Showing posts with label Baja. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baja. Show all posts

Jul 14, 2015

Children of the Sun



A Sun Valley Riddle: What flower originated in North America, was domesticated by American Indians, commercialized by Russians, and then finally returned to North America for hybridization and commercial farming over 100 years ago?



If you guessed Sunflower you are correct! And you get bonus points if you guessed Helianthus (From the Greek: Hēlios, "sun" and anthos, "flower").

Sunflower farming growing
Sunflower: World Traveler
 

As mentioned in our riddle, the sunflower’s wild ancestor is native to North America, and it was the American Indians who first domesticated it into a single-headed plant in order to harvest the seeds.  However, they also saw the value and beauty in the plant for non-food uses as well.  According to The American Society of Agronomy, they used all parts of the versatile plant to make dye for textiles, oil for skin and hair, and they even used the sturdy, dried stalk as building material.  The plant itself, along with its seeds, was widely used in ceremonies. 


Eventually explorers took this exotic flora back to Europe, where it was adopted and commercialized in Russia.  Why? It just so happened that sunflower oil was one of the few fats allowed to be consumed by Orthodox Russians during Lent, and its demand shot up!  Only in the last 150 years has the sunflower returned to North America as a cultivated crop, and it was here that hybridization techniques were utilized to give us the beloved ornamental sunflower that we offer today.  

Chasing the Sun



The demand for year-round sunflowers has transported our sunflower operation to Baja California, where the balmy climate is just what these bright babies need.  Because what a sunflower reallyloves is......well, you know, sun. And lots of it.  Sunflowers also like consistency and hate stress, so the warm, long Baja days translate into comfortable nights which give our sunflowers the consistent weather conditions that keeps them happily reaching for the sky. 


Sunflower center petals sky



Consistency is one of the keys to a successful flower farming operation, and our ability to grow sunflowers in two Baja locations (Southern Cabo for the first half of the year, Northern Ensenada for the second half) allows for a continuity in weather that gives us (and you) a regular supply of high-quality, floral-grade sunflowers.


How We Harvest

We plant sunflowers in rows in the field, where they have room to stretch and soak up as much sun as possible.  They love the sun so much that their heads will follow its path as it races across the sky.     

 
Sunflower farm in Baja


The first thing a sunflower forms atop its stalk is its center.  From there, it begins building its petals, and as soon as one petal begins to raise its vibrant head, that is our signal that the sunflower is ready to be picked.    

freshly picked sunflowers
Freshly picked sunflowers || Completely opened sunflowers

After picking, we hydrate the blooms for 24 hours and then ship them while they're still closed (which prevents possible damage).  Once they arrive to their destination, the first drink of water will help them open up and flatten out into their iconic shape. They can be shipped wet or dry, with or without foliage, which makes it easy for you to have your aesthetic pick of the litter.  In addition, our ability to grow them year-round (peak season June-November) has allowed us to increase the amount of specialty sunflowers in production, such as our Teddy Bear Sunflower (super soft, multi-layered petals), our fall-season red sunflowers, and our newer green-centered varieties which are all seeing an increased demand.

So whether you desire the classic black-eye sunflower, its red-hued sister, or teddy bear cousin you can let the sunshine in, no matter where you are.  


sun valley sunflower varieties

green-eyed sunflower
Green-eye Sunflower

sun valley red sunflowers
Red Sunflowers








Feb 4, 2014

Wax On! Now Harvesting Waxflower

"One could almost wax poetic, but we will keep such ambitious ideas for a future day."
                                                                  -Sir Henry Morton Stanley, 1872.

Even though Valentine's mania is in full swing, we are going to take a few moments to "wax poetically". We will be waxing with lovely waxflower, which we are harvesting right now at our farm in northern Baja.
bunches of waxflower
Lovely Waxflower.
The plant is endemic to western Australia and the scientific genus is Chamelaucium. The flowers are small and have five petals and ten stamens. A large amount of blooms grow on each woody stem, making this one of the ideal filler flowers for the floral industry. Over the last 30 years or so waxflower has adapted to the Southern California / Baja growing climate. The development of additional varieties that start the season a bit earlier and extend the great quality a bit later are now able to provide a substantial filler and scent for winter and spring vases.

If you look in the center of the blooms you see a little cup of fragrant wax. It smells kind of pine-y and waxy, and in nature this is used to attract pollinators. For floral professionals this scent is a great bonus, since many filler items don't have the added dimension of scent. 

Our Sun Pacific Bouquet Division is using it in some wonderful Valentine's Day arrangements, there are several featuring waxflower, but this one is my favorite.

Give flowers for Valentine's Day
Pretty Lady Bouquet
"Pretty Lady" Grande featuring our LA Hybrid royal lilies, one Oriental lily, Matsumoto asters, matricaria, snapdragons, seeded eucalyptus, salal and of course waxflower.

So where did the expression "Waxing Poetically" come from? It actually has nothing to do with waxflowers, according to The Phrase Finder "to wax" is another way of saying "to grow" and waxing isn't used that much anymore for anything but the moon, which waxes and wanes.

Our waxflower supply is waxing, so order a few boxes and get your hands on this great crop.
  
What do you use Waxflower for?

Learn About Flowers!






Oct 15, 2013

Interview with Roberto Gomez, Learn about Sun Valley Baja.


