Fresh fruit and vegetables from highway stands can be one of the joys of travel, particularly in spring and summer. I recognized Chip Chao’s Chip Strawberry Farm stand when I saw him the other day south of Gridley next to Highway 99 — but I thought he was in the wrong place.
Chao once sold his fruit from a stand north of Chico, but when I stopped to sample a strawberry — which oozed juicy sweet — he explained that he lost his lease and moved to this 3-acre parcel north of Live Oak.
“I work hard to take care of them good,” Chao said of his strawberries. Chao drives to his little farm from Sacramento, arriving every morning at 5:30 a.m. to water and pick. The stand opens at 9:30 a.m., and from there Chao sells the strawberries, a strawberry jam his wife makes and cherries that he hauls from the Central Valley.
His four children are usually in school and can’t help him much on the strawberry farm. “It’s a very hard job,” Chao said. “You have to fight with sun and rain.”
Chao came to this country 17 years ago from Thailand. Because I asked so many questions, he put me in touch with one of his daughters, Cynthia Saetern.
“We are Iu Mien,” Saetern explained in an email, noting that this ethnic group hails from southeast Asian countries. “My dad is an Iu Mien farmer who brings generations of agriculture knowledge to his current farm work today. The strawberry farm is a labor of love stemmed from his childhood, relying on farming as a way of life because it was an essential to survival and connection for our family.”
“Highway 99″ is a ChicoSol series showcasing the interesting people and places along the 424-mile route through California’s Central Valley.
I love the Hwy 99 stories. I also love strawberries. Chip Chao says he has to fight with sun and rain. I bet he also love those two elements.