Shields Date Farm

On Friday, we visited Shields Date Farm in Indio, California. We didn't actually see the farm, though we did see some date palms, and we enjoyed their store, date shakes and video.

We drove by their retail store on our way from one stop (Home Depot) to another (an Asian food market), and decided to return -- Nancy (Josh's mom) had told us to try to the date shakes!

In front of the building...

Can't miss that!

Walkway to the cafe (we did not visit the cafe - maybe we'll make a return visit!)

The sign at the road that originally caught our attention.

When we saw the video, it became apparent that the date farms needed a "hook" to entice potential customers to visit and "Romance of the Date" was the one selected by Mr Shields. You can imagine that in 1951, this was a pretty risque step!

We each got a date shake!

Lots and lots...

... and lots and lots...

... and lots of date options!

If I understood the information in the video, dates do not grow with consistent character from seed, but rather they propagate from shoots from the original plant. I think the video also said that dates do not pollenate well in the "wild" -- they have quite a process to pollenate the female plants.

Entrance to the theater. I found the video on YouTube if you want to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSHPQWyxZds&feature=emb_logo

We would recommend a visit to Shields Date Farm if you're in the area!