Ridge Island Grove in Haines City is no stranger to the struggles of farming.

Greening disease hit Florida in 2005, quickly spreading throughout the Peninsula. The disease kills the a plant’s roots, stopping the natural flow of nutrients. Florida Citrus reports that nearly 80% of orange trees in Florida are affected. 

“Greening disease definitely still affects us, but we still have some of the best fruits in the state,” said Ridge Island Grove agriculturalist, Savannah Reynosa. “A lot of these fruits you can’t get in the store.”

And the grove is turning oranges into delicious ice cream.

“We make that with our orange juice [and] twist it with vanilla,” he explained. “It’s kind of like that old Dreamsicle that you used to get when you were a kid,” Ridge Island Grove’s owner, Archie Richt, told Spectrum Bay News 9.

And Richt says people are lining up at 8 a.m. to buy the tasty treat.

Reynosa took Spectrum Bay News 9 for a ride around their 100-acre farm, showing off an array of fruits – and their beef cattle. Richt explained the pandemic has forced them to shift their focus a bit.

“We really started catering more to the beef when COVID hit,” he said. “But what people know us for is our Orange Dream homemade ice cream. 

The Ridge Island Grove has been in business since 1992. Richit says a large part of that success is owed to their tours, where they teach visitors the history of citrus in Florida.