California Rare Fruit Growers

SCV Chapter Meeting

Social hour starting at noon - bring a potluck dish or fruit to share.Formal program will start at 1:00 in the Meeting Hall at Prusch Park. Presenter: David MarianiTopic: BeesAndy Mariani's cousin David, a bee expert, will talk to us about some of his innovative research.  As we have been doing lately, we will have a potluck/social hour from noon to about 1:00, followed by a few minutes of chapter business and announcements, and then David will start speaking at about 1:15. People have been pretty good at bringing a wide variety of things for the potluck, so I won't do a spreadsheet for this one, and we'll see how it goes.  Happy growing,Lisa StapletonChair, SCV CRFG

SCV Chapter Meeting

Social hour starting at noon - bring a potluck dish or fruit to share.Formal program will start at 1:00 in the Meeting Hall at Prusch Park.

SCV Chapter Meeting

Social hour starting at noon - bring a potluck dish or fruit to share.Formal program will start at 1:00 in the Meeting Hall at Prusch Park.

SCV Chapter Meeting

Presenter: Ron BlancasTopic: Tropicals he's growing in southern Santa Clara County.SlidesRon's slides and experience make this such a great treat.Social hour starting at noon - bring a potluck dish or fruit to share.Formal program will start at 1:00 in the Meeting Hall at Prusch Park.

SCV Chapter Meeting & Potluck

Presenter: Antoine GaesslerTopic: BEST PRACTICES GRAFTING PROCEDURESSlidesDear fellow growers! We are fortunate to have several great reasons to meet at Prusch Park Meeting Hall. The room opens for setup at 11:30. As I mentioned in previous emails, this one is a smaller, DIY chapter event, so we'll be sharing non-citrus greenwood--avocados, cherimoyas, sapotes, feijoas, loquats, etc. Here's our planned schedule, of course subject to change if it becomes necessary:11:30--Doors open, setup starts11:45 or so--Potluck opens12:30--People start collecting their scions (2 max each person until everyone's had a chance to collect. (After Antoine's talk, we can ask the bringers of scions if they are OK with letting people take more from whatever is left over. Unlike our hardwood exchange, these scions are not sent on to other chapters.)1::15--Formal part of program starts. Lisa makes announcements, others with announcements speak briefly, and then introduces Antione's talk, which is about a very precise-but-easy-to-learn grafting technique that uses a tool like this:https://www.amazon.com/ZALALOVA-Grafting-Pruning-Cutting-Scissors/dp/B07Q56MZQ83:00 Cleanup room to be out by 3:30.

Scion Exchange

It’s that time of year! Join us for our annual scion exchange. For more details, visit our Scion Exchange page.

Scion Collection at Prusch Park

Scion Collection at Andy’s Orchard

We will meet at the packing shed behind the store at Andy’s Orchard, 1615 Half Rd., Morgan Hill, CA 95037, at 9 AM. Please park back by the packing shed or out on the road. Please do not park in front of the store. We’ll be finishing up all the remaining varieties in Andy’s orchards. We should be finished by 2 PM. We’d like to get 20-25 people to come help. Please bring whatever you need for a cold, potentially muddy and dirty day: boots, sock hat, sun hat, gloves, layers of clothing, knee pads, etc. Also bring your pruning shears, and long-handled extension loppers if you have them. I will bring Ziplock bags, garbage bags, Sharpie pens, and spray bottles.

Scion Collection at Filoli Historic House and Garden

We will meet at the parking lot near the gentleman’s orchard at Filoli Historic House and Garden, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside, CA 94062 at 10 AM. Drive in the regular visitor’s entrance, and proceed to the parking lot. The trees we can cut from will be labeled, and we will transport the bundles of wood back to tables in the orchard, where we will cut, bag, and label them in ziplocks. Eventually, we will all end up cutting/bagging. I’m hoping we’ll finish by around 2:00 pm. We’d like to get 20-25 people to come help. Please bring whatever you need for a cold, potentially muddy and dirty day: boots, sock hat, sun hat, gloves, layers of clothing, knee pads, etc. Also bring your pruning shears, and long-handled extension loppers if you have them.

CRFG Meeting – Warmth-loving Plants

Our last meeting of the year is coming on Dec. 13, and I’m excited to announce that we’ll have Gary Gragg of Golden Gate Palms, a nursery specializing in palms, avocados, citrus, and other warmth-loving plants. Gary also has a YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@ScaryHairyGary . I’m also thinking that it would be nice if we brought food for our pre-meeting time. As usual, the room opens at noon, so if we show up around 12:15 or so, we should be able to have a little extra social/eating time. It’s also the last meeting before our scion exchange on Valentine’s Day, so we’ll be getting an update from our esteemed Scion Exchange Chair Joe Saxe.

