You wouldn’t think that you can grow fruits and vegetables in the deserts of Las Vegas given the extremely hot climate and lack of soil. It completely defies logic. But there is a hidden gem in Vegas called Gilcrease Orchard, and as far as I know, it’s the only place in town where you can pick your own produce. It’s been around for 90 years too! Water regulations are now a lot stricter so it’s impossible to start a farm like this in Vegas now.
My friend Meg Ruth and I took a trip out there because we’ve both never been. Unfortunately we picked one of the worst days to go when the temperature was a scorching 110 degrees! But we had so much fun it was worth it even in the heat! The place is so much larger than I had imagined! They have 60 acres of land and rows and rows of veggies. I was so excited to see that so much stuff could be grown here, and that I had access to right off the vine fresh produce. Yes, we do have farmer markets too which I love too, but most of the produce at farmer markets here are actually from California.
When we visited, the summer squash and zucchini were ripe for picking. Meg has a great eye for finding them and managed to find some giant zucchini!
The okra flowers were still in bloom and were just starting to grow. You can see little pointy stubs that are just starting to grow. I don’t know what variety of eggplant these are, but they are super cute and about the same size as a large tomato.
Some zucchini blossoms and gala apples.
They have apple trees, pear trees, apricot trees, fig trees, and peach trees. The figs were just starting to grow and I can’t wait to go back and pick some! I never liked figs until I tried them from a neighbor who had a fig tree. They tasted like honey! The supermarket ones never compare and are never as sweet.
It’s so funny that these pears were growing all in a row in a straight line!
Here’s Meg uploading her pics of pear trees to Instagram.
Some of my pears that I brought home. Aren’t the colors just gorgeous?!
Jen Byrne - Anthony Ziemniak if you go, get their apple cider, it’s the best!
Anthony Ziemniak - I will have to check it out, can’t wait..
Parsley Sage - Oh man! New favorite photo shoot. Were you shoving your mouth full of delicious goodness in between all the shots?
Megan Nichol Stay - Those pears were so good! I want to go back and get more!