The Freeze of 1937

The worst winter
In recorded history
For the Ojai Valley area
Is chronicled
In the memories
Of the old time
Fruit growers,
What few are left.
It was during
The winter of 1937.
An intense cold spell
Began on January 6th
And continued relentlessly
For twenty-one days
With the temperature
Never rising
Above freezing
Day or night.
Wind machines
Were not available
Back in those days.
The farmers burned
Whatever they could
In smudge pots
Trying to keep the trees
From freezing,
But nothing helped.
When the sap
Of the trees froze,
They would blow open
With the force
Of a cannon,
And there was nothing
Left to do
But cut them down
And start all over again.
It would be
Another five years
Before any of the new trees
Produced again.
The orange, walnut and apricot
Industry was wiped out
In that battle
Of man against nature.
Many growers lost
Everything they had.
One quirk of that time
Was that the cold
Lingered in the valley,
Yet left those
On higher ground alone,
So the highlanders
Came out
Smelling like a rose.
It’s something
Most of the growers
Have learned to live with,
The fact that
A single bad winter
Could wipe them out.
They have armed themselves
With a multitude of tools
But it still ends out being
Man against nature
And sometimes
Nature wins.