Floating Overhead

If you’re around here and up early enough on a summer morning, and especially if it’s Saturday or Sunday, you are likely to see hot air balloons floating by overhead. It’s a real surprise to look up and see one. They usually take off just after sunrise when there is little or no wind and are down by 8:30 to 9 before the wind picks up. Hot air balloons float with and in the wind so there is no wind noise when the gas burner is off. That makes it possible to see wild animals that would usually hide. I once tracked a red fox for several hundred yards. Both he and the balloon were moving downwind at the same speed. (No, that wasn’t around here but I bet you’ll see deer and coyotes and no telling what else.) I had my lighter-than-air pilot’s license way back when and I’m still thrilled by it.

Balloon rides over the orchards are part of the agritourism effort to bring more people and, frankly, more dollars into the area. As all of our costs rise and we have to plan for the future when foreign competition begins to hurt the bottom line in earnest, the ag community is finding ways to share the delights of rural life with the general public, for a fee. Within a five-minute drive of my ranch you can take balloon rides, tour a lemon packing house, catch a jeep ride through the back country or have a gourmet meal in the orchard. www.limoneira.com Of course, the oldest form of agritourism around here has got to be the October pumpkin patches, which have grown into major annual events with petting zoos, hayrides and blue grass music. www.underwoodfarmmarket.com And the Christmas tree farms. You can ride a vintage train to a Christmas tree farm, get off, hunt for the best tree, cut it (either by yourself or by a cheerful helper), load it onto a flatbed train car and ride the train back to Fillmore. www.fwry.com Not to mention the weekly farmers’ markets and the strawberry, citrus and avocado festivals. And the county fair that I wrote about last year.

We in California and probably the whole U.S. are behind the rest of the world in agritourism. In France there is an old tradition of the gite, a sheep shed or some other farm outbuilding, maybe even the farmhouse itself, converted into a cottage and rented by the week. They are inspected and rated and are the best way to experience rural France. www.gites-de-france.fr I visited an estancia in Argentina last year and watched gauchos work horses and had a lamb barbecue. It’s a unique way to get to know a country. Why not start at home?