During the early days of Los Altos, the beginning of the school year was also the time of the prune harvest. The sons and daughters of orchard farmers would postpone school if the prune crop was late. Studying came second. As the daughter of an orchard owner, Ruth Erichsen remembers the prune harvests of the 1930s and the importance of that crop to the community. She was interviewed in 1997 at her home in Los Altos.
My grandfather Stevens, my mother's father, planted the orchards at Springer (Road) and Giralda (Drive). It takes awhile for new orchards to grow and produce, so while he was waiting for his little trees to come up, he worked for other people planting orchards. He planted the Campbell Ranch, which now takes in Rancho Shopping Center and Campbell Avenue, and many others. The orchards were the mainstay of the Los Altos economy in those days.
My grandparents lived on Springer Road until 1910, when they moved to a nice big house with 14 acres in Mountain View. The house is still standing on Levin near Grant Road. That's where my father did most of his growing up, in that house. They grew mostly prunes, but also apples, pears, and lots of different kinds of peaches.
Los Altos had small, family-owned orchards, and Mountain View had the large professional orchards, the livelihood of our family. Migrant people came for the harvesting work. They would have a little settlement in the orchard. Often times, they would pitch a tent in the orchard and the whole family would work and live there. They would build a fire to cook meals.
Some local families worked in the orchards, too. There was a family who lived in Mountain View that owned a shoe repair store. I remember during the prune season when Mr. Campas closed his shop on Villa Street and moved his family to my grandfather's orchard They came every year. They had seven kids, and all picked prunes.
Picking prunes was one miserable job. You had to wrap your knees in whatever you could find - old blue-jeans material or burlap sacks - to protect them because you were on your knees all day long. You picked the prunes right off the ground because you wanted them to be as ripe and sweet as possible. The dropped ones would be as sweet as can be.
Now they put a canvas down and shake the trees. They are not quite as sweet, but they are firm and easier to pack. We had to dry the prunes before they were sent out to sell because we only eat prunes as dried fruit. The flavor of that sweet fruit lasts so long, and then you get that lovely pit to suck on."
- Adapted by Donna Shoemaker for the Association of the Los Altos Historical Museum.