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Chao's Strawberries on Walnut Boulevard at Brentwood is one of the few farms in this cherry-dominated corner that picks something else, and it opens five days a week, which for Brentwood is generous. What You Can Pick Strawberries. The farm says "U-Pick will be available Wednesday-Sunday" without itemising further. Good to Know Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 8am to 5pm, with the farm's own qualifier: or until sold out. On a strawberry farm that is a real warning rather than a formula. It publishes no price. Email chaostrawberries@gmail.com or watch its Facebook and Instagram, which is where it says updates go. Pro tip: "or until sold out" on an eight o'clock opening means the afternoon is a gamble. Brentwood is an hour from Oakland and the drive is only worth making before lunch.

Webb Ranch at Portola Valley is the closest picking field to Silicon Valley, and it grows a berry list most farms would not attempt: Obsidian, Prime-Ark, Navaho, olallieberry and marionberry. What You Can Pick Blackberries and their relatives at $7.00 a pound, in five named varieties, some in limited supply. Good to Know There is a $4.00 entrance fee per person, with ages two and under free, charged on top of the fruit. The sessions are short and they move: the ranch publishes availability week by week rather than keeping fixed hours, and the last 2026 date was Tuesday 11 August, 8am to 10am. Baskets are provided. There are a limited number of wagons, first come first served, and the ranch suggests bringing your own. Cash, cards and tap or mobile pay are all accepted. Pro tip: olallieberry and marionberry are both crosses you will almost never find in a shop, because they are too soft to ship. This is one of very few places in California a member of the public can pick either.

Three Nunns Farm at Brentwood picks from April to Halloween, which is the longest run of any farm in this region, and it is the only one here where the admission ticket comes with a five-pound pumpkin credit built in. What You Can Pick Strawberries - April to July Sweet cherries - early May into June Peaches - June to September Apricots, nectarines and plums - through the summer Pumpkins - mid-September to Halloween What It Costs General admission from $4.32 a person. In autumn it buys a tractor ride through the orchard and onto the corn trail into the pumpkin patch, both corn mazes, the hay fort, the melon cannon, the playhouses, and five pounds of pumpkin. Beyond that pumpkins are 75 cents a pound. A season pass is $27 to $32.40 and is good for a year, which pays for itself on the third visit. Good to Know Open seven days a week in summer. Cash or card. Pro tip: if you are coming in autumn with more than one child, buy the season pass. Two visits and it has paid for itself, and this is a farm children ask to go back to.

Live Earth Farm at Watsonville runs the longest picking season in this region by a distance: 16 May to late October, five and a half months, on a farm best known for its CSA. What You Can Pick Strawberries - from 16 May, at $3 a pound Blackberries and raspberries - through the summer Dry-farmed tomatoes - from 1 August, $3 a pound, or $2.50 for twenty pounds or more Cherry tomatoes - $3 a pound Apples - from 30 August, at $2 a pound Good to Know Open Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 3pm, and u-pick runs on those same days when conditions permit, which is the farm's own qualifier. Picking containers are provided, and you may bring your own bags or baskets. Pro tip: dry-farmed tomatoes are the reason to come in August. The technique withholds water to concentrate the flavour, it is close to unique to this stretch of coast, and $3 a pound to pick them yourself is a fraction of what they fetch at a Bay Area market.

5 Star Cherries on Marsh Creek Road at Brentwood picks Coral, Lapin and Rainier in a season the farm describes as running from the middle of May to the beginning of June, which is about three weeks. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, in three varieties. Good to Know Three weeks is a short window and the farm publishes no hours and no price. Its email and both social accounts are on the site, and for a farm this size those are the fastest way to find out whether the fruit is on. Pro tip: Rainier is the one to drive for. It bruises so easily that shops charge a fortune for it, and picking your own is the only way most people will ever eat one properly ripe.

Berry Island Farms at Gilroy runs one of the longest picking seasons in the region, April right through October, and one of the shortest weeks: Saturday mornings only, nine until noon. What You Can Pick Berries, alongside summer vegetables. The farm does not itemise which of its crops are open to picking, which is the main gap in its own account of itself. Good to Know Cash only. Closed-toe shoes are required and no pets are allowed in the field, both in the farm's own words. Three hours a week across seven months is an unusual shape for a farm. It means the season is long but any given Saturday is the only chance that week. Pro tip: bring cash and wear proper shoes, because both are rules rather than suggestions here and Gilroy is a long way to drive to be turned round at the gate.

