Before Santa Clara Valley became renowned as Silicon Valley, the land was covered with pear, apricot, cherry, walnut, and prune orchards. Most of the thousands of orchards were part of small family farms. Tim Stanley, author of The Last of the Prune Pickers: A Pre-Silicon Valley Story, grew up in Saratoga and, during his teens, worked on one of the last fruit farms there. His book is the story of a group of young boys and girls who had the priviliege of working for that Saratoga fruit farmer.
Mr. Stanley, an entertaining speaker, will give a brief overview of his book using a PowerPoint presentation. He will cover the historical background of the orchard farms of the old Santa Clara Valley and discuss the lifestyle of an orchard farmer in those days.
This free program is being co-sponsored by the Library and the Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society. Author will bring along copies of his book which will be for sale and can be autographed after the program.