Meet Your Finger Lime Farmer: Megan Shanley Warren

“Farming is scary. Farming is beautiful. You get your crop and you get to enjoy it and see other people enjoy it. And farming is extremely unpredictable.” 

Scary, beautiful, and unpredictable—that’s how Megan Shanley Warren describes her life in three words. 

Megan started farming California finger limes, avocados, passion fruit, and more specialty crops with her father, Jim Shanley, in 2011. Then, in 2022, Jim passed away, leaving Megan, her husband Justin Warren, and their three young sons to run Shanley Farms alone. 

“Justin became a farmer overnight,” Megan told The FruitGuys. “He rolled up his sleeves and started getting after it, fixing broken pipes, clearing mudslides, and repairing wells almost the next day.” 

Justin used to work in real estate. He’s still adjusting to the slow pace and instability of farming, but he’s invested in growing beautiful fruit to leave a legacy for Megan and their boys. 

“I want proof for Megan that she and her dad were on the right path and this can really be something big in the future,” he told The FruitGuys. 

By “this” Justin meant finger limes: a unique Australian fruit Jim helped bring to the US market. 

Shanley Farms: America’s First Finger Lime Farm

Finger limes are a small, jalapeño-shaped citrus native to Australia. Their skin ranges in color from bright lime green to deep purple-brown. But their real magic is on the inside. Pop one open, and you’ll see a cache of tiny, juicy pearls that are sometimes called citrus caviar. 

“[The flavor] is a lemony-limey-grapefruity burst, but you don’t get that until your teeth crush a pearl,” Justin explained.

Jim Shanley fell in love with finger limes at a citrus exhibition hosted by the University of California Riverside in 2011. He was farming avocados in Morro Bay, California, and had just purchased a second piece of land in Visalia to plant oranges, lemons, and kiwis. After tasting his first finger lime, he decided to put in finger lime trees, too. 

That decision turned Shanley Farms into the first commercial finger lime grower in the United States. Because its two properties have different climates, Megan and Justin can harvest finger limes from June through December. 

“We have about 10,000 finger lime trees planted. We’re the largest grower in the nation and potentially in the world. Her dad just loved this fruit and planted a ton of these things. We have a Red Pearl variety, Green Pearl, Champagne—basically an oversupply of what we can sell,” Justin said. 

Breaking into the US market has been a challenge. Most people have still never tried a finger lime. But the fruit is gaining traction, especially with foodies (for a while, Shanley Farms sold jarred finger lime pearls at Whole Foods) and with kids who love their sweet-tart taste. 

In 2023, Shanley Farms partnered with The FruitGuys to sell more of its finger limes nationwide. We tuck them into our fresh fruit delivery boxes for offices and sell them to schools through our Farm-to-School Program. 

How to Eat Finger Limes

Finger limes are tough to harvest (the trees are covered in so many thorns that workers have to wear leather gloves and masks) but they’re easy to snack on. Just snap the fruit in half and suck out the pearls inside. 

“Finger limes are really a combination of tartness and sweetness,” Megan said. “… You squeeze out the pearls, then crunch on them, and that’s where you get this pop of citrus flavor in your mouth. Some people think, ‘Wow, that’s really sour’ and some people say they’re almost sweet. They’re definitely really bright.”

If you find the fruit a little too tart, try incorporating it into a meal or snack. 

“The kids sprinkle it on tacos and on top of other fruit—watermelon and papaya are some of our favorites,” Megan said. 

Sushi and oysters also taste great with finger lime pearls heaped on top. Or, you can freeze the pearls and eat them by the spoonful like a sweet-tart sorbet. 

Are Finger Limes a Secret Superfood? 

Finger limes are packed with immune system-boosting vitamins C and E. But they may have other unique health benefits, too. 

“Recently we’ve had Cal Poly [California Polytechnic State University] here to do some research on some of the oils and other organic compounds within the fruit, and there are some very interesting organic compounds that aren’t really found in anything,” Justin said. “This plant is in its own genus. It was found growing wild in Australia, and the aboriginal people used it as an antiseptic and food.”

Finger limes have anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. Megan and Justin have also seen them help with nausea—perhaps because of their signature sour flavor.  

“We have a lot of friends that have been pregnant. They get nauseated and it just zaps it right out, it’s gone,” Justin said. 

“They’re calling me their entire pregnancy asking for more finger limes because it’s the only thing helping with their nausea,” Megan added. 

Help Support & Save Shanley Farms

Megan and Justin are passionate about their fruit, but there’s a reason the words “scary” and “unpredictable” made Megan’s list. Sometimes, they said, farming without Jim feels like an uphill battle with weather, pests, low-priced imports, and regulations all working against them. 

If the weather gets too cold, edema can strike their citrus—making it swell, burst, and go moldy. And one day, Megan opened the mail to find an unexpected $30,000 bill. The future of the farm is precarious. 

“We said, ‘We’ll give it our best, and if that can’t make it happen, then we’re going to have to go a different direction.’ But we, mostly Justin, saw how much my dad and I put into this and he said, ‘We’re not going to let it go just yet, let’s give it our shot and see what we can make happen,’” Megan said. “…We wouldn’t ever want to hand [our sons] a farm they were struggling to keep alive. Our biggest goal is to turn this into something we can pass on.”

You can help support the farm by purchasing Megan and Justin’s fruit—including their trademarked Citriburst finger limes, rich and oily Morro Bay Avocados®, and snack-sized Gator Egg avocados—through The FruitGuys and other retailers that support small farms. The farm’s finger limes are in season from June through December, and its avocados peak in September, October, and November.