If you grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may already know the story of the Valley of Heart’s Delight. Before Silicon Valley took root in the Santa Clara Valley, immigrants from all over the world planted close to 100,000 acres of fruit trees and picked, processed and shipped the apricots, peaches, plums and more.
Nearly all of that is gone now, paved over and replaced with suburbs and office parks. Just a handful of fruit farmers remain, and they’re aging out.
Andy Mariani, one of that last handful, is 80 years old. He told KQED he’s tired of losing money year after year and struggling to make payroll…