In the heart of California’s Central Valley, a small farm town producing more fresh fruit than anywhere else on earth calls itself “The World’s Fruit Basket.”
Reedley sits between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the coastal mountain range in the center of the valley. A prominent feature of side streets and country roads in the region are the various fruit and farm stands offering local produce.
Sweet Girl Farms is a local fixture. The farmstand on South Alta Avenue, roughly 30 miles east of Fresno, is stocked with fresh white donut peaches, white nectarines, fresh vegetables, local honey, and flowers. Owner Liset Garcia opened the stand in 2019 and says “everyone gets excited” when peach season arrives in the early summer.
Ms. Garcia, who grows most of the stand’s produce, attributed the sweetness of the valley’s fruit to the area’s unique climate and the rich nutrients in the soil.
The valley floor is home to more than 4 million residents and stretches roughly 400 miles from the Tehachapi Mountains to the City of Redding, and it is one of just five regions in the world with a Mediterranean climate, according to the California Coastal Commission.
Such weather means mild winters, hot, dry summers, and cool nighttime temperatures. Careful management of water from sources like the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has preserved the valley’s fertility and contributed to the Central Valley’s multibillion-dollar agricultural market.
Sweet Girl Farms draws many out-of-town visitors, according to Ms. Garcia. She offers customers a bountiful variety of produce each season, whether grapes in the summer or locally sourced pomegranate juice in the fall.
More than 250 different crops grow in the Central Valley, which produces roughly one-fourth of the nation’s food supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s California Water Science Center. The high output is produced on less than 1 percent of the country’s farmland.
Lily’s Blossom Trail Fruit Stand on the corner of Reed Avenue and Central in Sanger, about 10 miles outside of Reedley, has taken advantage of the local biodiversity for 30 years.
They sell their own selection of yellow peaches, watermelons, plums, and nectarines. Owned by Mike Gerawan, the stand gives visitors on their way to visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks a place to experience the flavors of the valley.
Just down the street on the corner of Highway 180, the Sunflower Farm Stand, owned by farmer and entrepreneur Mike Strambi, has been a hit with locals since it opened in 2023.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve had a fruit stand,” Mr. Strambi told The Epoch Times.
After spending decades working in agriculture for businesses like produce company Sun World and fruit packing and shipping operation Fruit Patch, Inc., he bought property in nearby Centerville, and opened the Centerville Fruit Station over a decade ago.
After the COVID-19 pandemic introduced logistical hardships, he closed down.
“I figured I was done,” he said.
Now, Mr. Strambi has found success again with the farm stand in Sanger, which sits on the corner of the new highway. The fruit is all local and he offers stone fruit, cherries, oranges, sweet corn, and 30 varieties of dried fruits and nuts.
He said the warm weather “brings on sugar in the stone fruit,” giving local varieties like Honey Fire yellow nectarines and Black Splendor plums a rich sugary flavor.
Other factors, like knowing when to pick the fruit and what shape will be good to eat, all play a part in curating an excellent flavor profile.
“Pruning is key,” he said. “And thinning, fertility, canopy management [and] irrigation.”
