All our produce is grown as naturally as we know how.
Pumpkin Field Trips
You are invited to bring your class, day care or family to The Berry Ranch to pick their own pumpkin, beginning the end of Sept. We have a 1000 bale straw maze! The animals await your visit, not a petting zoo but regular farm animals in their year round home. Picnic tables in our grassy park can be moved into the greenhouse for inclement weather.
Berry PYO Field Trips
Berry field trips are held during the summer during PYO Berry season and are subject to crop availability. Stay current on that information and plan accordingly. We do not schedule these nor make reservations. If PYO berries are on, just come. There is a $6.00, incl tax, per person age 3 and up minimum to do Berry PYO. PYO is open 9:00am - 1:00pm. This is applied towards the price of the Berries YOU PICK.
Strawberry Festival
Held on Memorial Day, from 9 to 3, if there are Berries to pick! Activities include Pick a Pint of Strawberries with a hayride to the patch, visiting the sheep, lambs, cows, chickens and honeybees. There is no entry fee but the $6.00 Berry PYO minimum applies if you go to the field.
Raspberry Festival
Held on the 4th of July from 9 to 3 if the Raspberries cooperate. Activities include a walk to the field; pick a cup of berries, or more, and the visit to a real year round ranch. There is no entry fee but the $6.00 Berry PYO applies if you go to the field.
Still working on this one. Thinking about “A day on the Ranch” but could use some input. Comment on our blog, we’ll get to it eventually!
The Berry Ranch is our family operated ranch in the high mountain, irrigated desert of the Treasure Valley in southwest Idaho. Located just north of Nampa, between Boise and Caldwell on the Oregon Trail, we raise an assortment of small fruits, vegetables, and livestock.
We've converted the old dairy barn into a retail store where you can purchase the seasonally available produce, or just catch the nostalgia of an era of self sufficiency, neighborliness, and a robust country life freshness.
Wander the livestock corrals, go back in time with the antique farm machinery, or bring your lunch to the picnic area.
At The Berry Ranch you can become friends with a wide range of animals. Sheep with lambs, the Black Angus cows, variety of chickens, turkeys & the bees living in our glass beehive are eager to meet you! These are our animals that will be here for you to come see beginning in the spring and summer!
The Chickens
We have added several new varieties this year. We already had the Dark Rhode Island Reds, which are old time, well-known American Breed. We now have New Hampshire Reds, which are lighter in color and popular breed for efficient production of large brown eggs. Black Australorps are all black with a green sheen which is beautiful in sunlight. They are also known to produce large brown eggs even in hot weather. The Golden Lakenvelders are strikingly beautiful variety because of their unique color pattern. They have black heads, necks, and tails the rest is a buff color. Silver Lakenvelders have black heads, necks and tails which the remainder of plumage is white. Next we have the Silver Laced Wyandotte which have a striking color pattern and docile nature is characteristics that make this variety popular. The Barred Plymouth Rock breed is one of American’s oldest and most popular breeds. They are excellent dual purpose breed that is known for production of large brown eggs and meat. Then comes Janet’s favorite the Ameraucanas, known as the “Easter Egg Breed”. They have beards, muffs and a normal tail with a tail head which gives them a bunny tail appearance. Ameraucanas are excellent producers of large multicolored eggs, including blue and green.
The Sheep
Rambouillet ewes and the ram live at The Berry Ranch year round! There will be newborn lambs in the spring. They love eating pellets from our feeder or out of your hand.
The Cows
The calves are usually born late August. They don't eat out of your hand & don't care to be handled, but they are fun to watch.
The Bees
Honeybees are helpful to the farmer because they help pollinate the crops. In our store-in-a-barn, you can watch the honeybees at work in a glass beehive. The bees in this glass beehive can - and will - go out into the fields and pollinate. They are a normal beehive, except for the fact that their home is made of glass. This lets you watch them!
The Turkeys
Bourbon Reds might be considered an American Classic. They are beautiful, and make an excellent table bird. They date back to the late 1800’s. They are, still today, the most popular variety of heritage turkey, making up 33% of the heritage turkeys being bred and raised in the United States.
The Black Spanish Turkey is one of the oldest breeds, and for at least two centuries breeders selected for quality of meat. Temperament: Black Turkeys are known for their calm disposition. Blacks were raised in Europe for almost 200 years before the colonists who settled North America began crossing the ocean.