It's a beautiful day, a perfect day to tour the gorgeous Rancho Vasquez Avocado Farm in Azusa, and to learn everything we ever wanted to know about avocados, and more.
When you enter the property, the first thing you see is this gorgeous metal sculpture of the American Flag with a cut-out of a soldier. We later learned that Art Vasquez, the patriarch of the Vasquez family and owner of the Avocado Farm, designed and had this flag custom made. The metal that was removed to form the cut-out of the soldier is displayed around a gorgeous patio/party area on the property.
Rancho Vasquez Avocado Farm
Our tour guide was Art Vasquez himself, and he told us all about the history of the farm, how the trees are meticulously cared for, and gave us lots of information about how to grow and choose avocados. There was so much information, here is just a bit of what we learned . . .
In 1958, Art's father purchased one acre of land that contained about 80 avocado trees. Art and his brothers sold the avocados around town at a price of 10 cents each or 12 for one dollar. In 1980, Art purchased two acres next to his father's acre, and then in 2002, he purchased the 120 acre property adjacent to his first two acres. The 120 acres contained 250 Fuerte avocado trees. Since then, Art has planted more and more avocado trees and the property now has 3700 trees in seven different varieties of avocados - Hass, Fuerte, Zutano, Lamb Hass, Gem Hass, Reed, and Pinkerton.
They sell their avocados to local family restaurants and organic grocery stores around California. They also have a farm store that is open on weekends. Art and four generations of his family all live on the property and work the farm by hand.
Our tour begins
L-R - Debbie, Carol N, Carol L, Kathy, Seema, Leslie, Queen Nancy, Art
Here are some photos of this gorgeous property . . .
Views of Rancho Vasquez.
Each orchard is named for one of the family members.
The property extends to the mountains in the background.
If you look really close at the last two photos, you can almost see the American Flag
flying above the highest peak.
L-R - Seema, Kathy, Queen Nancy, Carol L, Leslie, Debbie, Joy, Carol N
Delicious avocados ready to be picked
The one and only citrus tree on the property, Art's original farm truck, and the gorgeous sky
No tour is complete without a visit to the "gift shop." In this case, it was the farm store. Art told us Fuerte are the creamiest and his personal favorite, but they didn't have any in stock today. Next best is the Lamb Hass. Some of us bought a few different varieties to do our own taste testing at home. (Verdict: they are all super yummy!)
Some of the products that they sell in the farm store,
and some helpful information about avocados.
Other interesting things to see in the farm store -
Scrapbooks of Farm History, the Vasquez Family Photo, The Grandkids' Handprints,
The Flag that Survived a Fire
Art and all his family members that we met were so nice and helpful, they made us feel like part of the family. I wish the farm was closer - I'd be there every week buying avocados.
One Last Photo
L-R - Leslie, Debbie, Kathy, Queen Nancy, Art, Joy, Carol L, Carol N, Seema
We said goodbye to Art and his family, and headed off for a yummy dinner at . . .
North Woods Inn
Thank you Queen Nancy for taking over for Queen Barbara who had a last minute conflict and couldn't come. We all had a really fun day walking through the avocado orchards and learning all about these delicious fruits. Another wonderful day with FRIENDS.