Central Coast Chapter Meetings & Other Events
Our Newsletter Keeps Everyone Up To Date. Send Us Your Photos & Events! Let others know what's going on by sending your articles, photos, and event info to: crfgccnewsletter@gmail.com. Please submit your items by the 15th of each month for inclusion in the next newsletter.
Celebrate Earth Day At The Chapman Estate With Our CRFG Chapter
Tuesday, April 22nd, 11 am - 2 pm
Plant Sale + Grafting Demos + Garden Tours
The Chapman Estate's gardens will be open from 11 am - 2 pm for their Earth Day celebration!
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The Chapman Estate is a historic Tudor-style mansion built in the 1930s on the bluffs of Shell Beach. It features a koi pond, windmill, lighthouse, begonia house, and beautiful gardens with panoramic ocean views.
The Central Coast Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers will be selling fruiting trees and plants, and demonstrating how to graft fruit trees. The Chapman Estate Foundation (also a non-profit) will be selling succulents.
There is a $5 entrance donation that will benefit the Chapman Estate Foundation. Once inside, the Chapman Estate Foundation will also be offering docent-led garden tours for $5, though you are welcome to walk the gardens without taking the tour.
The Chapman Estate is located at 1243 Ocean Boulevard, Shell Beach.
​Tiber Canyon is sponsoring the 2025 Tomato Fandango!
Saturday, April 26th, 11 am to 4 pm
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This event is a fundraiser for Growing Grounds in Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo. They will ​be selling over 35 varieties of tomatos plants, along with other veggie starts and ornamental plants for your home and garden. There will be many more vendors there, including Black Diamond Vermicompost.
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For more information visit the Tiber Canyon Ranch website event page.
May Meeting: Saturday, May 10th, 2025
Tiber Canyon Ranch
Open to the public. Bring a friend!
Restroom will be available.
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https://www.tibercanyon.com/new-events
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Location: 280 West Ormonde Road, San Luis Obispo
Bring: Your folding chair and snacks to share (the latter is optional). Fruit that you have harvested would be great to share with the community.
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Parking: There is plenty of parking in the dirt lot on the property.
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About Tiber Canyon Ranch
Hosts: Owners Chris Anderson and Will Carlton.
Tiber Canyon Ranch is a 50-acre sustainable olive grove and event venue. Known for its rustic charm, the ranch features 1,500 olive trees of Tuscan varieties (Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino, Coratina) cultivated using sustainable practices without petrochemicals, earning recognition from the California Olive Oil Council and a Good Food Award.
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What they do:
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Artisan Olive Oils: Produce extra virgin and citrus-infused oils pressed with fresh whole citrus, creating bright, nuanced flavors
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Event Venue: The ranch hosts annual community events like Growing Grounds Farm’s Tomato Fandango (see above). Tiber Canyon Ranch is also popular for weddings.
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AirBnb Accommodations: A 2-bedroom cottage and a loft above their barn are available for rent on Airbnb.
Schedule
12:30-1:00: Set up crew.
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1:00 pm: Socializing and refreshments. Bring something healthy to share, and your own water.
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1:30 pm: Chapter meeting & Presentation
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3:00 pm: Clean up
Other Future Chapter Meetings & Events
Please note that these future meetings are subject to change. Recheck this page closer to the date of each event.
More information about these events, including address details and times, will be provided here closer to each event.
June Meeting: TBD, June 14, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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Orchard Work Day: July 5th, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard for our Annual Fruit Tasting Meeting!
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July Meeting: Annual Fruit Tasting at the CRFG Demonstration Orchard, July 12, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Bring fruit to share, and enjoy the fruit brought by others.
More details will be listed here closer to the date of this event.​
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August Meeting: Linn Farm, August 9, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Host: Aaron Linn
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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September Meeting: Templeton Market, September 13, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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October Meeting: Global Family Farm, October 11, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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Orchard Work Day: November 1st, 2025 - Saturday 9 am - Noon
Open to the public.
CRFG Demonstration Orchard
Cal Poly Campus
Help clean up the orchard!
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November Meeting: LeFort Organic Farms, November 8, 2025 - Saturday
Open to the public.
Le Fort's Organic Farms is a certified organic farm in Creston, California which produces free range eggs, carrots, summer squash, eggplant, basil & more .
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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December Meeting: Annual Holiday Potluck and Plant Exchange, December 13, 2025 - Saturday
Members Only. Join CRFG to attend!
More details, including location & times, will be listed here closer to the date of this event.
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CRFG Demonstration Orchard Workdays
Be sure to check here the morning of each workday for rescheduling or cancellations.
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Orchard cleanups usually involve removing weeds, spreading wood chips, pruning trees, raking leaves, mending fences, cleaning the kiosk, reorganizing tools in the tool shed. It's also a good opportunity to chat with your fellow CRFGers, learning and sharing helpful hints for growing your fruiting plants.
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Sat Mar 1st, 2025 9am - 12pm (cleanup for Annual Propagation Mtg)
Sat July 5th, 2025 9am - 12pm (cleanup for Annual Fruit Tasting Mtg)
Sat Nov 1st, 2025 9am - 12pm (end-of-year cleanup)
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We Have Pheromone Loops For Sale!!!
Pheromone loops are available and are plentiful! Codling moths are key pests of apples and pears. Pheromone loops deceive the male moth, thereby helping to disrupt the mating cycle. Place 2 to 3 loops in the top third of your apple and pear trees. Petals should be about 90% off and small fruit is setting before you loop your trees!
Please contact Terri Monell at 805-546-8981 (landline) or 805-440-5818 (cell) if you are interested. Terri is available to sell loops ONLY until April 24th and then again from May 1st on.
Meetings
Our meetings are usually held on the second Saturday of the month, with the exception of the February meeting which is held on the fourth Saturday. (The February meeting is the annual scion exchange and grafting instruction.) In general our group gathers initially for refreshments and socializing, followed by the meeting. This is not always the case though, so check this web page or our newsletter for details on each meeting.
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Most of our meetings are open to the public. We encourage the public to join us and learn with us!
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Please read our "meeting manners" below prior to attending. No pets at any meeting, please.
Our Best CRFG Manners While Visiting Homes, Nurseries, Growers, etc.
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We never bring pets to meetings/tours and we never even ask if we may!
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We do our best to use public facilities or our own restroom before the meeting.
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We do our best not to ask to go inside the hosts’ home.
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We never pick fruit, flowers, foliage, weeds, seed pods and we never even ask.
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We do our best to car pool and park with great respect to our host and the neighborhood.
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We never talk when our host is talking. We do our best to stay up close when given a tour.
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We never “take over” the tour and tell everyone how we do it at our home!!
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We have thoughtful questions but try not to ask questions that embarrass our host.
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We do our best to help our host feel good, feel appreciated. We clean up our mess.
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We stay on the path, with our host …and never go walking around on our own unless given permission by the host.
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At the end of the tour, we make a special effort to thank the host. We “gather up” and have some sort of “closure” to the tour.
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We even write thank you notes when we get home, especially if we asked a lot of questions, were impressed, were surprised, were treated well. We write thank you notes even when we are not the leader.