Our farm is truly family owned, 2 parents (Anne and Tony Thacher) and 2 kids (George and Emily) own the ranch and make decisions about how to run the business. Tony and Anne live on the farm with Buena (their dog) and Brokaw (the cat). Emily also lives on the ranch with her husband Tony Ayala (yes, there are 2 Tonys) and their young kids Oliver and Celeste and dogs Tico and Blue. George lives with his wife Marcia and 3 kids, Matthew, Andrew and Mariana, in Hollister where he works for a vegetable seed company.

Tony Thacher and Emily run day-to-day operations, while Anne helps with bookkeeping and fills in at the packinghouse when needed. George, Marcia and the kids visit often and add advice and input. All the grandkids do what kids do best, they eat lots of fruit and play in the orchard!

We are very lucky to have wonderful long-time employees, without whom we would not be able to run the ranch. Felipe Estrada and Reyes Estrada, from Colima, Mexico have worked for Friend's for over 25 years and are family to us. They know the ins and outs of the farm and are fully capable of running the show. Their nephew, Lupe Estrada, has also been with us for a long time and is our best tractor driver and is in charge of much of the day to day ranch operation. Other members of the Estrada family have also worked with us; Lupe's son Omar Estrada helps at farmers' markets and his wife Angela helps make our juice and usually accompanies Tony to the Hollywood market on Sunday mornings. Without the Estrada family we would not be able to get all the work done!

We also include within our family all of the longtime buyers of our produce both at farmers' markets and wholesale markets. We wouldn't be growing great fruit without the people that buy it!