My parents George and Elizabeth Foster grew up in Orange County and attended Tustin Union High School. They married in 1940 and had a boat repair business in Newport Beach, CA. Farming was always in their blood as George Foster Sr. had a ranch and his uncle Foss had an orange ranch in El Toro, CA.
The family moved in 1957 from Tustin to Orange park Acres, CA where we had an orange ranch and built a new home on the property.
In the early 60’s mom and dad discovered Woodlake, CA, a small town along the foothills, in Tulare County. Many other families from our area in Orange County that had citrus were moving up to this area. In 1965 they bought their first sixteen acres known as “The Reynolds Piece”. It was an olive grove with oranges scattered through it. It needed a lot of TLC, so they tore out eight acres and also ripped and leveled the land to plant olives.
In 1966 they purchased the adjoining twenty-four acres known as “The Brewer” ((4-8-12 acres). This orchard was also in need of a lot of attention. They removed eight acres (trees), a hill, and ripped/leveled the land, replanting eight of it to TI Naval oranges, added a wind machine and new pipe line. TI’s are an early navel orange, and are picked in November. All of these orchards, at that time, were under furrow irrigation, and had to be tilled up each month to control the Johnson grass that would grow up over your head requiring new furrows to be put in constantly. This was a lot of work for absentee owners. Every weekend my parents would drive 3-1/2 hours to Woodlake, work on the ranch all weekend, and drive then home late Sunday afternoon. This went on for eight years.
In 1969 my parents purchased another ranch known as the “Togni Twenty”. Then they removed the existing trees, ripped/leveled the land, put in new water lines, replanted ten acres to olives, replanted ten acres of naval oranges, and installed a wind machine for frost protection if needed.
In 1971, the Newman parcel was purchase (20 acres of bare land), to the east of the sixteen and twenty-four marking a total of sixty acres adjoining and all in the Sentinal Butte Water Company. These twenty acres were developed into pasture on which we began a cow/calf operation of twenty-five black and white Angus crosses. This pasture was irrigated by sprinkler system. It was a beautiful pasture with grass up to your waist. We thoroughly enjoyed raising cattle even though it was a great deal of work and had to be supplemented with hay in the winter months. The Newman acreage was planted to Manzanillo olives in 2002 as we ended our cattle operation.
In the summer of 1972, I moved to Woodlake, CA after getting out of the army in 1970. I had been living in Newport Beach, Ca. I lived in the old house on the Brewer 24. I fixed it up and stayed there for fifteen years, married and had a son Joel Jr.
In 1974 my parents decided to retire and make Woodlake, CA their permanent home. They had sold the Orange County property several years prior while I was in the Army. They purchase a house and nine acres just north of town on highway 245. The nine acres had approximately three acres of large olive trees and bare field that was used for the carnivals during rodeo week and summer festivals. My father also grew oat hay on it and leased part of the old Mini Haw Haw Ranch to grow winter hay. I remember that old bailer was always breaking down, but we managed to keep it going. We used the hay for winter feed for our cattle operation. These nine acres were known as Green wood, and in 1983 we developed that bare land and planted navel oranges.
Beginning in 1985 we acquired the Norwalk Vault Company. We turned this into our shop and made it our central equipment yard, bringing everything from all the ranchers to this one central location.
In 1985 Carol and I along with my parents purchase the Ross ten acres in Elderwood, CA, also on highway 245. we then formed the Foster and Foster Partnership. As in the past we removed all the trees, ripped the ground and planted Manzanillo olives. There is a house in the center of the property, beautiful views, good water and great place to build a future home.
In 1986 the family purchase the Bauer property which consisted of the original house (built in 1911) and a three bedroon house built about 1955. This property also came with twenty acres of navel oranges, a good ag well and some out buildings.
Carol and I moved here from the Brewer house with our son J.J. Over the past twenty-five years we made man improvements to the orchard, replanting the east end with Fisher navels. The house has also been improved upon several times over the years giving Carol a new kitchen and bathroom. A pool was put in and many improvements to the yard have been made over the past twenty-five years.
In 1993 the ten acres north of the Togni twenty came up for sale. Foster and foster decided to purchase this adjoining acreage. We removed the old dirt floor house, ripped/leveled and added new pipelines with a fan jet system and planted TI navels. This has turned out to be a lovely grove with spectacular views.
In 2009 we lost George Millard Foster Jr. (my father) in the midst of buying the thirty acres north and west of Capozzi. Bob and Dane Spence partnered with Carol and I to purchase this parcel. Once again we ripped/leveled, put in a water system and also installed two diesel wind machines. In 2010 we planted ten acres of tangos and ten acres of olives. Lemons were planted in 2011 completing the thirty acres, which boarder highway 45. Beautiful mountain views are also visible from this property.
Ranching is much more than a job to the Foster Family. It has become a way of life. Over the past 48 years we haven’t taken many vacations, with hardly and time to even get away for a weekend. This was my parent’s dream and I know they wouldn’t change one day of it.
Joel M. Foster