Kitchel Family Organics

We have a small, family-owned, organic farm on 8 acres in Los Molinos, CA, 28 miles north of Chico and 12 miles south of Red Bluff. My husband John, who received his bachelor's degree in Horticulture over 30 years ago from CA State University Chico, owns Lassen Landscapes, a landscape design and installation business. He (the "green thumb" in the family) planted over 250 fruit and nut trees and hundreds of ornamentals. (Also, there were existing trees of quite a few varieties when we purchased our home/property.) We also have a large summer garden, a smaller winter garden, a little vineyard, various berry bushes and a large strawberry patch. Our farm is a very small - solely family - operation: John does most of the planting and farm maintenance on weekends; I weed, pick, process, market, and deliver.

We started organic gardening in 2003 and became Registered Organic (reg. # 52-003206) in 2008 through the State of California Agricultural Commission's Organic Program. We've NEVER used ANY pesticides on any of our crops (all GMO-free, too, of course). We compost and occasionally use diatamaceous earth, Neem Oil, Earth Juice products or mineral sprays such as copper.

We grow a wide variety of ORGANIC produce, including quite a few HEIRLOOM items: ORGANIC WALNUTS (Eureka, Chandler, Franquette, Mayette - all ambient air dried), peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, apricots, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, figs, Asian pears, grapes, strawberries, apples, kiwi, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, loquat, pomegranates, persimmons, mandarins, lemons and other citrus, heirloom pecans, pistachios, almonds, tomatoes, peas, peppers, squash, sunflowers, baby greens, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, lettuces, swiss chard, carrots, asparagus, okra, potatoes, turnips, onions, garlic, basil, and eggplant.

We HAND PROCESS all our produce 100%, including our nuts, using NO pesticides, herbicides, or chemicals! We ambient air dry our nuts, which are later hand shelled. Hand processing is much more labor intensive and far less profitable than commercially grown walnuts but these are definitely worth all the effort! We pay our Nut Shellers fair wages.

We also SUN-DRY our organic fruit (without sulfur or any additives), primarily peaches, nectarines, plums, figs, apricots, and tomatoes.

We sell directly from the farm to the public through our CSA here (no commitment, no fees), late June through late December on WEDNESDAYS (5-7 pm) and SATURDAYS (8-10 am) and by APPOINTMENT. You can also find our produce seasonally at Chico Natural Foods, Country Organics in Redding, and occasionally S&S Organic Produce in Chico.

We SHIP our exceptionally scrumptious, unique ORGANIC HEIRLOOM WALNUTS, PECANS and SUN-DRIED FRUIT. We sell out quickly, however.