Field Trip: Mason Taylor Apple Ranch, Los Gatos

Where: Mason Taylor Ranch (22849 Summit Rd, Los Gatos, 95033)

When: All year for farm stand, fall (Sept-Oct) is best for picking. Call ahead to reserve a tour.

Who: All ages

Cost: $5/person for 10 apples, then $0.75/lb subsequently (prices as of Oct 2021). Cash or check to Taylor Ranch.

On the peninsula, farm visits take some thought. There is one berry farm, Webb Ranch, in Menlo Park but otherwise, most of the farms in our county are to be found along the coast (Half Moon Bay). Due to urbanization, however, apple farms have disappeared - thankfully, it's not too far a drive to South Bay (Watsonville), North Bay (Sebastopol) or East Bay.  So when we heard a fellow homeschooler recommend Mason Taylor Ranch in Los Gatos, our group thought it was worth a visit - only 40 minutes away on a weekday afternoon. 

Mason Taylor Ranch is located in Los Gatos, near Santa Cruz. Depending on your GPS, you may be routed on Old Santa Cruz highway - some switchbacks, but not too bad for carsickness, and the views were lovely.

We had called ahead and confirmed the size of our group with Farmer Roger. Arriving at the ranch, he was waiting to direct cars to parking spots. Although the area in front is small (it takes ~5 cars), there is overflow parking past the farm stand on the left. There are also clean PortaPotties near the tables. 

Farmer Roger started with a talk about the farm's history. He asked us to guess when the farm was started - none of us guessed early enough - 1852! It had been started by German immigrants, the Shulties, who had come here for the California Gold Rush and settled down when gold panning didn't work out. It was an interesting tie-in to other places we had visited, such as Folger Stables which had been started by James Folger in 1850 at the ripe old age of 16 while his older brothers had gone off to the hills. 

Then, we heard about the different types of apples in season. At the time of our visit, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Pippins were in season. There were also some pears but we were warned against those as they were past prime.  Farmer Roger demonstrated how to pick an apple (snap upward), told us to pick only apples on the trees and leave those on the ground for deer. 

Farmer Roger describing the types of apples on the farm

After a few more instructions - walk along the path which winds through the apple grove, turn back when you reach the chicken area, we were set free to pick the apples. The children had fun spreading out and looking for the different types. 

Apples on the ground = feast for deer

Bee boxes - honey available at farm stand

One interesting fact is that the apples are dry farmed, i.e. no irrigation. Coming through two years of drought, this was amazing. Farmer Roger had described the farm's apples as being smaller than regular apples, but more flavorful. They didn't seem smaller to us - some branches were simply groaning with the weight of the apples, but we can definitely attest they were flavorful! The Golden Delicious apples were especially crisp and sweet. Oh, and they are organic too! 

At the end of the picking, the children were happy to sit at the tables near the farm stand and snack on the apples. Farmer Roger had meanwhile gone back to his chores so the farm stand was operating on an honor system with a scale to weigh the apples, and a box for the money.  All contributing to the winsomeness of this small scale, family farm. As we sat and rested before our drive home, several of us felt this should be an annual HEART tradition - perhaps with a beach visit to Santa Cruz next time!