Snow’s Citrus Court is PlacerGROWN’s farm family of the year

I enjoyed PlacerGROWN’s food and farm conference this past weekend, meeting with all the growers as well as attending and speaking at the workshops.

We learned that the Snow family of “Snow’s Citrus Court” was the 2011 Farm Family of the Year.

Here’s their story:

“A little luck and a lot of hard work sums up the Snow family story. It all began in 1974, when Larry and Ralene Snow purchased a home on 2 1/2 acres in Newcastle.

“The ‘luck,’ from Chinese friends, Ralene and Larry knew that mandarin oranges were associated with luck and had purchased mandarins from local growers to give to their friends during Chinese New Year.

“The Pilzs, Strubles, Russells, Aguilars and a few other families had been growing mandarins and other citrus in the county for some time. (Larry and Ralene) purchased their first few trees from Angelo’s Nursery in Penryn, and after several years of repeatedly visiting Fowler’s Nursery were finally able to purchase 100 mandarin trees from Fowler’s.

“It is abundantly clear that the Snows appreciate being part of a thriving agricultural community. ‘We get much more than we give,’ says Ralene Snow.