Creswell Family Farms at Brentwood picks strawberries and flowers together, and tells you exactly when to look for next year's dates: February. What You Can Pick Strawberries and cut flowers. The farm's own phrasing is "the joy of picking your own delicious strawberries and colorful flowers". Good to Know The 2026 season has finished. "Season 2027 opening information will be posted throughout February of next year", which is a more useful sentence than most farms manage. There is a wheelbarrow scarecrow and an antique tractor set up for photographs, which tells you what sort of visit this is. No price and no hours are published. Email creswellfarms@gmail.com. Pro tip: February is the month to check, not April. By the time a Brentwood strawberry farm is picking, the weekends are already spoken for.

Blue House Farm at San Gregorio picks strawberries on the San Mateo coast, half an hour over the hill from the peninsula and a world away from it. What You Can Pick Strawberries. In the farm's own words, "The strawberry U-Pick is now open for the season!" Good to Know Open weekends only, noon to 5pm. The farm publishes no price on any page that could be read. Email info@bluehousefarm.com if you need to know before setting out. Pro tip: San Gregorio is coastal and foggy, which is exactly why the strawberries here are good. Cool nights slow the fruit down and concentrate it, and the same reason makes it worth taking a jumper in July.

Boring Farm at Sebastopol opens for four hours a week and nothing more: Saturdays, nine until one, by reservation, for red raspberries. What You Can Pick Red raspberries. That is the whole list, and it is the only dedicated raspberry u-pick in this region. Good to Know A reservation is required, taken through the farm, and there is one session a week. The farm's own notice reads "Now Open for U-Pick 2026 Season!" It publishes no price. Pro tip: raspberries do not travel and barely keep a day, which is why almost nobody sells them properly ripe. A four-hour Saturday window on the only raspberry u-pick in the Bay Area is worth booking the moment it opens.

Canciamilla Ranch at Brentwood grows peaches, nectarines and plums, and lists its varieties in detail on its own site while saying almost nothing about visiting. What You Can Pick Peaches, nectarines and plums, through the summer. The ranch lists the varieties it grows but does not say which are open to picking rather than sold. Good to Know No hours, no price, no season dates and no entry fee are published. The site points visitors to Harvest Time in Brentwood, the local growers' directory, for current availability. Ring (925) 634-5123. Pro tip: Brentwood's growers all publish through the same seasonal directory, and the ranches that rely on it entirely tend to be the ones picking to the fewest people. That can be exactly what you want on a Saturday in July.

EarthSeed Farm at Sebastopol is a certified organic Afro-Indigenous farm and agroforestry project, and it grows two things almost nobody else on this site does: Asian pears and persimmons. What You Can Pick Asian pears - rare in any u-pick anywhere Persimmons - rarer still Apples Blackberries and raspberries Good to Know U-pick hours run July to November and visits are by appointment only, booked through the farm's own site. That is a five-month window, which is long, on a farm that takes one party at a time, which is not. No price is published. Email info@earthseedfarm.org. Pro tip: come in October or November for the persimmons. They are the last fruit of the year anywhere in California, they ripen after the leaves have dropped, and an orchard of bare branches hung with orange fruit is the best thing you will see on a farm all year.

Gold Ridge Organic Farms at Sebastopol picks certified organic Honeycrisp and Fuji, and it is one of very few farms in this region that will open on a weekday if you ask. What You Can Pick Apples, Honeycrisp and Fuji, from certified organic orchards, August through October. Good to Know Open Fridays and Saturdays, 10am to 4pm, with weekdays by appointment. A reservation is required either way and is taken through the farm's own booking page. No price is published. Pro tip: ask about the weekday. A booked weekday slot on a certified organic orchard in Sonoma County, in October, with nobody else in the rows, is the best apple picking within reach of San Francisco and almost nobody realises it is available.

Farmer's Daughter Produce at Brentwood opens every day for three and a half months, 16 May to 23 August, which in a region of three-week cherry farms is remarkable. It grows the best peach list here. What You Can Pick Sweet White Peaches, Great White Peaches, White Donut Peaches O'Henry Yellow Peaches and Dr Davis clingstone Santa Rosa plums Pluots What Else is Available A shaded picnic area open the same hours, a playground with a tractor and a kids' wheelbarrow, and cold drinks, ice cream and hats. Good to Know No entrance fee, in the farm's own words: "you only pay for what you pick or buy." Open 9am to 6pm daily. Cash or card, and the farm provides buckets and bags but is happy for you to bring your own baskets. Pro tip: the white donut peach is the one to look for. It is flat, it is impossible to ship without bruising, and this is one of very few places within an hour of the Bay where you can pick one yourself.

