Apricot Farm Stands the Test of Time

About 500 Blenheim apricot trees dot 10 acres of the Silva Ranch. The season was delayed by the rain, but with the help of a heat wave, the apricots are, at last, being sold to the public. With a typically short, three-week harvest, Kelly Silva estimates there will one weekend left of sales.

Silva is an electrician by trade. His father, Clarence Silva, was a farmer who bought the orchard from a widow he worked for in 1945. Today, the trees are about 80 years old, and with proper maintenance and care, they continue to produce fruit. 

"This is a labor of love," said Diana Silva about the farm she and her husband inherited from his parents, who now live in Half Moon Bay.

While the fruit was once sold to a cannery and the pits sold as an ingredient for makeup, those days are long gone. Today, the family sells to customers driving by. The Silvas also keep a signup list of people waiting to buy sun-dried apricots.

The Silva Ranch is at 180 Piedmont Rd. in Milpitas.