CRFG Meeting – Tropical Fruit and Martial Cottle Park orchard

12:15 – Sharing food, networking 1:00 – Tropical fruit growing (Ron Blancas), Martial Cottle Park orchard talk (Don Bollinger)

CRFG Meeting – TBD

Speaker TBD

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – Thornless Berries

Lisa will be speaking to us about mulberries and thornless raspberries and blackberries. An optional potluck will start at 12:00 noon, and the bimonthly chapter meeting will start around 1:15. See the schedule below for details. 12:00 pm: Potluck starts 12:45 pm: DIY sharing circle starts 1:15 pm: Chapter meeting begins (vote on new Board meeting, any other announcements, chapter business) 1:30 pm: Lisa S. will give a talk on mulberries and thornless raspberries and blackberries 2:30 pm: Last call on potluck, socializing 3:20 pm: Cleanup, close room

Bay Area Stone Fruit

Santa Clara County has historically been one of the best places in the world to grow stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, cherries, plums, and plum-apricot hybrids. Join us April 12, when Andy Mariani, a local orchard farmer and internationally recognized expert on stone fruits, will explain which varieties are doing well NOW in the Santa Clara County and neighboring areas—even as our climate is changing.

Edible Native Plants

Interested in growing California native plants—but want a bountiful harvest, too? Then you won’t want to miss our upcoming talk by Carol Peck, a longtime UC Master Gardener and a leader in the native plant movement. She’ll share her experience with us on growing the same fruits and vegetables that sustained the first inhabitants of California for thousands of years.  You’ll learn about the many plants that can be grown locally, and she’ll also discuss their flavor and preparation, as well as their sun, water and soil requirements.

Santa Clara Scion Exchange

Mark your calendars for our upcoming Scion Exchange on January 25th, 12 pm – 3 pm! Check out the Scion Exchange page for more details. Please note the location has changed from the previous year — it will be taking place at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple (Sangha Hall).

Scion Collection

Please be on the lookout for details to join us in collecting scions sometime in January before the Santa Clara Scion Exchange.

Two Rare, Wonderful Tastes for Santa Clara Valley: Pawpaws and Cherimoyas

Two Rare, Wonderful Tastes for Santa Clara Valley: Pawpaws and Cherimoyas Looking for great-tasting, interesting fruits that are expensive or hard to find? Consider planting pawpaws and their tropical cousins, cherimoyas, are an amazing possibility in the Santa Clara Valley. Native to the eastern US, pawpaws used to be so plentiful and common that founding Fathers enjoyed pawpaw custard and ate the wild-growing fruit when they traveled. And due to the warming of our climate, cherimoyas are also becoming a possibility in our area. Current SCV -CRFG chair Lisa Stapleton has been growing pawpaws and cherimoyas for more than 10 years. Just in time for dormant-season planting, she’ll share the things she’s learned growing them in her San Jose home, including good varieties to plant, how to grow them, and where to buy them.

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – October 2024

Ashley Shannon will describe the District’s rebate programs, including lawn to landscape, irrigation audits, gray water, etc., with a particular emphasis on rainwater catchment, and how the Water District will subsidize your purchase of rain barrels and cisterns. Dexter Girton will give us a real-world, data-based case study of water-saving techniques and his tips for implementing systems to save money and deliver more water where it’s actually needed in your garden.

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – August 2024

TBD

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – June 2024

Food Forestry

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – May 2024

UC Santa Cruz’s Dr. Dave Shaw, will share his extensive expertise on food forests and permaculture. With extensive experience and insights into food, culture, and the environmental and societal impacts of agricultural production on humans and nature, David will give us insights we can use in the development of our own food forests.

2024 Scion Exchange

Adminssion: Current SCV Chapter members —- free Non-SCV Chapter members ——— $10 (1:30 – 2:30 pm); free after 2:30 pm

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – November 2023

Topic: Rainwater Harvesting This topic is particularly timely to mitigate the effects of climate change and drought in our semi-arid environment! General Info: The doors will open at 12:30 pm. Bring snacks or harvest from your garden to share with fellow members.

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting – September 2023

Topic: Growing Green Gage Plums Andy Mariani will talk about Green Gage Plums. General Info: The doors will open at 12:30 pm. Bring snacks or harvest from your garden to share with fellow members.

Fruit Tasting @Andy’s Orchard (Plums & Pluots)

Many stone fruits including plums & pluots Book Now!

Fruit Tasting @Andy’s Orchard (Stone Fruits)

Many different stone fruits including peaches & nectarines. Book Now!

Bimonthly Chapter Meeting

Topic: Drip Water System + Rodent Deterrents Dexter will show his rat shocking wire setup with actual parts.  Also showings a couple of rat videos. General Info: The doors will open at 12:30 pm. Bring snacks or harvest from your garden to share with fellow members. With many new members having joined our chapter since 2022, we’ll start by learning about each other – everyone is invited to share a few words about him/herself as well as what’s going on in our gardens.

Fruit Tasting @Andy’s Orchard (Mostly Apricots)

Mostly apricots but also other stone fruits. Book Now!

Mulberry Tasting @Wolfskill

Sample mulberries and learn about the resources at the NCGR has to offer! Registration required !