Press Room / Media
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2011
PlacerGROWN honors The Snow Family of Newcastle, owners of Snow's Citrus Court, as the 2011 Farm Family of the Year.
The Snow Family, Snow's Citrus Court
FEBRUARY 11, 2011 – LINCOLN.
Larry and Ralene Show purchased a home on two and a half acres on Powerhouse Road in Newcastle in 1974. Larry, an Air Force test pilot, was stationed at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento at the time, but looking ahead to retirement.
From Chinese friends, Ralene and Larry knew that mandarin oranges are associated with luck, and had purchased mandarins from local growers to give to their friends during Chinese New Year.
That, plus the fact their daughters Tiffany and Tshandy had fallen in love with the mandarins they found on untended trees while riding horses in the neighborhood, set them on a mission to create a mandarin grove on the star thistle covered acreage that was their first home away from a military base.
The Pilz, Struble, Russell, Aguilar and a few other families had been growing mandarins and other citrus in the county for some time, but Larry and Ralene could not find a local source of trees. They purchased their first few trees from Angelo's Nursery in Penryn, and after several years of repeatedly visiting Fowler's Nursery were finally able to purchase 100 mandarin trees.
Once the trees were in the ground, they tried to learn as much as they could about citrus production. With so few local growers, and no consciousness of sharing experiences or educational opportunities, they worked hard to learn how to tend the trees. In 1979 they harvested their first crop and started building a market for their fruit.
By the early 1990s they realized that with such a short season, they needed to find ways to extend the season to create a year-round business. At about the same time, the agricultural community recognized a need for an agricultural marketing organization and PlacerGROWN was born.
Ralene Snow became the organization's market development coordinator, organizing workshops to help the county's producers find new markets for their products.
Along with PlacerGROWN's efforts and the Snows' own market research, Ralene and Larry recognized the opportunity to create value-added products. Ralene's mandarin orange syrup, a popular feature at Newcastle Firemen's pancake breakfasts and early Mountain Mandarin Festivals, became one of their first commercial products. Their products are all made in Auburn, which is very important to them.
In 2004 Tshandy's husband Bob Bonk joined the family business. Bob, a long time friend of Tiffany's husband Scott, has a background in marketing and sales and ran a restaurant for 15 years. He witnessed the decline of small farms in his native New Jersey, and saw opportunity in Placer County, where there is a culture of stewardship and respect for the land.
Tshandy and Bob have brought important contributions to the family business. Tshandy manages the website, and Bob has become very involved in the Foothill Farmers Market Association, currently serving as Board President.
Today the Snow's small acreage is a highly productive grove of mandarins, navel and blood oranges, lemons, limes, kumquats and a few experimental citrus varieties such as Australian finger lime. They have achieved their early goal of a year-round business, with a well-developed customer list and products that are staples at stores, restaurants and farmers markets in Placer County and beyond.
But more than anything, what shines through in this family's business is their pride in what they've accomplished and their plans for the future.
"I'm proud of what we do and how we do it", says Tshandy Snow. "I love working with my parents and the people who mean the most to me. Bob and I are happy that we can continue to expand on what they created."
It is abundantly clear that the Snows appreciate being part of a thriving agricultural community. "We get much more than we give", says Ralene Snow.
PlacerGROWN is happy to extend this recognition to the Snow family as 2011 Farm Family of the year.
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