Pilz Produce at Hillcrest

One of Placer County’s Oldest Mandarin Orchards and Farms

Ed Pilz began farming in Placer County in the early 1900s. He farmed many places in the area, his favorite being Hillcrest. In the early 1950s, Ed officially made Hillcrest his home when he built a house on the hillside overlooking the Loomis Basin.

Ed planted many varies of fruit trees in his orchard at Hillcrest. In the late 1950s he settled on mandarin trees. The little Placer County town of Penryn has the perfect climate for growing citrus, so Ed planted hundreds of Owari Satsuma mandarin trees on the sunny, southern slope of his hill.

When the mandarin trees grew and started to produce enough citrus to sell, he joined with a couple of his local farmer friends and purchased a sizing machine to sort the citrus, then began selling it to friends and neighbors.

Ed farmed the property for many years. When he was old enough, his grandson Steve helped him on the farm. Steve loved working side-by-side with his grandfather in the orchard. When Ed decided it was time to retire, Steve took over the day-to-day operations at Hillcrest.

In 2002 Steve’s wife Lisa joined him on the farm, growing flowers and adding more produce. Each year new varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers are added, and now the farm has crops almost year-round.

Steve and Lisa Pilz are committed to honoring their hard-working families and the effort that has been put into their land to grow the ranch to what it is today, and promise to preserve this space for their family to live and grow on in the future.

The Pilz are equally committed to bringing you the highest quality produce around. True to their roots, they hand pick all of their produce to be sure its completely ripe and ready for your family. As the Pilz say, “it goes from our hands to yours.”