Fruits and melons....and a few veggies too.

This last week Randy and I got to go with Associated Foods on a little produce trip to California. We spent a lot of time touring growing areas, and stores, just to get a better idea of what all went in to getting it to the store, as well as getting better educated on the produce. We saw lots of fruits, melons, vegetables, etc. (you hear a lot about California fruits and melons but I do have to say I still prefer Utah home grown) This first picture is the open L.A. market. The growers would line the produce up like this for the buyers to come look at and buy. It was a couple of blocks worth of produce. They said they started everyday at 1 a.m. and would go until about 8:30 or so. It was a good time and gave us a greater appreciation for all the work that goes into making sure we have fresh fruits and veggies year round.


Watching them harvest celery was pretty cool. We even got to wear some cool hairnets. (see the video below)

This was at the mission avocado plant. You just don't realize what all it takes to get the fruit from the farm to the store.

They had machines that would sort the lemons according to size, weight, even color. The technology was really amazing.

This was a huge underground storage facility where they would stage the lemons for sometimes weeks at a time depending on demand. They tagged each container so they could go back and tell you exactly where that lemon was grown, on what date it was harvested, etc.

These were rows of strawberry plants that would go on for acres. We all ate strawberries until we were sick. They build these dirt mounds up and the workers have to bend over and pick them all day. Talk about tough work.

These guys were amazing to watch in action. The faster they went the more they got paid. They got paid by the load so they were all in a hurry to get through it as fast as they could.