Preserving valley history at Simonian Farms

As soon as you step onto Simonian Farms, it’s like taking a walk through history. What originally started off as an open air fruit stand is now a thriving produce business and home to hundreds of collectibles.

"The land is like the salt of the earth so we need to preserve that, they try to do that with the history and allow the children that are going up now to know what farming was like in yesteryear," Stacey Grote, operations manager at Simonian Farms.

Grote has worked with the Simonians for 25 years. She says their business has made it through tough times because of the family’s passion and willingness to adjust.

"The Simonians are such hard workers they never ever give up. They hire people that are just like that," Grote said.

Simonian Farms focuses on displaying the area’s agriculture diversity, most of the fruit that is sold in the store is packaged in their back room and grown right here in the valley. Many of the berries packaged at Simonian Farms are grown on the family’s ranches, only three miles away from the store. Grote calls it one of the best times of the year to be out in the fields.

The original fruit stand is now a part of their museum next to the Simonian Farms store. The museum is open on the weekends to the public for wine tastings, events and classic soda pop fans who can enjoy a small store with more than 100-varieties of old school pop.

"What all of us and the Simonians love the most is that it brings back people’s childhood, so they can see a bike that is just like what they had and got on Christmas morning," Grote said.

But what has always been most important to the Simonians is tradition with three generations of farmers making the business what it is today.

Gaby Rodriguez, reporting.