Story

It all began in 1960 when JD Welty, a retired tunneler decided to plant some fruit trees on bare grazing land outside of the town of Oroville. With the help of family and friends, all the rocks were handpicked and removed from the barren 20-acre lot. After much searching, he settled on Owari Satsuma mandarins and painstakingly bud-grafted cuttings to trifoliate rootstock. This particular rootstock was bought and shipped from Japan for the purpose of providing weather and disease protection to the trees. JD then began to plant his dream orchard, adding a family home and the packing shed that still stands today.

By 1964, he had 1,000 trees and began planting an even larger orchard. Welty Mandarins are known as a local favorite with dedicated customers who come year after year to this Palermo famous, one-of-a-kind mandarin orchard located in California’s Sacramento Valley.

Heish Farming is honored to be the 4th owner of this historic farm after acquiring it in November 2021. We pledge to keep growing and selling the famous Welty Mandarins you have all come to love and enjoy. We have many future plans for the farm! We hope you will follow us on this new journey as we start our first year of harvest in 2022 from start to finish.