In the orange orchard
Posted: April 9, 2022

Updated 5/2/2022 - final weekend events 5/7, 5/15; Thursday sunset harvests 5/5, 12, 19.

Imagine ... a huge navel orange orchard in North San Jose filled with 1,500 trees, a 14 acre island of the Valley's agricultural past surrounded by the tech companies and apartments of modern Silicon Valley. The farm family has owned the land for 104 years, and this orchard produced an astounding 440,000 pounds (220 tons) of oranges in 2017. Yes, it's Giant! The family first found Village Harvest in 2018 and liked sharing their fruit with the community so much that they're donating their entire crop again in 2022 to help others.

This year we planned to have 5 large weekend harvests starting in mid-March, but there is so much fruit we're going through Mid May. At the weekend harvests 40 volunteers will pick fruit by hand from the ground, and since we don't need to use ladders or heavier equipment they're family friendly for volunteers as young as age 10.

In addition to the large weekend harvests, we're also holding weekly "Sunset Harvests" where volunteers use fruit pole pickers or ladders to reach the higher fruit remaining on the trees after the weekend harvests. These are 2 hour harvests starting at 5:30 pm and a great way to relax in the early evening while doing good.

So far this season Village Harvest volunteers have picked 115,000 lbs (!) and we have much more to come in the final harvests this year - please volunteer and join us for a fun and educational experience picking oranges for people in need.

Sign up for the remaining May harvests through the Events calendar.

For Groups: We are now reserving space for groups of up to 10-15 volunteers (and possibly more) for the final weekend events and up to 5-10 for the Sunset harvests; please Contact Us with your group name, number of people, ages, and date preferences (weekend/weekdays, any specific dates)

Here are a few photos from the April 2, 2002 harvest - enjoy, and sign up to experience this last-of-it's-kind location soon.

That morning 40 volunteers picked and filled 22 1/2 bins with 18,400 pounds of oranges for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley and their partners to distribute to more than 15,000 people in the community.

Volunteer picking an abundant tree
Volunteers picking a very abundant navel orange tree
The orchard has 1,500 orange trees loaded with fruit
Volunteers in one row of the orchard
Volunteers in one row of the orchard, with new apartment buildings in the background
Oranges are picked into buckets, then put in large farm bins to transport
Trailer with 5 full bins at the edge of the orchard
5 bins on a trailer, at the edge of the old agricultural valley and modern Silicon Valley
Filled bins with oranges after the harvest
22 1/2 bins of oranges (18,400 lbs) ready for pickup by the food bank