the tree, with picking starting in September.
    "My son Danny was the first person in the family to pick some of the mulberries to sell at a local farmers' market. This gave me the idea to sell avocados at the farmers' markets," the farmer remembered. "There weren't very many farmers' markets in those days; one of the few in Southern California was the one nearby. I tried it for a little while, but I didn't want to compete with a friend of mine. I eventually moved to the market in North Long Beach, where I was very successful."
   He didn't anticipate being a farmer or to make his living from farming when he started in 1980. He still runs the small orchard farm of 250 trees by himself, although his three sons help him occasionally. Only about a dozen farmers who bring produce to the Harbor Area Farmers Markets have been coming longer than Karl. Most weeks he works every day tending his trees, picking and packing the fruit, and bringing it to market twice a week.
   "I never dreamed that I would end up as a farmer," Karl insists. "I was drawn into farming mainly because I wanted to maintain the beautiful rural environment. My sons all disliked picking the avocados, but I enjoy the task. And I get plenty of exercise going up and down the ladder all day. I still love working outdoors on the farm."
   Although it's a great deal of work, farming still puts Karl in a spiritual frame of mind. "When I'm 20 or 30 feet up in the air on a ladder, the foliage exudes a freshness from oxygen that makes me feel good. The lighting is softer up there and there are birds and insects in the trees, including an occasional hawk. The sun sends a soft, dappled light down through the leaves, which I find very pleasant."
   Karl started farming part-time in 1980 when he bought a 135-tree avocado grove from his nextdoor neighbor. They are mostly Fuerte avocados, a winter fruit that he says has an excellent taste. However, he also grows Hass avocados.
   "I didn't want the land to be cleared and used to build more houses, so I bought it," the soft-spoken farmer recalls. "I taught school at the time, so I mainly got the land to preserve the trees and keep the space open."
   Most people are aware that farming is hazardous. Tree farming is no exception, as large limbs often break off or farmers can fall from ladders while picking fruit. Karl has fallen from a ladder several times over the years. He once fell while perched ten feet up.
   "I landed on my back with the ladder underneath me," Karl recollected. "I waited a few minutes before I got up because I was afraid that I had broken a bone. I was shaken up, but it didn't feel like anything was broken, so I got up slowly and kept working."
   In 1984 Karl started bringing his avocados to the farmers' market in North Long Beach, near the former Dooley's store complex on Long Beach Blvd. near Del Amo. He was happy to find an avenue for direct sales, since avocado prices had gone down to 12 cents a pound at the packing houses.
   He says he learned farming by trial and error, by talking to other growers, and by consulting with professional agricultural advisors. The advisors would come out to the small six-acre farm and perform soil and leaf testing and then suggest growing methodology. And although he is not certified as organic, he has always tried to adhere to organic growing methods. At first he tried to stay away from using fertilizers, especially the chemical ones, but the amount of fruit produced eventually decreased. So he decided to start using chicken and horse manure and ground-up fish scraps, which are very high in natural saltwater minerals and other nutrients. The three types of natural fertilizer soon increased fruit production.
   After a few years at the North LB Market, Karl starting bringing fruit to the Long Beach Downtown Market. Avocados have always been a mainstay of his business at the markets.
   "If the avocados are not picked in November I leave them on the trees until December or January when they taste even better," Karl explains. "March is the end of the season, but I still get good fruit in April, May, and June. I don't get too many avocados or other fruits in August or September, so I don't make too many trips to market in those months."
   The avocado trees often blossom as early as December, Karl says, and by March there are lots of blossoms. By March of the next year the blossoms will turn into fruit. Therefore customers can purchase a piece of fruit that has taken a year to mature, adding an extra essence of nutrition. In contrast, an apricot or peach blooms one month, matures the next month, and then starts falling off the tree in another month. Karl grows a combination of Fuerte and Hass varieties, so he can have avocados available almost all year long.
   "When I come to market I try to pick the avocados as far in advance as I can, so the fruit is more ripe when I sell it," says the fruit farmer. "It's best to pick an avocado hard, and then let it ripen after it's picked. If you leave avocados on the tree until they're ready to fall off they can be bruised, or they'll be ruined during transportation."
   The beauty of nature often speaks to this farmer's heart. "Sometimes when the moon rises over the mountain to the east I can see a huge silver light all over the valley and in the trees," says Karl thoughtfully. "And then when the sun rises it colors the clouds gold, fiery red and peach. There is something different about celestial light in nature, compared to, say, reflected light in a painting. Celestial light has an energy that seems to point its finger right down to me; it's very penetrating. Nature overwhelms me with its beauty, more than words can describe."
   The venerable farmer says that there was a day when Wilshire Blvd. in LA was like his own area is now. Of course, it's all concrete, buildings, and asphalt these days. "Houses are now springing up one by one in my beautiful area, so I want to do what I can to preserve this tiny piece of nature," Karl ponders. "So if someday there's a Wilshire Blvd. running alongside my property, at least one little section will have the beauty of nature on it."
   It kind of gets to Karl when he hears local farmers say that they're going to sell their rural property when they retire. "These farmers will get a lot of money for their property," he mentions, "but the developers will level the farms and put up a whole bunch of houses. Then the farms are gone forever. This is why I bought the avocado trees to begin with, so I could preserve this wonderful farm land for future generations."

	Karl cares for 17 mature cherimoya trees, some well over 20 ft. tall. The cherimoya fruit is quite firmly attached to the tree via a thick fibrous stem which has nurtured the fruit for many months. Successful picking is a skill that is really only acquired with much experience. Individual fruits are especially THAT: individual - in shape, size, color and ripeness, four attributes which often do not at all correlate, even throughout the same tree. To recognize a fruit just right for picking, and generally from quite a few feet away, and to separate it from the stem (without damaging the fruit itself), is akin to art. Karl's expertise in arboreal stewardship is measured in decades.
	One of Karl's six Nagami kumquat trees. He also cultivates three of the Miwa variety. These mini-citruses are eaten skin and all, and are refreshingly tangy with just the right amount of sweetness.
	One of Karl's two tangelo trees, fruits ripening even as we speak. The tangelo is a hybrid between a tangerine or mandarin orange and either a grapefruit or pomelo.
	Among Karl's sub-tropical gems is the white sapote (zapote blanca), producing creamily delicious fruits in the crown of this huge tree. As Karl makes his daily orchard rounds, inspecting all the trees, he will from time to time spot a dangling fruit partially eaten by birds. He either leaves it hanging for them to finish, or he will pick it and finish eating it himself while continuing his inspections. Karl and his orchard thrive as one.

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