Sam Cobb Date Farms_medjool dates_black gold dates

Welcome to Sam Cobb Farms We Grow Good Dates!

WE GROW 7 VARIETIES OF DATES

Dates and Tours. At Sam Cobb Farms we grow and sell fresh medjool dates and six other varieties of dates. We also offer guided educational farm tours. ($42 per adult)

Established in 2002, we are a family farm with ranches in central and eastern Riverside County (Desert Hot Springs and Blythe). Our primary emphasis is getting our world-class great tasting dates into the hands of people who will enjoy them most, and sharing Sam's love of agriculture and farming with each or our tour guest!

We package our dates to be convenient, easy to eat, easy store and easy to share. Our dates make an impressive and memorable gift...for friends, associates, loved ones

and...YOURSELF!

Good dates will always impress people so we work hard to grow good dates.

Growing Good Dates is both

Our Mission and Our Goal...year after year.

DATE FARM: On-Farm Retail Date Sales Saturdays & Sundays: From 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM and other times by arrangement. We are open to the public six month of the year, from a weekend in Mid-October to a weekend in Mid-April. In the off season, call the farm for fruit availability or visit us here online. See our location on the map below. We are located north of Palm Desert, CA and east of Desert Hot Springs, CA in the community of Sky Valley. Phone ahead if coming from out of the area to be certain that we are open or available.

PROFILE: BY SALLY HEDBERG

A PASSION FOR DATES

Sam Cobb’s ‘Black Gold’

After following the marked signs along Dillon Road to Sam Cobb Farms in Sky Valley, I not only discovered the freshest and most delicious dates, but I became fascinated with Sam Cobb’s passion for and knowledge of date farming.

“I was three years old when I saw my first tractor from my parent’s porch in Fresno, CA. From that moment on, I wanted to be a farmer. My favorite TV show has always been “Green Acres,” recounts Sam.

He started by obtaining two Agricultural degrees at Fresno State University in the 1980s. During this time, he met and fell in love with Maxine. He only had one prerequisite for marriage. “Would she be willing to be a farmer’s wife?” Her answer was yes, and they began farming vegetables in Fresno.

Times were tough for farmers then, so when he was offered a job in 1989 with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, he took it. By 1996 he moved his family to La Quinta. Through his job in Soil Conservation, Cobb visited many date farms and started doing research on the process of cultivating dates.

Ten years ago, the opportunity came to buy five acres of land in Sky Valley. Sam and Maxine decided to invest in their own date farm by planting date trees. They realized the process would take years, and that they would both still need to continue in their day jobs. Maxine is a fifth grade teacher at LB Johnson Elementary School in Indio.

Sam’s education, research, years of experience, business skills, and careful long term planning made his dream possible. Ten years later, the Cobbs are realizing their first truly exceptional crop of dates. As Sam walked me through the 300 trees, consisting of seven different varieties, he spoke passionately about his dates.

Here’s what I learned: Date trees grow from suckers and seeds. There are female trees which must be pollinated by the male trees. Sam’s farm has a ratio of 30 females to 1 male. If a sucker is planted then he knows for sure what variety of dates will be produced. It’s like cloning. If grown from a seed, no one is sure who’s the daddy and therefore one can’t be sure what variety will be produced. The dates must be covered with bags while maturing to keep away the birds. Date trees take 15 years to mature but can live for more than 100 years. A healthy tree never stops producing. It’s a generational crop, and Cobb hopes his kids and their kids will continue the tradition of date farming.

I sampled each one of his seven varieties, three of which have Sam’s trademark. They are Black Gold, Safari and Candi. These aren’t available anywhere else in the world and have distinct flavors. Safari chews like a cookie and has a mild nutty taste. Candi has a caramel aspect, and Black Gold, Sam says, has two textures and at least three amazing flavors, caramel, chocolate, dark cherry, a hint of vanilla and maybe more. Sam quipped, “I don’t grow anything I don’t like.”

The farm starts harvesting the popular Medjool in September, and the rest, including the Barhi and Zahidi, are all picked by January. Dates can last for a long time depending on the care. All Cobb’s dates are fresh and grown pesticide free .

Maxine and Sam are at their stand on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., October through April. They will mail dates, too. For more information go to samcobbfarms.com or call (760) 861-1664. The farm is located at 22325 Henry Rd., Sky Valley, 92241. If using a GPS, put in Desert Hot Springs as the city. Make the trip and be in for a treat.

About Sam Cobb

You know, I have always wanted to be a farmer. Yes, always!

From the time that I was a child growing up in rural Fresno County, California... and on into adulthood. The dream never left me.

Growing up, farming was always a soft and pleasant recurring dream in my life. The dream would sweep me away and into dreamland whenever I would stop to think about it. It all seemed so real to me. I was in my happy place. I was a farmer. Tilling the soil, planting seeds, irrigating, harvesting and marketing. (Yes marketing. Hey, you have to sell what you grow, right?) In fact, I still dream those dreams quite regularly. Every farmer does.

I just knew that someday, I would be a farmer. There was no holding me back. I would do whatever it took to succeed. I was willing to pay the price.

The price required that I learn and become educated in agriculture. Learn its ways, learn its language, learn its various industries, learn its history and learn its science.

