About Us

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Patrick Raes

State Organization

Founded in 1968, the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) is the largest amateur fruit-growing organization in the world. The group focuses on the environmentally sound culture of edible plants in the home landscape, with a particular interest in species that aren't native to or commercially grown in a given region. Its mission is to share what members learn with home growers everywhere.

CRFG publishes an award-winning bi-monthly magazine, The Fruit Gardener, featuring articles on planting, growing, harvesting, and using the fruit you grow.

Santa Clara Valley (SCV) Chapter

Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara Valley chapter is dedicated to growing — and exchanging knowledge about — delicious, rare, and historic fruit from the Valley of the Heart's Delight and beyond. The chapter began in the early 1980s with meetings held in members' homes, and before long established a relationship with Emma Prusch Farm Park. Being a historic farm, it was a natural fit.

Two orchards were planted at Prusch Park through the combined efforts of CRFG members and Santa Clara County Master Gardeners. The International Rare Fruit Orchard sits near the Meeting Hall, where chapter meetings are usually held, while the Deciduous (or Heritage) Orchard lies across the large grassy meadow. Both showcase unusual fruit for our area and supply scion wood for our annual exchange.

Notable Activities

An annual deciduous wood scion exchange held every year since the mid-1980s, encouraging wider cultivation of hard-to-find varieties.
General meetings every other month at Prusch Park, with invited speakers covering a wide range of topics.
Tours of member gardens, and occasionally other public gardens and farms.
An active online forum for sharing tips, questions, successes — and the occasional failure.

Member Spotlight

Crates of fresh stone fruit at an orchard stand

Andy Mariani, Andy's Orchard

Andy is a regular voice in our membership forum, especially on questions about stone fruit. The talks he gives our chapter are consistently well-attended and full of practical wisdom. His orchards are also a source of scion wood for our annual exchange — and because Andy is famously particular about what he grows, those scions reliably produce excellent fruit.

A great way to get to know a particular variety is to visit Andy's Orchard, his store in Morgan Hill.

The Santa Clara Valley chapter is lucky to count Andy among its members.