so we all know that california is king when it comes to growing citrus. and when it comes to growing lemons, no one is bigger than this ventura county farm. and with over 7,000 acres of lush lemon trees, limoneira isn t just the biggest lemon grower in california, but in all of north america. based in santa paula, the farm is a testament to what hard work and determination can do. founding fathers nathan blanchard and wallace hardison first bought the land way back in 1893 and named the ranch limoneira, which means lemon lands in portuguese. and at the time, they wanted to bring about the first full-scale commercial operation citrus ranch in the u.s. and from there, we added, throughout the years, over the last 115-16 years, 3 other families have come into the fold, and that s where we ve grown today to be our 7,000 acres that we are in california. once called the home of the lemon, it actually took 15 years before those first farmers even turned a profit at the limon