G&S Farms at Brentwood is best known for sweet corn, and opens two things to the public that are not corn: a cherry u-pick in spring and a pumpkin u-pick in autumn, the latter picked straight off the vine. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries - spring Pumpkins - autumn, off the vine rather than off a pallet What Else is Available Corn and beans, sold from the farm office and at farmers' markets. These are not pick-your-own. Good to Know Both u-picks are closed at present: the farm's own pages say so for each. Produce is available June through October. Pro tip: "off the vine" is the phrase to notice on the pumpkin patch. Most pumpkin patches near a city are a field of pumpkins trucked in and laid out. This one is the plant they grew on.

Mike's U-Pick at Brentwood does four things and says so in its own name: white and yellow peaches, white and yellow nectarines. Nothing else. What You Can Pick White and yellow peaches White and yellow nectarines Good to Know Closed for the 2026 season, with the farm's own "We'll see you in 2027". One thing has changed and it matters: the cherry orchard was permanently closed at the end of 2025. If you came here for cherries before, they are gone, and Brentwood has a dozen other farms that still pick them. No price and no hours are published. Instagram @mikes.upick is where the season announcement goes. Pro tip: white peaches and white nectarines are the point of this farm. They are lower in acid, they bruise if you look at them, and supermarkets barely carry them because of it.

Pomeroy Farm at Brentwood will have been farming for a hundred years in 2027, and unlike most of its neighbours it does not stop at cherries: it picks four crops across a season that runs from May into August. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries - the first crop, from May Apricots - early summer Nectarines - through the summer, in several varieties Peaches - through the summer, in several varieties Good to Know Open 8am to 4pm, with the farm's own warning attached: closing time may vary with the availability and ripeness of the fruit. On a stone fruit farm that is honest rather than evasive. The 2026 season has closed. Pro tip: most Brentwood farms are cherries and nothing else, which makes them a three-week destination. This one is worth a trip in July, when every cherry orchard within an hour has been shut for a month.

Martin Family Farm at Brentwood is the thinnest listing in this region, and it is worth being straight about why: the farm publishes almost nothing and has two Google reviews. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, in the Brentwood season. Good to Know The site currently reads closed for the season. Its events calendar shows a U-Pick Kickoff in May alongside a farmers' market and activities for children, which is the clearest signal of when it opens. No price, no hours, no crop list. Email Martin@mfamfarms.com before driving out. Pro tip: Brentwood has a dozen cherry farms within fifteen minutes of each other, and most of them publish their prices and hours. If this one is not answering, Papa's at $4.00 a pound and Diablo at $4.50 both do.

Sweet Lou's Cherries at Brentwood opened its 2026 season on 28 April, which is early even for Brentwood, and picks Rainier and Bing. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries at $4.50 a pound to pick your own, against $6.50 pre-picked. Rainier are the pale yellow-and-red ones and Bing the dark. Good to Know Open 9am to 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays. It is cash only. For a pre-picked order of twenty pounds or more, the farm asks you to ring ahead. Pro tip: two dollars a pound is the gap between picking and buying here, which is the widest in Brentwood. On a ten-pound bucket that is twenty dollars for an hour in the shade, which is the best argument for u-pick anyone has made.

Papa's U-Pick Cherries at Brentwood keeps low trees, which is the single most useful thing a cherry farm can do and almost none of them mention. It means children can reach the fruit without a ladder and without being lifted. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries at $4.00 a pound, which is the cheapest cherry picking in Brentwood. Good to Know No entry fee and no minimum purchase, in the farm's own words. Buckets are supplied to pick into and bags at the checkout, so you need bring nothing. There are picnic tables, and payment is cash or credit. Pro tip: low trees and picnic tables together make this the Brentwood farm to bring small children to. Everywhere else the good fruit is above their heads.

Swanton Berry Farm at Davenport picks organic berries on the cliffs north of Santa Cruz, and it holds 4.7 from 762 reviewers, second only to Gizdich in this region. What You Can Pick Strawberries and blackberries, organically grown. Good to Know The farm's own site is unusually reticent: no u-pick hours, no season dates and no prices could be found on any page that would load. Its farm stands run on the honour system, which is part of the character of the place. Check Instagram before setting out. That is where a farm this size posts what is picking. Pro tip: Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz is the drive, not just the route. The fields sit above the ocean, the fog holds until midday, and the strawberries taste of it.

