Friends of the Farm

Valencia oranges, grapefruit, lemons. These can stay on the trees throughout the summer & fall as long as homeowners let us.

If this is of interest to you, we are building a partner network of registered home canners to produce high quality preserves like orange marmalade, to make the most of the abundance of citrus we have access to here in the valley!

We train our pickers to sanitize tools between jobs, or anytime they come into contact with potentially diseased fruit. They are trained to observe personal cleanliness and hygienic practices like clipping their fingernails, washing their hands, covering up wounds, and calling out sick if exhibiting symptoms of a transmissible illness.

During the pick, we separate out any fruit that has been opened or is generally questionable, and compost those with our partner Green Thumbs Recycling.

We transport the fruit to an approved commissary closest to the final delivery location, or work directly with the food bank, etc. to use their facilities and wash the fruit directly on-site!

At this time, we do a second quality check to catch any open fruit that may have slipped past us in the first control.

Anyone preparing foods such as preserves is required to possess a food handlers card & Cottage Food registration number from the Arizona Department of Health Services. We also conduct our own independent inspection of each home kitchen.

We are in the process of obtaining our county permit to operate at farmers markets, and will have this available by May 9th at the latest.