Photo #6/9 » View of Palomar Mtns to the East
All those little white stumps are avocado trees.
The owner of this 40-acre lot cut them all down because he could no longer afford to water them.
[ Rad note » I dont know if you can see the road from this photo,
but this photo here, from a few years ago, was taken there.
Before all the trees were cut down.
]
He is in his 80's and owns another 60 acres of trees a few miles east.
He said the price of water has quadrupled since he bought the properties 20 years ago.
Last year, when all the trees were still in full bloom, I could go for a walk thru the 40 acres
And the rules are that you could pick up any avocados that have fallen on the ground.
Especially after a windy day, I could come back with the motherlode of avocados.
After many experiments, I have learned how to make a great batch of guacamole.
With pan-roasted dried chilis, fresh jalapenos, plenty of salt and fresh lime
juice, fresh garlic,
and maybe even some cilantro, if we have it.
I would make these giant bowls of guac .. that would probably cost $25 in a Mexican restaurant.
Anyway, you cant just leave fully-grown trees to die,
because they would become a fire hazard as they dried.
So he had them all cut down .. over a period of months.
The sound of chain-saws echo'ed all day long throughout the hills for months.
They paint the stumps with white paint to keep the intense SoCal sun from burning the tree's base stock.
From a distance, their orderly arrangement reminds me of the rows of white crosses you see at a military cemetery.
Photo taken June 1, 2015
Shortly Before Sunset
San Diego county
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