Gizdich Ranch at Watsonville is the best-known picking farm in this region by a distance, 4.6 from nearly 1,500 reviewers, and it picks four separate things across two seasons: strawberries, olallieberries, boysenberries and apples. What You Can Pick Strawberries - spring and early summer Olallieberries and boysenberries - early summer, and rare almost everywhere else Apples - from September What Else is Available The ranch's pies and its own apple juice, both of which have their own following. Good to Know Open every day, 9am to 5pm. Berry u-pick is closed for 2026; apple u-pick opens in September. One rule matters more than any other here, and the ranch shouts it: card payments only at the u-pick locations, no cash. That is the opposite of every cherry farm in Brentwood. Bring your own containers, or the ranch will provide boxes for a small fee. Pro tip: olallieberry is a cross of loganberry and youngberry that essentially does not exist outside this stretch of coast. If the berry fields are open, that is the thing to pick, not the strawberries.

McKinney Farms at Brentwood picks peaches and nectarines in the summer window after the cherry farms have shut, which in this region makes it more useful than its size suggests. What You Can Pick Peaches and nectarines, through the summer. Good to Know The farm has no site of its own. What stands in for one is its page on Harvest Time in Brentwood, the local growers' directory, and that page could not be read during this pass. Ring (925) 634-7830. There is no published price, no hours and no season dates. Pro tip: Brentwood in July is a different place from Brentwood in May. The cherry crowds have gone, the stone fruit is on, and farms like this one are picking to almost nobody.

Duckworth Family Farm at Sebastopol picks blueberries on eighty-two acres and rents luxury safari tents on the same ground, which is a combination no other farm in this region offers. What You Can Pick Blueberries, in the farm's own words "straight from the bush". What Else is Available A farmstay in safari tents, plus workshops and events. Good to Know The farm publishes no season dates, no hours and no price, which for an operation this size is a gap. Email hello@duckworthfarmblueberries.com before making the drive. Pro tip: Sonoma County blueberries run later than the Central Valley, so the window here is more July than June. If you are coming up from the city, ring first rather than guessing.

Apple-A-Day at Ratzlaff Ranch at Sebastopol grows Gravenstein, the apple Sonoma County was famous for before the vineyards took the ground, and it keeps the strangest week of any farm here: closed Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, all year. What You Can Pick Apples in mid-September and October: Gravenstein, Golden Delicious and Rome. The ranch also grows pears. Good to Know Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 9am to 4pm. Closed Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. If you work a normal week, this farm is essentially shut to you, and that is worth knowing before planning around it. U-pick is currently closed and runs mid-September into October. Pro tip: Gravenstein is the reason to come. It is a short-season apple that bruises easily and does not keep, so it has almost vanished from shops, and Sebastopol is where it has always grown best.

Moffatt Ranch at Brentwood picks peaches and nectarines, and its own website says so in the page title and then stops. What You Can Pick Peaches and nectarines, in the Brentwood stone fruit season. Good to Know The site carries no hours, no prices, no season dates and no contact detail beyond what is in its heading. Ring (209) 483-0048. Pro tip: Brentwood's stone fruit runs June to August, well after the cherries. If you are ringing round, ask about white peaches specifically: they are the crop this corner of Contra Costa County does better than anywhere else in Northern California.

Marsh Creek Cherries at Brentwood picks four varieties an hour east of Oakland and answers the questions a first-time picker actually has, in plain words, on its own site. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries at $4.50 a pound, in four varieties: Coral, White Rainier, Utah Giant and Lapin. The season starts in May and runs through June. Good to Know No entry fee. The farm's own wording, when asked, is "Nope. We only charge for the cherries that you have picked." Buckets in two sizes are free to use, and there are free bags at the end to tip the fruit into. What it does not provide is ladders, so what you can reach is what you get. Payment is cash or Venmo. No cards. Pro tip: no ladders means the fruit at eye level goes first and the rest stays on the tree. Come in the first week of the season rather than the last, when the reachable cherries are all still there.

Cherry Time on Walnut Boulevard at Brentwood grows eight cherry varieties, which is more than any other farm in this region and the reason its season holds together for six weeks rather than three. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, in eight varieties: Bing, Coral Champagne, Brooks, Lapins, Rainier, Royal Tioga, Sweetheart and Tulare. Good to Know Closed for the 2026 season and the 2027 dates are not yet announced. The orchard publishes no price and no hours. It is unusually active on social, including TikTok, and that is where the season announcement will appear first. Pro tip: eight varieties ripen weeks apart. Coral Champagne and Brooks come early, Lapins and Sweethearts late, so the same orchard is a different visit in the third week from the first.

