Quality, Delicious, Nutritious Fruit Products.
Paradise Farms
Our organically grown fruits are tree- ripened, hand picked and processed with care to insure the highest quality and best naturally flavored products on the market.
Contact info: 208-267-7392 paradisefarmsfruitproducts@gmail.com
Paradise Farms, 829 Red Cloud Road, Bonners Ferry, Idaho 83805
We believe education is key to making healthy choices.
Below is a synopsis of our growing and processing practices.
At Paradise Farms, we are committed to growing and making high quality, real food products.
Orchard Management: Pest Management:
Fruit used for the products listed as organically grown comes from an orchard and garden managed since 1980 without chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. All fruit trees, raspberries, and strawberries are monitored regularly for insects and disease and is promptly managed with only organically certifiable practices. Organically certifiable sulfur products and antibiotics are not used.
Pest management is mainly preventative with the use of tangle-foot trunk wraps, traps, hand removal, clean orchard and garden hygiene, and encouragement of predatory insects and Swallow bird population. This includes importing lady bugs, setting out bird houses and water for insect eating birds, and promoting an environment that encourages natural predator reproduction (ie: preying mantus, lace wings, and lady bugs). Bio- management with sticky traps and summer pruning is effective in keeping a favorable balance of the predatory insect and bird ratio to damaging insects, and occasionally the use of certifiable sprays (ie: soap, oil based, BT). Spinosad spray may occasionally be used in the management of the cherry fruit fly.
Soil and Weed Management:
Mulch is used around each tree under the drip line for weed control and is removed in the fall. New mulch is applied in spring. This helps to control weeds and maintain tree root environment homeostasis. Our sandy soil is regularly monitored for moisture content, and nutrient and PH balance, and natural fertilizers such as manure, wood ash, compost, and certifiable micro-nutrients are added as necessary.
A cover crop of clover and perennial rye is planted outside the drip line with hand and mechanical cultivation, mowing and regular monitoring to reduce weeds as well as to control unwanted insects and rodents. Mulch and leaves removed annually from around trees are disbursed as mulch outside of the drip line and is cultivated into the soil when and wherever it's necessary to control unwanted weeds.
Water Management:
Under each tree and on garden rows, an area extending to the drip line is watered, fed, and mulched individually. This area is rich with feeder roots, where much of the microbial activity takes place that is vital for nutritional uptake and the health of the tree. Mulching evenly regulates the moisture content, which is monitored weekly. The watering schedule for the orchard is about 100 gallons each tree, 1-3 times per year (depending on the need) with water supplied by Cabinet Mountain Water System. The garden is watered weekly.
Land Practices:
The orchard is surrounded on 3 sides by a forest which protect the trees and the soil from wind. Swallow bird houses are placed on the fence, and food and water is constantly available for insect and seed eating birds. The orchard and garden is enclosed with an 8' fence which prevents large wildlife damage.
Facility information:
The processing facility is located next to, and on the same property as, the one acre organically managed orchard and the garden where the fruit that is processed is grown. It includes a certified kitchen, a fruit sorting area, an area for an industrial cherry pitter, freezers and storage areas. All food processing areas meet Idaho and Federal Food Safety Codes and the facility has been approved and licensed for food processing since 2010.
Product Processing:
Only high quality fruit and ingredients are used in the processed products. The tree or vine ripened fruit grown here at Paradise Farms is handled carefully and is processed as immediately after harvest as appropriate. The products are dehydrated using the lowest heat possible and are refrigerated or frozen directly after processing to maintain freshness and nutritional value. The fruit used for the products listed as organically grown are sweet cherries including Bing, Rainier, Royal Anne, and Lambert, Pie cherries, a variety of summer and winter pears, apples and plums, raspberries and strawberries. Most of our products are sugar free, and all are gluten and preservative free. In addition to the organic sour cherry products, non-organic, frozen pie cherries purchased in central Washington, Dole pineapple juice and non-GMO cane sugar are used to make some of the processed products. These are the only non-organic ingredients we use and they are listed as non-organic in each product description.
No chemicals are used when growing our fresh fruits nor added to any of our fruit products. All dried fruit products are made from organically grown fresh fruit unless otherwise specified in the individual product ingredient list. We do not use any type of previously dried or reconstituted fruits. Our products are 100% natural and are safe, nutritious snacks and original, quality gifts. Because we are a small orchard some of our products are limited and are only available while we have them in stock.
Community Education program:
Paradise Farms opens the orchard to those who are interested in growing orchard fruit. We invite our patrons to visit us and learn organic growing techniques. For more information about this you can call 208-267-7392.
We want your feed-back:
We encourage you to share your ideas which we value in contributing to the growth of our business thus far and with the expansion of new customer services and new products in the future.