California Rare Fruit Growers - San Diego Chapter upcoming events

Mark Lee: "Growing Rare or Unusual Fruits" in San Diego County (23 Sep 2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 01:00:00 GMT

Our September Meeting Speaker presentation starts: 7:00pm
Mark Lee - Chula Vista
"Growing Rare or Unusual Fruits" in San Diego County

Lifetime CRFG member Mark Lee was born in San Diego and grew up in Bay Park. At an early age he recalls fruit trees growing at his parent's house. His father taught him how to prune and manage some of those fruit trees, while his mother showed him how to prepare fruit preserves.
On Saturdays, Mark would also get to visit both his grand-parent's homes - one set living in Chula Vista and the other pair lived in City Heights. He would visit both homes, and helped take care of their yards and trees. After high school he attended Brigham Young University in Hawaii where he worked on a banana and papaya plantation.There, he obtained a degree in geography, and soon found employment with the SD County Agricultural Services, and later worked for the Environmental Health Department, where he was an inspector for organic farms and poultry. While working for the County he met Art and Dottie Logan in Vista, they introduced him to the CRFG. He continued to learn a lot about rare plants from Quang Ong and spent a lot of time helping Quang do things at his nursery in Linda Vista.
At his current home, Mark grows many varieties of rare fruits and spends his time teaching his grandchildren about plants - especially fruiting species. He has traveled to many countries in search of good waves for surfing and rare fruits, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, Singapore, and most of South America, He also lived in South Africa for two years. He now spends a lot of his time at home, taking care of the plants with his wife and also with his grandchildren when they visit. He likes to share his experiences with others about rare fruit, and visit different nurseries to learn about rare fruit trees, especially with Steve Spangler at Exotica and Quang Ong, both of whom have taught him more about horticulture.

Fruit Forest Work Day at Our Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (3 Oct 2026)

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Fruit Forest Work Day

Every 1st Saturday we meet out in Spring Valley and do work on our club nursery and fruit forest. Its an ever evolving project that not only gives us a living laboratory to propagate our plants but also makes the local community beautiful. If we have fruit on our trees its a great opportunity to taste some new, tasty cultivars! If you show up to help and would like some cuttings/budwood to take home please let us know and we will do our best to see if that is possible. Come on out, meet other plant nerds and give us a hand!

Location:

San Diego Youth Services Campus

3845 Spring Dr

Spring Valley, CA 91977

Schedule:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm Work together in the garden.

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

CRFG San Diego Board Meeting (5 Oct 2026)

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 01:00:00 GMT

CRFG San Diego Monthly Board Meeting

6:00-7:00PM via Zoom

Tentative Agenda:

Treasurer's Report
Events
Speakers
Misc

Zoom Information:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81385262218?pwd=Pn2bG4AgiXfIEdkcO54gyb1tKP27XJ.1
Meeting ID: 813 8526 2218
Passcode: 953590

Open Learning Day at Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (17 Oct 2026)

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 16:00:00 GMT

Open to the public! Everyone that shows up will get a raffle ticket for a free fruit tree!

Have any burning questions about growing fruits or vegetables? Ever wonder how people grow fruits like bananas, mangos, guavas and cherimoyas? Do you want to know about how to manage all of the critters that eat our plants and fruits? Well, our Open Learning Day at the Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest is the absolutely perfect place to answer those questions AND learn (hands-on) about all sorts of growing/propagation techniques.

If we have special topics or classes we will be facilitating we will update our event details and send out a club email!

The format of this day is as follows:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm People suggest several topics that they would like to learn and then people that are willing to teach those subjects break off into specific groups to begin!

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

Additionally, the San Diego Bounty Swap group will be trading all sorts of homemade and grown goods at the same location from 10:30am-11:45am.

CRFG San Diego Board Meeting (2 Nov 2026)

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 02:00:00 GMT

CRFG San Diego Monthly Board Meeting

6:00-7:00PM via Zoom

Tentative Agenda:

Treasurer's Report
Events
Speakers
Misc

Zoom Information:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81385262218?pwd=Pn2bG4AgiXfIEdkcO54gyb1tKP27XJ.1
Meeting ID: 813 8526 2218
Passcode: 953590

Fruit Forest Work Day at Our Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (7 Nov 2026)

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Fruit Forest Work Day

Location:

San Diego Youth Services Campus

3845 Spring Dr

Spring Valley, CA 91977

Schedule:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm Work together in the garden.

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

Open Learning Day at Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (21 Nov 2026)

Sat, 21 Nov 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Open to the public! Everyone that shows up will get a raffle ticket for a free fruit tree!

If we have special topics or classes we will be facilitating we will update our event details and send out a club email!

The format of this day is as follows:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm People suggest several topics that they would like to learn and then people that are willing to teach those subjects break off into specific groups to begin!

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

Additionally, the San Diego Bounty Swap group will be trading all sorts of homemade and grown goods at the same location from 10:30am-11:45am.

Fruit Forest Work Day at Our Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (5 Dec 2026)

Sat, 05 Dec 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Fruit Forest Work Day

Location:

San Diego Youth Services Campus

3845 Spring Dr

Spring Valley, CA 91977

Schedule:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm Work together in the garden.

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

CRFG San Diego Board Meeting (7 Dec 2026)

Tue, 08 Dec 2026 02:00:00 GMT

CRFG San Diego Monthly Board Meeting

6:00-7:00PM via Zoom

Tentative Agenda:

Treasurer's Report
Events
Speakers
Misc

Zoom Information:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81385262218?pwd=Pn2bG4AgiXfIEdkcO54gyb1tKP27XJ.1
Meeting ID: 813 8526 2218
Passcode: 953590

Open Learning Day at Spring Valley SDYS Fruit Forest (19 Dec 2026)

Sat, 19 Dec 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Open to the public! Everyone that shows up will get a raffle ticket for a free fruit tree!

If we have special topics or classes we will be facilitating we will update our event details and send out a club email!

The format of this day is as follows:

9:00am-10:00am Social Hour. Get to know one another and tour the garden.

10:00am-12:00pm People suggest several topics that they would like to learn and then people that are willing to teach those subjects break off into specific groups to begin!

Bring something to share from your garden (or kitchen) if you can!

Additionally, the San Diego Bounty Swap group will be trading all sorts of homemade and grown goods at the same location from 10:30am-11:45am.