California Locavore Overview

California Grown product

With Califonia's ideal growing climates from border to border, there are plenty of Locavore opportunities to find exactly the fruit, vegetables, beef, lamb, poultry, wine or dairy products that you are looking for. Our database currently has more than 3,800 California growers and producers located in 56 counties.

Since California provides more than half of many fresh fruit and vegetables consumed throughout the United States, it would almost seem that all farms would need to be huge mechanized operations. In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. Located throughout the state, there are literally thousands of smaller growers who prefer to sell directly to consumers. These growers are sometimes difficult to find and that is why we created Locabvore Network!

Growing and Planting seasons
California's climate offers a great environment for growing fruit and vegetables in your own orchard or garden. Take a look at our "How Long until Harvest" chart to determine which annual crops are the best candidates for gardening during the California growing seasons. Due to the massive size of California,it is very difficult to say that there sia particular growing season. Almost every geographic area can provide a growing environment for crops that are considered "off-season" in the rest of the state.

To find the USDA Growing zone for your specific ZipCode, check out - What's My Growing Zone?

Availability
For more specific detail on what local fruits and vegetables are available (and when), please check out our California availability guide or go here to see all of the Locavore Network growers near you. In addition to fruit and vegetable growers, we have listings for wineries as well as numerous beef, poultry and dairy producers located throughout the state.

Additional Locavore information
•Every state has a Cooperative Extension System. Regional offices offer location specific advice on a broad array of topics, including gardening and may be able to provide you with contact information for growers who are not yet registered on our site. Most have gardening hotlines and offer informational fact sheets, soil testing and pest identification for free or a nominal cost.

Often the help is provided by Master Gardeners who are trained to assist the agriculture agents with home gardener's needs. To find contact information for your local County Extension Office – California County Extension Offices
 
•If you would like to ask questions of fellow California Locavores, discuss tips, share recipes, stories, pictures or any another great “Slow Food” discovery, please post it in our California forum by clicking here: California Locavore Forum
 
•State sponsored “Locally Grown” program - CA Grown
 •California County Fair Schedules – This link provides schedules for County Fairs within California as well as many other local festivals – California Events