How trees manufacture food for us?

In the presence of sunlight, this is what happens in a tree/plant.

Carbon Dioxide + Water -----> Carbohydrates + Oxygen

xCO2 + xH2O  ---> Cx(H2O)x  + xO2
e.g. 

Why sunlight? Because the above transformation requires energy (endothermic) which it takes from sunlight.

In other words, a tree converts light energy in sunlight into chemical energy stored in carbohydrates (sugars and starches). When we eat that fruit or nut, chemical bonds in carbohydrates are broken down by acids in our stomach releasing that energy to us.

Wow.. How beautiful!!

Let us look at it more closely..

Leaves have chlorophyll. Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light from the sunlight so the leaves appear green. Several chlorophyll molecules are attached to a single Chloroplast where the photosynthesis occurs. In other words, chloroplast is an engine that runs on batteries called chlorophyll molecules.

Recap: Chloroplasts transform carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates, which have a general formula of Cx(H2O)x. The energy for this is supplied by the batteries called Chlorophyll molecules.

Thus, the energy of the light absorbed by chlorophyll is converted into chemical energy stored in carbohydrates (sugars and starches). This chemical energy drives the biochemical reactions that enable plants to grow, flower, and produce seed.

I have no idea if I made sense here..

Beauty in winter dormancy when trees rest for next production cycle

A conversation with Bobby's uncle, a long time almond farmer

My wife's colleague, Bobby was kind enough to set me up for a meeting with his uncle who lives in Modesto and has been a long time farmer. I wanted to get some guidance and advice for farm management in general.

- Peach farming is not as easy as almond farming. Pruning, thinning costs add up. Needs a lot of manual labor to do all activities thru peach picking.

- Try to get a single contract with a canning company. Otherwise, you will end up selling some peaches to one canary, some to another, etc.

- To plant almonds, you need to put in the order for almond trees well
in advance. If you do that, they will give you 10% discount in price.

- Maintaining almond farm is simpler. You can manage by yourself and having one person at the property.

- Adverting in Modesto Bee for farm managers/contractors is not a bad idea unless you can get some candidates via referrals. 

- Educating myself by attending information sessions conducted by Stanislaus Agriculture Commision is a great idea. Even, I should attempt to clear exams and get a Pesticide Applicator License. This would save money.

One would expect the trees to be green and the ground to be brown..

That's because this orchard is all flood irrigated so vegetation sprouts all over the ground. In this area of the orchard, white clover weeds claim all the floor giving rise to "green ground cover."

More than 50% California farms and orchards are flood irrigated, BTW. In future, we would like to install sprinklers or the drip, but our irrigation district TID told us to hold off on that because those systems stop the free flow of water in the district pipes that bring water to the orchard. Apparently, this puts quite a pressure on those old pipes causing them to crack or break. They have a long term plan of replacing old district pipes. In the meantime, either we use flood irrigation with district water, or drip/sprinkler with ground water. We do have two plentiful ground wells. So, that's that!

If you are wondering why there are paved roads (seen in the last pic) inside the orchard, here is the reason -- Peaches are delicate and they bruise easily. So, it is important to have smooth roads to transport them. And it doesn't hurt to have your orchard in proximity of the canning facility either.