Official Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Lafayette, CA
June 16, 2011 | VOL 65 | ISSUE 46
Meeting Opened at 12:30 by Geoff Zimmerman
Visiting Rotarians
-
Guests
Betty Deal - Leapfrog Plumbing - Maurice Willimas
Brian Wade - NW Mutual



Club announcements-
    Bocci Ball Postponed - Geoff Zimmerman
    Motorama coming up this Sunday, Saturday night is the gala
    June 30th - Last day of the Rotary year
    November 19 - John Sherry - Golden Gate Fields
        $35 includes valet, club seating and more
        10% of funds goes to Rotary International
    Larry Blodgett - reminder to go see Jack Hanson
    Jay Lifsum - Mountain Mikes Pizza tonight for a proclimation by City Council celebrating Shop Lafayette campaign
        Monday night Martini contest at the Lafayette Park Hotel

    Recognitions
    Andy Scheck - went to see Hangover 2 for his anniversary
    John Sherry - anniversary
    Bill Eames.- birthday celebration

    Happy Dollars
    John Sherry - Tracy -former Rotarian who moved to Portland
    Chuck Vogel - grandson got promoted from Stanley school
    Larry Blodgett - both kids out of school - son is taking summer school because he is transferring
    Mike Heller - mothers book signing was quite an event and very successful - good showing of rotarians
    Maurice Williams - son graduated and got a job and visited Ms Gaboor
    Jay Lifsum - grateful for bills birthday and Don Anderson's great singing
    Don Anderson - great event last Sunday and happy that Tom Henry is getting buff at the gym
    bill Ames - grateful for being halfway through Graduations
    Debbie Cooper - first grandchild is graduating from kindergarten

    Speaker
    Larry Blodgett introtu ed Barry Toomajian
    speaker on the pistachio business
    managing property for Sal Bando.- Oakland As
    gave Barry books on managing the pistachio farm and went east
    first year difficult - numbers at the ranch were off
    nutrients were low and manager was diverting some of the nuts for himself
    diluting the nutrients between multiple farms

    currently
    water issues, pest issues, climate issues
    very unpredictable business

    lucky in some ways because ranch has well which is rare
    however, well drilling is very expensive - up to 1mm

    pistachios are native to middle east
    lovers would meet between pistachio tree to see if they could hear nut cracking to bring them good luck

    around 1880 traders began to bring pistachios
    today the nuts are more popular than peanuts

    nuts used o be dyed red because of improper harvesting techniques
    today the harvest is more efficient and produces natural colored nuts

    William White house - ventured to Persia in the 30s and came back with seeds that were later named Kerman
    Kerman are the type of trees that are located on the farm

    trees don't produce a nut before 5 years and it takes 10 years before the trees become profitable.
    while its unknown how long the trees actually live, the estimates are around 100 years

    harvesting
    cone machine shakes the tree and another collects the falling nuts
    good years proud e up to 500mm lbs of pistachios

    one machine separates the nuts from the twigs
    another further separates the different types/sizes

    nuts are tested and inspected for safe consumption by the public

    nuts will actually crack on the tree as they grow
    nuts that did not crack were separated and sold separately - China

    growers supreme - best type of pistachio can use nuts in many different types of recipes

    tom Henry - how do you cope with the water issues water tables dropping substantially
    valley floor had dropped

    ca is #1 in world production of pistachios - overtook Iran recently 40% of production goes oversees

    chuck - yield per acre
    between 3600 and 3800 lbs
     
    larry - what type of staff is required
    manager and 2 helpers
    during harvest time more are required
    manager is not on-site

    harvest is in September
    harvesting company has all the large equipment
    costs around $8000 to harvest field

    don - projection for this year
    going to be a low year
    but - because of silos companies try to regulate flow and price by supplying a steady stream of inventory

    what is Barry's function in managing?
    periodically go visit
    onsite during harvest season
    also goes down for any larger projects, drilling wells, etc.

    Maurice - what has been the cause of the success of the business? - Judy

    tax incentives - because trees take up to 10 years to produce'

    Raffle
    Ed Stokes - $2
    Debbie Cooper - $5
Rotary International News Other News: Club Calendar

Time to ramp up the fight against polio

By Dan Nixon 
Rotary International News -- 14 June 2011   

A Rotarian immunizes a child in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. One of four polio-endemic countries (along with Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan), India has reported only one case of polio in 2011, as of 25 May. Photo by Allison Kwesell

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has made significant progress since the launch of its new strategic plan and the bivalent oral polio vaccine last year. In India and Nigeria, the sources of all recent wild poliovirus importations into previously polio-free countries, the disease declined by 95 percent between 2009 and 2010.  

The World Health Organization calls the progress encouraging, “but the job is not yet finished, and we must see this through to the end,” said its director-general, Margaret Chan, at the World Health Assembly in May. 

   read story.
The Four Way Test
Of the things we think, say or do:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Officers & Directors
Ray Klinginsmith . . . . . RI President
Karl Diekman . . . . . . . Dist 5160 Governor
Geoff Zimmerman. . . . President
John Sherry. . . . . . . . Past President
Troy Feddersen. . . . . Vice President
Bob Shusta . . . . . . . . Secretary
Greg Vaisnor . . . . . . . Treasurer
Chuck Vogel . . . . . . Club Service
Troy Winkles. . . . . . . Community Service
Jesse Wellen. . . . . . . International Service
Erin McCoin . . . . . . . Vocational Service
Andy Scheck. . . . . . . Sergeant of Arms
Mo Levich . . . . . . . . Sergeant of Arms
Give Hope - Give A Hand
The Rotary Club of Lafayette donates an LN-4 Prosthetic Hand in the name of our speakers each week.
The LN-4 Prosthetic Hand transforms lives and empowers those who have lost hands and limbs due to land mines, birth defects, and other catastrophes.
Make Up Meetings
and locations of nearby clubs:
http://rotary5160.org/clubs/where-clubs-meet/
Upcoming Speakers
6/23June 23, Susan Stafford and Dave Baker, real estate development
6/ 30Neil Cohn of Hannah Nicole Vineyards, East County Vineyard area
Local & District Events

Rotary International Events
5/21-
5/25		 R.I. Convention New Orleans, LA.
Birthdays
06/02    Larry Blodgett
06/13    Ray Bland
06/18    Bill Eames
06/18    Bob Shusta
Anniversaries
06/03    Andy Scheck
06/09    A.C. Webb
06/10    John Sherry
06/20    Tom Henry
06/26    Ray Bland
Greeters
6/16Norma Evans
6/23Heba Rayan
6/30Heba Rayan
7/7Polly Bernson
7/14Larry Blodgett


 Notes by Dino Riggio | Photos John Sherry