So, upon my arrival at high school in the fall of 1976, I enrolled in my first agriculture classes at Washington Union High School and joined the Easton Fresno Chapter of the Future Farmers of America; FFA. An organization that I hold in high esteem to this very day.

After completing high school and excelling in my Agriculture classes, distinguishing myself as a Public Speaker, a member of the Parliamentary Procedure and Debate team, and becoming recognized as an outstanding Welder and Ag Mechanic in general. I applied for and received a Bank of America Agricultural Achievement Award. This Award paid my way through college.

I was a determined and focused student. I approached every agriculture class with purpose and determination. I always wanted to know: 'how will this class help me as I work to become a farmer'?

Now, after many false starts and a 30 year detour-career working for the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service,

(USDA-NRCS), I am finally living my dream! Living and leaving my mark on agriculture.

I am an American Farmer. An American Date Farmer. An African American Date Farmer. There are not many date farmers in the United States. And there are even less of them that are Black? At present, I believe I am the only Black Date Farmer in the whole USA: if you know of another or others, I would love to meet them.

From the age of about 3 or 4, I was drawn to whats commonly known as, "the dirt". I would later learn to use its scientific name...soil, as I continued to learn and grow.

Now, I have learned to love and appreciate the soil and the life sustaining plants that grow therein. Yes. In a way that gardeners, farmers, and ranchers truly learn to understand and feel.

I love talking to people about gardening and farming of any kind and farm life in general. For me, farming is farming... and I love farming! I love farming for what it is...a great way of life! And when you love what you do, it shows!

My Professional Title:

I am an Agronomist!

Few people have earned a degree in Agronomy. Probably because few people enjoy soil and plant science and farming in general, as much as I do.

It's always nice to meet a fellow agronomist.

My educational background is:

Agricultural Education

Plant Science,

Agronomy

Ag Mechanics

Ag Engineering

Ag Economics.

Sincerely,

Sam Cobb,

Agronomist and

Expert Date Farmer

Guided Date Farm Tours

"Dates with a Farmer" Tours

$42.00 per Adult

We offer farm tours, lead by the farmer.

Book your Sam Cobb Farms date farm tour today and plan to spend an hour or so, with the real Sam Cobb...a treat in itself!

This is the only farmer-lead date farm tour in all of Southern California. You get the REAL Sam Cobb! A real farmer with real scientific agricultural knowledge. So if you have gardening, farming or agricultural question about how dates and plants are grown, you will get a real answer!

Join Sam on a walking tour among the palms, learning first-hand how dates are grown, their sustainability in desert environments and how new date varieties come about and are developed. Sample some dates right from a tree! Have your questions answered...for real!

There is no better farm tour guide than Sam Cobb. His passion for agriculture and farming comes out in every tour. You will learn some really interesting facts about dates and plants in general. And maybe even a little bit about the local weather?

Click on the "Book Tours and Deliveries" button above right and select a date to book your tour. You can also read more about our tours on that page.

We currently offer tours on Saturdays and Sundays (weather permitting), and other special times.

TOUR TIMES:

Saturdays & Sundays (online & walk-up guests)

11:00 AM

2:00 PM

Tour Price:

$42.00 Adults

Child age 5-12 kids, free w/Parent

Age 0-4 are free

Still have questions? Call the farm for more information.

Reviews/Comments

Nic wrote:

"Sam's 'Black Gold' dates really are unique and taste so good! They're a variety of date only available at Sam Cobb farms so you have to come here to get them and I highly recommend you do! Black Gold dates are by far my favorite and like nothing else we tried at other date farms while in the area. Sam and Maxine are some of the nicest people you will ever meet in life. Great tour of the farm and so much more interesting when its led by the actual man who started it all."

Ronald Wrote:

"Fantastic dates and we learned a lot from Sam Cobb himself on the tour. Great experience!!"

Eric Wrote:

"I highly encourage anyone with an interest in Dates to head out to the Palm Desert/Desert Hot Springs [area] and take a tour of the Sam Cobb date farm. Sam is the best of them and has a long lineage in agriculture and farming. He offers tours of the farm and you learn about how dates are grown."

Nicholas C. Wrote:

"Best dates I've ever had. Barhi are like natural caramel candies. Try his very own creation, Black Gold! We'll be back!"

Jason Wrote:

"Had such a great experience on our private tour of their date farm. Super friendly and knowledgeable family. Highly recommend if you want to learn more about dates and go home with something tasty. Also, love that it it's not touristy...let's secretly hope that it stays that way."

Carol B Wrote:

"If you are planning to go to the Palm Springs Area of CA be sure to Visit Sam Cobb at his Date Farm located in Desert Hot Springs. Sam is a bundle of happiness that can't be contained when he is showing you his beloved farm and telling you about his DELICIOUS dates. My husband and I and our campground neighbors took the tour that Sam himself gives and it was fantastic. Not only is Sam informative about all phases of raising his yummy dates but he is also entertaining. It was wonderful to see a man that is so very happy working and living his dream. You will be able to sample several varieties of dates and you can also buy them just like we did. Even folks who don't usually like dates went away that day with some of the varieties that Sam himself developed such as Black Gold. Absolutely DELICIOUS!! Be sure to include Sam Cobb's farm into your visit itinerary, you'll be glad you did."

Carol B.

Leland, NC