FAIR HAILS NEMESIS OF FARM PESTS : AGRICULTURALIST OF YEAR FOUGHT AGAINST MEDFLIES.Byline: Ann-Marie Sanchez Daily News Staff Writer As a native of the windy city, Ellen Brokaw, 63, never pictured herself as a farmer's wife farmer’s wife makes hell too hot even for the devil, who sends her back home. [Am. Balladry: “The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife”] See : Shrewishness . Avocado avocado (ä`vəkä`do, ăv`–), tropical American broad-leaved evergreen tree of the genus Persea of the family Lauraceae (laurel family). trees, lush landscapes and pesky critters were never part of her future aspirations as a liberal arts liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. student at the University of Chicago. But Brokaw, who planted her roots in Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. 20 years ago, enjoys a successful business and respect down on the farm. ``I didn't expect to be farming when I got married,'' said Brokaw, who was named Agriculturalist of the Year at the Ventura County Fair. ``After the children got older, my husband and I went into the nursery business . . . All I really wanted to do was get married.'' Brokaw, the first woman to receive this honor, is humble about her achievements on a community task force that sounded the alarm for Ventura County about the Mediterranean fruit fly Mediterranean fruit fly: see fruit fly. Mediterranean fruit fly or Med fly Fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) proven to be particularly destructive to citrus crops, at great economic cost. infestation infestation /in·fes·ta·tion/ (-fes-ta´shun) parasitic attack or subsistence on the skin and/or its appendages, as by insects, mites, or ticks; sometimes used to denote parasitic invasion of the organs and tissues, as by helminths. . Brokaw and the group's co-founder, Al Guilin, mobilized the task force to educate the agriculture community about the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. Medfly crisis that hit Ventura County in spring of 1994. ``We happened to both be concerned about fly infestation in the area and not too many people were,'' said Guilin, former vice president of a large citrus packing company. ``Lo and behold, it just happened in Camarillo, and she helped lead people in the right direction.'' Community forums, breakfast meetings at the Lions Club and a network of support from agricultural leaders were just some of the results of the Brokaw group's efforts. Her work helped calm the community's concern about the chemical pesticide, malathion, which was sprayed over crops to stop the infestation. She said it was a job that often called for ``thick skin,'' as opponents of the chemical agent lashed out against advocates of aerial spraying. ``Nobody likes the idea of helicopters flying overhead and dropping malathion down,'' Brokaw said. ``People were almost hostile, fearful of it. You could see if people weren't prepared, it could have been very wild.'' Brokaw, a mother of five, sees her professional role as a caretaker of the land. The Brokaw Nursery sells more than 200,000 trees a year: avocado, citrus and subtropical sub·trop·i·cal adj. Of, relating to, or being the geographic areas adjacent to the Tropics. subtropical Adjective of the region lying between the tropics and temperate lands fruit trees. She and her husband employ 50 workers. Acquaintances describe her as a sensitive woman, with a passion for helping others - including helping local farm workers get better wages, obtain citizenship and receive fair treatment. ``There is no doubt in my mind that the honor is well-deserved,'' said Guilin. ``She is very involved in the business aspects of what (she) and her husband do. But she is very involved in the community and social aspects of it. She's always talking about what's the right thing to do.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Ellen Brokaw of Santa Paula, the Ventura County Fair Agriculturalist of the Year, checks orange blossoms orange blossoms symbolic of chastity when used in wedding ceremonies. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 176] See : Chastity orange blossoms symbolic of bride’s hope for fruitfulness. [Br. and Fr. at her tree nursery in Saticoy. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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