Aired on NPR's Latino USA on February 21, 2014.
http://latinousa.org/2014/02/21/palmeros/
It’s said that date palm trees want their feet in water, and their heads in fire. It makes sense, then that more than 90% of the dates harvested in the U.S. grow in California’s Eastern Coachella Valley. Irrigation water is pumped here from the Colorado River, and summer temperatures can top 120 degrees. I spent some time in the Eastern Coachella Valley last spring, and got curious about the history of dates here, and about the palmeros, palm workers, who tend them.
http://latinousa.org/2014/02/21/palmeros/
It’s said that date palm trees want their feet in water, and their heads in fire. It makes sense, then that more than 90% of the dates harvested in the U.S. grow in California’s Eastern Coachella Valley. Irrigation water is pumped here from the Colorado River, and summer temperatures can top 120 degrees. I spent some time in the Eastern Coachella Valley last spring, and got curious about the history of dates here, and about the palmeros, palm workers, who tend them.