Long Shadow Farm at Byron grows walnuts, sweet corn, tomatoes and olives, and opens exactly one of them to the public: the cherries. It also provides ladders, which almost no cherry farm does. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, at $4.50 a pound, usually available from late May. What Else is Available The farm's own extra virgin olive oil, $25 for a 500ml bottle. Good to Know No entrance fee and no appointment needed. The farm provides bags for picking and has ladders available, but is clear that no buckets will be provided. Payment is cash or card, and it asks nicely for exact change. Pro tip: ladders are the reason to choose this farm over its Brentwood neighbours, half of which explicitly do not provide them. The fruit you cannot reach is always the best fruit on the tree.

Maggiore Ranch at Brentwood has grown cherries for over fifty years and picks across four separate locations, each with its own dates and hours. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, in the short Brentwood season. Good to Know The four sites do not open together. The ranch's own instruction is to check the page for the location you want before setting off, because the dates and hours differ. Parking is free and easy, which on a Brentwood weekend in May is not a small thing. Pro tip: four locations means four separate crops ripening at four separate rates. If one site says it is picked out, another may have just opened, and the ranch is the only operation here that gives you that second chance.

The Urban Edge Farm at Brentwood keeps twenty-four acres of orchard, most of it given over to picking, and its autumn list is unlike anything else within reach of the Bay: figs, pomegranates and persimmons. What You Can Pick Late April to June - stone fruit and citrus June to August - apples, stone fruit and figs September and October - apples, figs, pomegranates and persimmons Flowers - by the bucket, all season What It Costs Produce is priced by weight, with the rate set daily at the farm store. Flowers are by the bucket: two one-quart buckets for $30, a one-gallon bucket for $30, a two-gallon bucket for $40. Good to Know Open Tuesday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 4pm. The farm provides clippers, buckets and harvesting tools, and takes cash, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Pro tip: come in October. Pomegranates and persimmons are the two fruits nearly nobody lets the public pick, they are at their best when everything else has finished, and this is the only farm in the region offering both.

Diablo Cherries at Brentwood holds 4.9 from 132 reviewers, the highest score of any picking farm in this region, and it closes on Tuesdays for a reason it states plainly: irrigation day. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries - the main crop, at $4.50 a pound Strawberries, nectarines and apricots - seasonally alongside Good to Know Open 8am to 5pm Monday and Wednesday to Friday, and 7am to 5pm at weekends. Closed Tuesdays while the orchard is watered. Buckets are provided at the entrance and each holds ten to twelve pounds of cherries, which is a useful thing to know before you fill one: that is fifty dollars of fruit. Cash and card both accepted. Pro tip: the seven o'clock weekend opening is the whole trick. Brentwood in late May gets hot by ten, cherries pick better cold, and the first hour is the one with shade in the rows.

RC U-Pick Cherries at Brentwood picks Corals and Lapins at $4.00 a pound, and it is one of the few farms anywhere on this site that will let you bring your own ladder. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries, Coral and Lapin, at $4.00 a pound. Good to Know No entry fee and no minimum purchase. Buckets are provided for picking and bags at the checkout. The trees are low enough for easy picking, and you may bring your own ladder for the rest. Payment is cash or credit. Pro tip: bring the ladder. Every other cherry farm in Brentwood either forbids them or does not mention them, and the top third of a cherry tree is where the fruit that nobody has bruised is still hanging.

R&R Fresh Farms at Pescadero picks berries on the San Mateo coast, and it holds 4.8 from 89 reviewers without publishing a single thing about itself. What You Can Pick Strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, through the coastal summer. Good to Know There is no website, no published hours, no season dates and no price. The phone number, (650) 954-0055, is the only way in. The coastal season here runs later and longer than inland, so a farm that would be finished in Brentwood by July may still be picking in September. Pro tip: Pescadero is a Highway 1 drive rather than a Highway 101 one, and that changes the day. Half Moon Bay, the coast road and a berry farm is a better Saturday than the fruit alone would justify.

