Pato’s Dream Date Gardens vs Desert Sun Dates: Two Small Family Farms, Honestly Compared

Pato’s Dream Date Gardens in Thermal is the kind of farm that makes people fall in love with the valley: small, organic and beautiful — several date varieties, other fruit trees, and a genuine working-family-farm atmosphere. This is the friendly end of our comparison series, because we’re a small family operation too, just at the other end of the valley and built around a different way of selling.

What Pato’s Dream does well

The visit, and the variety. A small organic farm with multiple varieties and fruit trees is a beautiful place to buy dates in person — the working-farm feel is the product.

We grow these. Golden Zahidi Dates — Nutty, Less Sweet, Never Sticky | California Farm-Direct from our family farm in Sky Valley, California — from $15/lb, shipping included. See them →

What farm-direct from us looks like

Our model is shipping the same intimacy: one family, one grove in Sky Valley, this season’s crop packed by the people who picked it and sent to the lower 48. Jumbo Medjool from $19, golden Zahidi from $15, bulk cases from $9.00/lb freight included. On growing practices: we’re not certified organic, and we say so plainly — no sprays, compost-built soil, and the certificate question answered honestly.

The honest verdict

Near Thermal? Visit Pato’s Dream — small farms deserve your gas money. Far away? We ship the small-farm experience in a box. The rest of the valley’s farms: the grower’s guide.

Written by Jason Shopshear of Desert Sun Dates, Sky Valley, California.