Brentwood Cherry Picking and More

Brentwood is the bay area’s destination for cherry-picking and other fruit-picking. Kids and adults alike flock to the area for a pick at Brentwood’s summer bounty.

Cherry-picking season is typically from May to June. Aside from cherries, you can also find strawberries, peaches, pears, plums, boysenberries, nectarines, and other fruits, nuts, and also some vegetables and herbs during these months and beyond.

Some farms offer only pre-picked fruits, while others give you an option of picking your own or buying from their pre-picked bounty.

Harvest Time is an association of over 40 farms in the Brentwood area, which includes Brentwood and the nearby towns of Byron, Oakley, and Knightsen. Harvest Time members offer over 640 acres of U-Pick fruits and vegetables, and an additional 200+ acres of “pre-picked” farms that sell their fruits, vegetables, and nursery at various stands throughout the Brentwood region. Some of the member-farms also participate in the Downtown Brentwood Farmers Market which runs on Saturday mornings from May to October.

Harvest Time maintains a website that lists information about the member farms, including their produce and addresses. They also produce an annual Harvest Time brochure that includes a map, a produce list, and other information about cherry-picking and the member farms. The brochure is free and quite helpful in finding your way around and discovering more of this wonderful area. You can get them from any one of the member-farm sites or from some local businessed. You can also request a copy by mail or download it through the Harvest Time Brentwood website.

I recommend that you call ahead and find out if the farm is still open for U-Pick, their hours, and what fruits are available that day. Hours and availability sometimes change without prior notice, so it is best to give them a call to make sure!

Come early. Some farms open as early as 8 in the morning, and some folks actually do come to pick cherries at 8 in the morning! Early morning is actually a great time to do it – the air is cool, you get the best parking spot, you’re one of the first to pick, and after a couple of hours or so in a couple or more farms, you can go have brunch at one of the city’s nice breakfast places.

But before you go please… check out the tips and information from the Harvest Time Brentwood website.

Oh, and please check out our Strawberry picking article and pictures here.

Have fun!