Crystal Bay Farm at Watsonville opens two days a week and no more, Wednesdays and Sundays, from noon to five. What You Can Pick Strawberries at $8.00 a pound, plus raspberries and blackberries in season. Good to Know There is a $2.00 entrance fee per person on top of the fruit. At eight dollars a pound this is the most expensive strawberry picking in the region, and it is worth knowing that before the drive over the hill. Containers are available at the farm stand or you may bring your own. Groups of more than ten can ask the farm about days and times outside the usual two. Pro tip: two afternoons a week and a noon opening means the fields get picked hard on Sunday. Wednesday is the quieter half of the week and the rows will have had four days to come back.

U Pick Orchards at Morgan Hill runs five separate ranches at one price, and it is the only farm in this region that regularly sells out: the 2026 season closed before it finished. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries at $7.50 a pound, across five varieties: Coral, Rainier, Bing, Sweetheart and Lapin. Good to Know The picking window is short and the orchard says so: three to four weeks in late May or early June, depending on weather and fruit maturity. It is currently sold out for 2026 and closed until 2027. At $7.50 a pound this is the most expensive cherry picking in the region, roughly double what Brentwood charges an hour to the north-east. Pro tip: it sells out, so the thing that matters here is not the day you go but the day you book. Watch the orchard's Instagram in April rather than May.

gilroyUpick at Gilroy describes itself as picking cherries, berries and vegetables, and its own site currently says one thing above everything else: "We are temporarily closed". What You Can Pick Cherries, berries and plums, in a normal year. The farm's own site does not itemise which crops are open to picking. Good to Know Temporarily closed with no reopening date given, which is not the same as a season ending and is worth treating carefully. Email dave@gilroyUpick.com before making any plan around this farm. Pro tip: Tru2earth is fifteen minutes away at Gilroy, picks organic from April to October, publishes its prices and has no entry fee. If this farm is not answering, that is where to go.

Tru2earth Farm at Gilroy is organic across the board and picks for seven months of the year, April to October, which almost nothing else in this region manages. What You Can Pick Organic strawberries - $5 a pound Organic blackberries and raspberries - $10 a pound Blueberries - in season Organic flowers - dahlias, zinnias, lisianthus, snapdragons, sunflowers and scabiosa Good to Know Open Wednesday 5pm to 7pm and Friday, Saturday and Sunday 9am to noon. No entry fee. It is first come, first served, and closed-toe shoes are required. Payment is cash preferred, or Venmo or Zelle. No cards. Pro tip: the Wednesday evening slot is the one nobody uses. Two hours after five on a working day, on an organic farm twenty minutes off the 101, is as close to a private field as this region offers.

Martinez Family Farms on Fisher Avenue at Morgan Hill has been family owned since 1989 and is a local favourite for one thing: strawberries. What You Can Pick Strawberries. Good to Know The farm has no website. Its Facebook and Instagram are where the picking days appear, and there is no published schedule, price or phone number. It holds a straight 5.0 from twenty reviewers, which on a farm this small is worth more than a bigger number elsewhere. Pro tip: Morgan Hill has three u-pick operations within twenty minutes and this is the smallest of them. On a small strawberry farm the fruit is picked to order rather than left standing, which is exactly why the reviews read the way they do.

Mariani Orchards at Morgan Hill runs a Harvest Experience on the last of the Santa Clara Valley orchard land, and it picks the two fruits this valley was built on before the chips arrived: cherries and apricots. What You Can Pick Sweet cherries - Bing, Black Republican, Brooks, Lapin, Rainier, Skeena and Tartarian Apricots - Blenheim and Golden Sweet Good to Know Closed for the 2026 season. The orchard's own notice reads "Please Join Us Again in 2027 Around May 15th", which is a more useful date than most farms give. No price, no hours and no booking detail are published. Pro tip: the Blenheim apricot is the reason to come, and mid-May is the reason to diary it. Blenheims are the old Santa Clara Valley variety, they are too soft to ship, and they are gone within about ten days of ripening.

Chileno Valley Ranch at Petaluma opens its heritage apple orchard for a few weeks each autumn, by reservation only, and it is one of the quietest picking experiences within an hour of San Francisco. What You Can Pick Apples, from mid-September. Good to Know Reservations are required and they open at 9am on the first Monday of September, which for a small orchard an hour from the city means they go quickly. The ranch now trades primarily as Mike and Sally Gale's grass-fed beef ranch, and its old chilenovalley.com address redirects there. The apple picking sits alongside the beef rather than being the main business. No price is published. Pro tip: reservations opening on a fixed Monday morning in September is the whole game here. Diary it. Turning up in October without one gets you a look at a locked gate and a very pretty drive.