Produce Farms near Gilroy, CA

Gilroy

Berry Island Farms grows certified organic berries and vegetables on Watsonville Road outside Gilroy, selling farm-fresh on a first-come, first-served basis with no reservations needed. It's a small family operation, not a commercial outfit, so what's available shifts week to week — call or text ahead to check what's ripe before making the drive.

Dirty Girl Produce farms 40 certified-organic acres in Watsonville, in Santa Cruz County, known regionally for its tomatoes and strawberries alongside more than 20 other fruit and vegetable varieties. Owner Joe Schirmer and a crew of 25 sell at ten Bay Area farmers' markets — Santa Cruz, Berkeley, San Francisco — plus a CSA and wholesale accounts with restaurants across the region.

Watsonville

Monterey Bay Farms' roadside stand on San Andreas Road in Watsonville sells CCOF-certified organic Albion strawberries, hand-picked ahead of time rather than U-pick. Run by Rod and Gwen Koda, the stand opens Saturdays through the summer.

Aptos

The Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo College, run by Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Markets, is held every Saturday from 8 AM to noon at 6500 Soquel Drive in Aptos, celebrating over 50 years of farmers markets in the region with plentiful free parking and easy access.

San Jose

The Farmers' Market at Westfield Oakridge — formerly the Blossom Hill Farmers' Market — has served San Jose's Blossom Hill neighborhood for 17 years, every Sunday from 9 AM to 1 PM, year-round. Over 40 growers and food producers set up at peak season, including local organic farms and Santa Clara Valley growers, with public transit access and the association's weekly Crop Watch newsletter.

Salinas

San Jose

J&P Cosentino Family Farm is the last working orchard in San Jose — an urban farm in the old Valley of Heart's Delight, tended by five generations of the Cosentino family since 1945. Nearly 600 trees grow more than thirty varieties of peaches plus heirloom apricots, plums, prunes, nectarines, apples, figs, berries, persimmons, and grapes, all picked fully ripe and sold with farm classes, pop-ups, and events on-site.

Santa Cruz

The Live Oak Farmers' Market has anchored Sundays for the Live Oak, Pleasure Point, and Capitola communities since 2000, running 9 AM to 1 PM year-round at 15th and Eastcliff Drive. Tables stack high with organic produce, tree-ripened fruit, fresh bread, sustainable seafood, pasture-raised organic meats, and flowers, alongside celebrated brunch vendors, live music, EBT Market Match up to $15, and a monthly family day with the local school district.

San Jose

Santa Cruz Permaculture farms 26 regenerative organic acres on the Pacific coast 20 minutes north of Santa Cruz — land farmed organically for over 100 years and famous from 1995-2020 as Swanton Berry Farm's strawberry, olallieberry, and kiwi U-Pick. Over 80 crops span five acres of vegetables, flowers, and herbs, two acres of blackberries, and a third-acre of kiwis, sold through U-Pick, farm stand, farmers markets, CSA, and wholesale — all alongside permaculture courses with over 1,000 alumni and ocean views near Año Nuevo.

Santa Cruz

Yellow Wall Farm is a nearly three-acre CCOF-certified organic family farm in a secluded valley along the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, named for a wall of 8,000 sunflowers planted for a family wedding. Allen and Judy Rose Hasty tend 30-year-old heirloom apple trees plus peaches, Asian pears, persimmons, avocados, and citrus, grow summer vegetables and Slow Food Ark of Taste varieties, and sell to local restaurants, New Leaf Community Foods, and a Saturday farm stand from August through November.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Community Farmers' Markets has run for 30 years, operating a family of five markets: Downtown Santa Cruz on Wednesdays, Westside Saturdays, Live Oak/Eastside Sundays (all year-round, rain or shine), plus seasonal markets in Felton and Scotts Valley. The markets showcase regional organic produce, pasture-raised meats, eggs and dairy, sustainably harvested seafood, and artisan goods, with EBT Market Match and pop-up breakfast events.