SUNNYVALE, Calif.—In an area famous for cutting-edge technology, there is still an apricot farm struggling to keep its roots in Silicon Valley. It was once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, with its beautiful scenery, mild temperatures, and bountiful fruit trees. But as the tech city grows, it is making more room for the modern age.
There has been a long-time dispute over the land shared between two neighbors: Sunnyvale Heritage Museum and an apricot farm. Both are city-owned, but there have been disagreements about how much land each side should devote to public facilities.
Now, the museum is asking city council to allow them to build a high tech exhibit and research library out the back. However, they would have to remove some fruit trees surrounding the museum to expand the facility by about 1,600 square feet.
“We’re thinking about removing up to six trees,” said Laura Babcock, director of Heritage Park Museum. “This is six fruit trees out of over 850. We’re talking an extremely minute area of orchard. It’s really rather silly that someone is panicking that we’re removing the orchard.”
“We have been a tech center now, far longer than what we were an agricultural center. You have to have balance,” said Babcock.
Charlie Olson, the orchard’s caretaker, first started planting with his workers in 1977. He has been tending to the trees ever since.
“This is a lot of work to farm in this orchard, growing a tree like this. It’s a lot of work, more than people realize,” said Olson. “So it’s so simple to bulldoze them down. They could bulldoze the orchard down in 3 hours if they wanted to.”
He said that part of the reason why he’s working hard to keep the orchard, is because of how rare it is.
These are Blenheim, or royal apricots, famous for their deep orange flesh and tangy, sweet taste. They are not grown anywhere else but California. In addition, few growers are left, so Blenheims are quickly disappearing.
The 84-year-old is worried that they may not stop at six trees, because he knows there is a pattern of expansion as the orchard once covered more acres.
“There was 13, but these buildings, and these tents and stuff, took up three acres and are down to 10 acres. And I’m afraid if you keep chipping at it, there won’t be any acres,” said Olson.
But what if the museum wants to show the history of Sunnyvale, including modern technology?
“You can do another museum. All computer, all high-tech, all scientific. And you can do a beautiful job of that, and do it someplace else,” said Olson.
Olsen said he will be attending the city council meeting when the topic is brought up again on July 16.