The Friend Thacher Family
Our family has been growing citrus in the Ojai Valley for over 100 years!
Throughout this time our operation has gone through a lot of changes, expansions and cuts as well as changes in the fruit we grow and how we sell it.
We currently attend four farmers’ markets in Southern California year-round as well as selling directly from our packinghouse and through our on-line mail order. We also sell our tangerines to wholesalers throughout California.
Our goal is to grow, pack and sell the best fruit we can that you, the consumer, demand. We hope you find our fruit as delicious as we do! As the customer, you ultimately decide what we grow and sell. We always appreciate your input.
We truly are a small family farm, operated by 4 family members, 4 employees, as well as the input of the our new fifth generation of tangerine eaters (Matthew, Andrew, Mariana, Oliver and Celeste)! Feel free to peruse the links to the left to find out more about our farm and our family.
JANUARY 27th! SIGN UP FOR A SPRINGTIME ORCHARD TOUR
Winter citrus season is in full swing with Navel Oranges, Clementines, Lee tangerines, Tahoe Gold Tangerines, Bacon Avocados, Meyer Lemons and the remaining Valencias being harvested. We are also picking Lemons as well as making our fresh squeezed orange/tangerine juice and lemonaid. Next up are Blood oranges and another 6 varieties of tangerine before the Ojai Pixies ripen in March.
The sun is shining here in Ojai; providing nice heat units to our trees which translates to sugars in the growing tangerines! We think this will be an excellent “flavor year” for our fruit. Our daytime temperatures have been reaching into the 80′s (read it and weep for those of you in cold places: you can always visit Ojai and arrange to take an orchard tour to enjoy the sun & fruit). We do hope for rain though as it is costly to irrigate through the winter months……
Missed a holiday gift? Need to send a “thank-you”? Consider giving a healthy New Year’s treat by ordering our fresh Ojai fruits from our mail order site, or simply pick up a few extra bags of tangerines at the farmers’ market.
May you eat loads of great citrus this year!
The Friend Family