Oh, down in Mexico
I never really been so I don't really know
Oh, Mexico
I guess I'll have to go 

           -James Taylor

Sun Valley Sunflowers 2013
Sunflowers!
We have a beautiful Sunflower crop coming to harvest at our farms in Baja, Mexico.  This south of the boarder endeavor is a relatively new enterprise for Sun Valley and is spearheaded by Roberto Gomez.  Roberto has been farming sunflowers in Baja for about seven years and has been directly involved in the floral industry for most of his life. He started growing his own Sunflowers in Baja for a very specific need.  His bouquet company, Pacifica Farms, was buying in a huge amount of sunflowers for bouquets and consumer bunches.  Roberto was consistently disappointed with the quality he was getting from other sunflower growers.

Growing black -eye, teddy bear and ProCut Red Sunflowers
Black Eye, Teddy Bear and Pro-Cut Red Sunflowers.
He found that other growers did not have solid “Cold Chain Management” systems in place and that their growing styles didn’t lead to a consistent crop. Consistency is one of the keys to a successful flower growing or selling operation, this seems like a no brainer but there was a hole in the market for consistent, high quality, floral grade sunflowers.


Sun Valley sells  big beautiful Sunflowers
Sunflowers in the ground.
In the classic entrepreneurial model, Roberto headed down to Baja to grow the best available sunflowers himself.  The benefits of controlling the production process and maintaining superior cold chain management led to a very successful endeavor, and ironically this success led to Roberto and Sun Valley building a relationship based on growing techniques and sales opportunities.


Growing Black Eye Sunflowers
Sunflowers growing in Baja, Mexico.
In 2012 Roberto, who had been one of our best customers, and Sun Valley partnered to work together. We have combined our resources to bring sunflowers and a host of other warm weather crops to market. Our relationship has been built on a deep interest in the science of growing and a commitment to quality.


Lane DeVries amaong the Sunflowers
Lane DeVries among the Sunflowers.
I sat down with Roberto the other day top find out the skinny on our Baja farms.


Lily: There are two plots of land in Baja, where are they and how big are they?


Roberto: One is near Ensenada about 80 miles south of the boarder, this farm is 54 acres. The other is much smaller, located at the end of the Baja peninsula in Los Cabos, it is 19 acres.

Roberto Gomez with the Sun Valley Sales Team.
Roberto, third from left, with some of the Sun Valley Sales Team.
Lily: What are the major crops?


Roberto: This whole operation is envisioned as a Sunflower farm, however, we are also growing (or planning on growing) a lot of the flowers that compliment sunflowers, such as wax flower, stock, snapdragons, liatris, strawflower, statice and dianthus.


Lily: What about Eryngium?


Roberto: I am very excited about our eryngium program; we moved the eryngium production from Sun Valley Oxnard to Baja to take advantage of the longer growing season. I was also able to establish our farm as the only farm in North America licensed to grow the beautiful Super Nova eryngium.  We are developing this crop as we speak and production levels should start to sky rocket. As a flower grower at heart, it is great to be with Sun Valley and have the resources and space to move crops from northern California to southern California, or to Baja. This way we take advantage of the optimal growing conditions for a given crop, and the results are awesome.

Iris, Eryngium, Bella Donna Delphinium and Salal bouquet
Iris, Eryngium, Bella Donna Delphinium and Salal bouquet
Lily: What’s the climate like?


Roberto: Both the farms are located in unique micro-climates; the climate is similar to San Diego.  The farm in Los Cabos is absolutely beautiful; it can be a challenge to work down there, just due to the stunning geography, the gorgeous weather and the temptation to sip a cervesa and enjoy the view.


Lily: One reason Sun Valley was excited to partner with you is your environmental standards, what’s the story?


Roberto: I am very proud that both these farms are Rainforest Alliance Certified.  These are the only Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in all of Mexico.  For me it is all about respect, respect for people and respect for the land.  I believe respect is not reactive, respect is proactive.  This is the way I run my business and the way I raise my family.

Sun flower with bee
A honey bee has a taste...
Lily: I know you visit these farms nearly every week, in the media a lot of attention focused on the drug cartels and the violence around the boarder. How do you deal with this?


Roberto:  It’s one of those situations where “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  I have a system, I drive down in my old pick-up truck, I stay with a family friend I have known for years and I usually eat at the same restaurant.  I have my routine, and it seems to work. So far so good.


Lily: What’s the future hold?


Roberto: I’m excited about the future. We have a great team of employees; many of them have worked on the farm for years and have come up through the ranks.  This leads to a lot of loyalty and strong institutional knowledge, which in turn leads to a smoother operation and a higher quality product.  Controlling the production and post-production side of the farm has been great, and being able to send our trucks directly to the Sun Valley Oxnard facility is a perfect system to maintain the optimum cold chain. My office is now at the Oxnard Farm, so it’s fun to really be a part of the Sun Valley team.


The other point is that demand for the flowers we are growing in Baja is rising, so our efforts will continue to grow.  It is great to have the backbone of Sun Valley behind our Baja efforts, and it shows in the final product.

 
Sunflowers
Just Picked Sunflowers.

Lily: When can I come visit the farms?


Roberto:  (Laughing) Anytime, come down to Oxnard, we will leave on Wednesday afternoon, and be back Friday night.


Lily: Can we stop at a good surf spot or a nice beach resort…

Roberto: Not a chance.

Tulips and the Chiquita Banana Lady

Here is our current crop calendar for Sun Valley Baja.