While the state of California still produces nearly a third of the nation’s citrus, the City of Orange was once the citrus capital of America. In 1975, then Mayor Robert D. Hoyt decided to honor that era by writing an order to have an orange grove planted at Hart Park.
Fifty years later, the orange grove still stands, and is now under the care of Orange Home Grown (OHG) through a community partnership. The City of Orange owns the property, while OHG volunteers give their time and support through a community partnership with annual harvesting and minor maintenance.
“We started partnering with the city to pick the orange groves five years ago,” says OHG Director Megan Penn. “We pick about 10,000 pounds of oranges every citrus season.” According to Penn, the vast majority of the trees are orange varieties, with a handful of lemons and a tangerine tree sprinkled throughout the grove. They organize to pick fruit several times throughout the season.
“Last Thursday, we went over there with about 20 people and did our first pick of the season,” says Doug Turner, OHG Board Member and OHG Education Farm Manager. “We can usually pick about five times throughout the season, and we can pick about 2,000 pounds of oranges at a time, because that’s all that will fit in my truck.”
OHG makes sure all the citrus gets to good causes, including local food pantries, church groups, local nonprofits, community centers and so much more.
“The city gets a lot of calls when they see citrus on the ground,” Penn says. “The point is to make sure all that produce doesn’t go to waste. Hopefully people know there are residents going in and picking it to support our city.”
The orange picking events are also a good way to organize large groups of volunteers. Penn says volunteer groups and businesses approach her looking for volunteer hours and events.
“While we have opportunities for small groups to volunteer at the weekly farmer’s market and OHG Education Farm, the fruit harvesting is a great way to accommodate bigger groups,” says Penn. “For example, last year we partnered with the Marriott Hotels when they had a conference at the Anaheim Convention Center. We hosted more than 75 Mariott employees in the grove harvesting fruit, trimming trees, cleaning up debris, and clearing out waterways.”
Smaller local businesses also become involved in fruit harvesting, such as Elevance (known as Anthem of Blue Cross), where regular volunteer Matt Low has organized the Costa Mesa office’s attendance for the last three years.
“I show up with 10 people once a year, and we barely put a dent in the crop,” says Low. “We fill up the truck in probably two hours.”
In addition to picking the oranges, Elevance employees clean up the trees and the area around the grove. For Low, the event is now a tradition, and his personal way of celebrating Chinese New Year.
“Anytime you can be outside with people in nature creates a magical environment,” says Penn. “This is especially the case when you can be out there in the orange groves and they’re blossoming. It smells amazing.”
OHG will have more orange picking opportunities in the coming months. For more information, reach out to Penn at info@ OrangeHomeGrown.org.
