Metropolis Slickers Lose Their Cool Selecting Cherries in Brentwood Throughout Warmth Wave – CBS San Francisco

BRENTWOOD (KPIX) – The cherry harvest in Brentwood is the one weekend of the year when many city slicker farmers are allowed to play. This year, Mother Nature arranged for weather to add some realism to the romance.

For many in the Bay Area, picking their own cherries on U-Pick farms like the Bacchini fruit tree is a Memorial Day holiday tradition. Six-year-old Isabella Hastings said it could be a little difficult.

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“Because they have to be dark red,” she explained.

Thanks to COVID-19, picking cherries in Bacchini this year was only possible with prior reservation.

Ken Hagan, co-owner of the farm, said online appointments would need to be set up last season. Since then, they have found that limiting the amount has its advantages, such as keeping things from getting too competitive.

“People would actually get possessive of a particular tree and try to keep people away,” he said with a laugh. “It was a very interesting experience for me.”

It still got quite hot on Sunday thanks to the sun and a high pressure system moving over the state. By noon the temperature was in the mid-90s and Hagan said that was ironic because the season so far has been very mild.

“We’ve actually been cooler so far,” he said. “Today we should reach 100 degrees, I think, and tomorrow even hotter. So that will accelerate the maturation of things. “

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It also sped up Darrel Chak as he tossed a box of cherries over to his car and returned to the coolness of his Daly City home.

“I got here around 11 am,” he said. “We’re here maybe an hour and a half and in this sun it gets a little hot!”

On the other hand, Steve Argilla, who lives in Hayward, likes to come to farmland. He said he considers it a fun life experience and doesn’t even care about the heat, although he admits he’s not prepared for it.

“In the Bay Area, closer to the bay, do we rarely get that kind of heat to say I’m ready for any kind of heat like this? No, ”Argilla admitted.

Hagan says the month of May has gotten hotter in recent years. He says this year’s weather pattern – cool temperatures with a warm up on Memorial Day – is actually what it used to be.

What draws people from the city to the cherry plantations every year? There is something satisfying to the soul braving the elements and spending time harvesting your own food, but for most people the heat – like the farm itself – is nice to visit but they don’t want to live there.

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“The great thing is that it’s only an hour’s drive away,” said Hagan. “I mean, you can just get out of here, experience it, and you’ll be home tonight.”