S & J Mandarin Grove was started in April 2001 by Steve and June Bourn on five acres of the quiet Newcastle countryside in Placer County, California. Placer County is known for its quality produce. The warm days, cool nights, and decomposed granite soil make it an excellent location to grow sweet, seedless, Owari Satsuma mandarin oranges. Today we have 270 Owari Satsuma mandarin trees and take pride in our top quality mandarin oranges. Each mandarin orange is hand-picked, inspected and cleaned, and only the very best will be sold to our loyal customers.
When we decided to use the land we built our family home on, the idea of farming Satsuma mandarin oranges was the perfect solution. The decision to grow organic mandarins is important to us, not only for the health and well being of our family, but every living creature around us. A portion of our property is devoted to preserving wildlife. We are very fortunate to have wild Canadian geese and several varieties of ducks that make our property their home to live and breed. They live on our large pond and graze all year on our cover crop of pasture grass.
Steve planted all of our mandarin orange trees one-by-one with help from our two sons, Brian and David. After six years the mandarin trees are doing great and (with lots of mowing) Steve keeps the citrus grove looking like a beautiful park. June works on marketing strategies to promote sales and business opportunities.
It truly is a family affair! Our son Brian helps out whenever we need another set of hands and our daughter-in-law, Jennifer takes care of our graphic design and Web site through her graphic design company, Bourn Creative. Brian, Jennifer and our grandchildren Natalie and Carter help us at the Mountain Mandarin Festival each year and the kids love to play in the mandarin grove, going for tractor and ATV rides with grandpa.
We believe in supporting local agriculture and preserving
land and wildlife for generations to come. We are proud members of:
• California Certified Organic Farmers
• Placer County Farm Bureau
• PlacerGROWN
• Placer Land Trust |
