So Where Are the Nuts?
I’ve been on a farm kick lately. The sun has finally broken through the rainclouds and things are blooming. I can’t wait to go out and harvest something, so I jumped at the chance to head to the Capay Valley Almond Festival. The towns of Esparto, Capay, Brooks, Guinda, Madison and Rumsey, who’s residents mostly live on or work on a farm, each had their own blend of music, food and kid activities to bring to the celebration. We visited a petting zoo, saw a vat of walnuts that kids could jump into and wade through, and ate mango on a stick. What I didn’t see much of were… almonds. Apparently we are celebrating the bursting bloom of the almond tree. I have since learned that almonds are in fact harvested in late summer. Another weird almond fact, while we are on nut trivia, is that the almond is actually a family member of stone fruits such as nectarines, peaches, plums and cherries. It’s not part of the nut family at all. What do you know!
The celebration itself gets mixed reviews from me. It’s great that small towns can get some attention and visitors for a festival, but they are often too small to accommodate the onslaught of people ready to help them celebrate. Traffic along the only main road in each town was often congested and parking was hard to find. Because of all the traffic, we blew through the biggest of the participating towns, Esparto, in the hopes of finding something mellow elsewhere and then returning when the crowds died down. The only other town that had kid-friendly activities was Guinda, where there was the petting zoo and pony rides. By the time we returned to Esparto many of the kid activities (balloon-making clown, arts and crafts, bounce house, pit-o-walnuts) had already wrapped up. If I were to make this trek again, I’d get to Esparto earlier (as in before 11am) and explore around there first.
My disappointment at the lack of almond-centered food was made up for by presence of other food I didn’t expect. For example, at Guinda was a oyster bbq with freshly shucked oysters and shrimp on the kabob. It smelled fantastic, though the long line prevented me from picking some up for sampling. What I didn’t miss was a lady making peeled mango on a stick. She sprayed it with a little lemon juice and salt. It was, hands 
down, the best mango I have ever had. Too bad she sold out before I could go back for seconds. I’m frankly not sure if I’ll come back again for the “almond” festival, but start up a mango festival with these mangos-on-a-stick and I’ll come running in an instant. My apologies to the almond farmers, I do realize we are nowhere near the tropics, but I’m guessing there were at least more mangos there than nuts.
Celebrate Photo Friday by stopping by Delicious Baby and finding more travel photos.
Ah, the serendipity of the journey. My favorite aspect of travel.
(rummaging in refrigerator for mango now…)
I love adventures gone wrong — or at least, gone differently than expected. The journey is the best part, isn’t it? Looks like you learned a lot and have a fun mango memory worth sharing!
Well… I am sorry the almond festival wasn’t all that you expected. Is that anew one? I don’t remember it. One thing I will recommend in that area is going to West Valley Alpacas for shearing day. Its lots of fun. I think it is sometime near April. If you have any interest, look up West Vally Alpacas online. I didn’t know almonds were stone fruit but it does kinda make sense. They look like the seeds of stone fruit in alot of ways…. Was everyone pronouncing almond with out the “l” while you were there?
Almonds aren’t a nut?! I had no idea. And here I thought I was supposed to be enlightening you about food. What’s most important, however is that you got to jump in a “vat of walnuts and ate mango on a stick with lemon juice.” Hello. Me want.
@Sharlene: I will definately check out the shearing day. Alpacas are definately interesting animals. And yes, we all say the L in almond… that’s why its there!
@Amy: I tried to replicate that mango on a stick at home. A shishkabob skewer is too weak, so I went with a chopstick. The kids laughed and refused to eat it. COME ON!! It was delicious just a few days ago. Just go with it!
Fine, more for me.