Fresh Dates in Yucca Valley & the Morongo Basin — From the Farm Just Down the Hill

If you live in Yucca Valley, the dates on the grocery shelf took a strange trip to reach you: down to a packing house, out to a distributor warehouse, and back up the hill weeks later. Meanwhile the actual orchards are about half an hour down Highway 62. Our farm is in Sky Valley, at the bottom of the Morongo grade — on the north edge of the Coachella Valley, the valley that grows nearly all of America’s dates. For the high desert, we’re about as local as fruit gets.

Why we ship instead of selling at a farm stand

Fair question when you’re this close. We’re a small working orchard, not a storefront — there’s no farm stand, no tasting room, and we don’t host visitors. What we do instead is pack fruit straight from the cold room and hand it to USPS the same week you order. For the Morongo Basin that usually means your box arrives the next day, which is faster than fruit moves through any store’s supply chain. The price you see includes the shipping — nothing added at checkout.

What we grow

Jumbo Medjool — large, soft, caramel-sweet. The one most people mean when they say “dates.” In stock from $19, down to $9.83/lb by the 12 lb box.

Golden Zahidi — firm, nutty, about half as sweet. The baking and snacking date. In stock from $15.

Barhi — butterscotch-sweet and strictly seasonal. Between harvests now; the waitlist is here.

We harvest once a year, in the fall. What’s shipping now is this season’s crop, and when a size sells through, it’s gone until next harvest.

One ingredient, nothing added

Dates are whole raw fruit — ours leave the farm with nothing added, nothing coated, nothing sprayed on them. If you’re up here for the quiet and the clean air, this is food that matches: one ingredient, full stop.

Bulk for the high desert

Posted prices, same for everyone — cafes, health food stores, and neighbors splitting a case. Full bulk program here.

Nearby: we also ship next-day to San Bernardino and the Inland Empire and Palm Springs. Visiting the park? See our Joshua Tree page.

Written by Jason Shopshear, who grows Medjool, Zahidi and Barhi dates at Desert Sun Dates in Sky Valley, California — at the foot of the grade below the Morongo Basin. Questions? The farm phone is (760) 501-1845.