Why You Need to Go On a Tanaka Farms Strawberry Tour + {GIVEAWAY}

Disclosure: We were hosted by Tanaka Farms with other media for a watermelon tour. All opinions are my own.
 

If were ever a kindergartner in the Irvine Unified School District, then you've 

probably been on one of the fun tours at Tanaka Farms. I love that the kids can

see how produce is grown, harvested and sold locally. It is a great source of 

fresh produce that is picked daily just down the road from me. We've been on a

Watermelon Tour at Tanaka Farms and so we jumped at the chance to go on a

Strawberry Tour with friends!

When you arrive at Tanaka Farms you head to the Farm Tour Check In desk

to check your party in and get your stickers! I put Grace's red sticker on her

back so that she wouldn't be able to pull it off and lose it - mom hack! 

You'll want to arrive at the farm 20-30 minutes before your tour begins to make

sure you have ample time to check-in and get ready for your tour to depart. They

leave on time, so if you're late, you'll get left behind! And you wouldn't want that

because then you'll miss out on all the red, ripe strawberries! 

The STRAWBERRY TOURS are offered daily at various times, 

depending on the day March through June. They last about and hour and 

they end with taking home a one pound basket of delicious strawberries!

You'll have a fabulous tour guide and a driver that will take you on guided

wagon ride around the 30 acre farm. I grew up in Iowa and I often miss 

 the wide open farm lands living here in Orange County. It's good for the

soul to just look out over the farm as the tractor bumps along and have a rural

experience that's hard to find when you're living a suburban life.

We enjoyed listening to tour guide tell us about the land, the different types of 

crops they grow, why they rotate crops, how they use the same products 

and natural methods as certified organic farms to keep the pests from eating all 

the delicious produce instead of harmful pesticides, and how they are growing

some of the strawberries hydroponically.

And I know that it's called a strawberry tour, but it's really about more than

that. Along the way you will stop and try some of the delicious FRESH 

produce they grow at Tanaka Farms. Our tour guide invited all the kids to join 

the "Try It All Club" and they all raised their right hands and took an oath to try 

it all! And they did! We tried bok choy, snap peas, carrots, lettuce, and celery.

Have you ever had celery that has been picked right out of the ground? 

It has so much flavor!! 

Your last stop will be the strawberry fields where you get to pick your own one

pound basket of the biggest, ripest, juiciest strawberries you have ever had. Oh,

my goodness! They were so good! You can eat while you pick and Grace took

full advantage of that. I had to help her pick her strawberries because she was

too busy eating to be bothered to put more than two or three in her basket.

After you've filled up your strawberry basket to the brim (the only rule is that the
lid has to be able to close), then it's time for the group to load back onto the
trailer and head back to the beginning. Be sure you hang on to your sticker
because it's good for $2 off a purchase of $10 or more at the farm stand. They
have so many yummy things - more fresh produce, chips, salsa, breads . . . I
guarantee you'll want to take something (or things) home with you.

The strawberry tours at Tanaka Farms should be on everyone's spring bucket
list. On the weekends the tours happen every half hour starting at 9:30AM
until 2:30PM and don't require a reservation. Tours on the weekdays only
happen three times a day and may require a reservation. Be sure to check
the Tanaka Farm Calendar of Tours to see what is happening the day you're
interested in attending. You can also call the farm for group rates and
reservations.

If you want to pick strawberries without going on a tour you might be able to to
do in the Strawberry Garden behind the Market Stand for $5/lb. These
strawberries are grown hydroponically (without soil! in coconut husks!) and are
not eat as you pick! If you want to do that, then you need to get in on one of
the tours.

{STRAWBERRY TOUR PRICE BREAKDOWN}

Adults and Children 3+ - $18

Children 2 and under - FREE

Group Rates 10+ children - $14/child, $7/adult

Group Rates 15+ combo children and adults - $14/each

Group reservations can be made by calling (949) 653-2100 ext. 204

{GIVEAWAY}
The rad Tanaka Farms has given me a family 4-pack for the strawberry tours!
This is a $72 value, but a priceless life memory value, so be sure to enter so
your kids can pick and eat their own strawberries. Yes, please!

Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summer Watermelon Tours at Tanaka Farms

Disclosure: We were hosted by Tanaka Farms with other media for a watermelon tour. All opinions are my own.
 

If were ever a kindergartner in the Irvine Unified School District, then you've 

probably been on one of the fun tours at Tanaka Farms. Even though I've had 2 

kids go on kindergarten field trips to Tanaka Farms, I had never been one of the 

tours. In fact, I am kicking myself that I don't take better advantage of having 

such a great source of fresh produce that is picked daily just down the road from 

me. I was really excited when Mary of Let's Play OC arranged a watermelon tour 

at Tanaka for other local media.

The kids were really excited to go for a wagon ride and take a tasting tour of the 

farm on our watermelon tour. The tours are offered daily at various times, 

depending on the day, during July and August. They last about 50 minutes and 

they end with taking home your very own watermelon. 

I really enjoyed the rural atmosphere at Tanaka Farms. As an Iowa farm girl I 

sometimes miss the wide open farm lands living here in Orange County. It was 

good for the soul to just look out over the farm as the tractor bumped along and 

my kids had an experience that they'd never had before. We had fun listening to 

our guide tell us about the land, the different types of crops they grow, why they 

rotate crops, and how they use the same products and natural methods as 

certified organic farms to keep the pests from eating all the delicious produce 

instead of harmful pesticides.

Along the way we stopped and tried some of the delicious produce they grow 

on the farm in addition to watermelon. Our tour guide invited all the kids to join 

the "Try It All Club" and they all raised their right hands and took an oath to try 

it all! And they did! Even my pickiest picky Isabella tried a bite of everything! It 

made my heart so happy! My favorite was the sweet corn that you could eat off 

of the cob raw! I think the kids liked the corn and the Bugs Bunny-esque 

carrots the best. They weren't too sure about the cilantro and the cherry 

tomatoes, but they each gave it a good college try.

Our last stop was the watermelon tent where we tried different varieties of
melon. It was so delicious! I can't remember that I watermelon with so much
flavor! And have you ever seen a yellow watermelon? It looked like a giant slice
of pineapple and it was my favorite. And you should have seen knife skills of our
tractor driver! He sliced and diced those melons like  nobody's business. I wish
I would have taken a video of how quickly and easily he carved up each melon.

No one left the tent wanting for melon - we were all stuffed! I enjoyed seeing the
kids try a few of the melon varieties for the first time. JT and Isabella liked the
seedless watermelon the best, but I think it was too close to call for Grace as she
devoured each of them with the same veracity.

After we were done stuffing ourselves with watermelon, then we got our very
own watermelons from the field! We didn't actually pick the watermelon. Our
tour guide handed us one that had been harvested that day. But we were out in
the middle of the field and we had to carry it back to the wagon, so I'm saying
that we picked our own watermelon.The kids were very happy and couldn't wait
to get home and have their own watermelon for lunch and to share it with daddy
who wasn't able to come.

So, don't follow my poor example and fail to take your kids on such an exciting 

and memorable adventure - especially if you live 10 minutes from Tanaka Farms 

like I do. The watermelon tours run through the end of August and if you come 

on the weekend, you don't need a reservation - they run every hour from 

9:30 am - 2:30 pm.  Check the Tanaka Farms website for weekday 

reservation instructions and weekend tour times. You can also call the farm for 

group rates and reservations.

The price for the watermelon tour is $18 for adults and children. Children 2 

years and under are free. The are also group rates available. After your tour, 

don't forget to take advantage of the $2 off a purchase of $10 or more in the 

Market Stand. There are all varieties of fruits and vegetables available for 

purchase as well as some other delicious fresh foods like breads, tortilla chips 

and salsa. They had the BBQ out and were roasting sweet corn when our tour 

finished up, so we decided to pick up a few to eat for lunch and we also took 

some fresh sweet corn on the cob home to use for the BBQ at Grandma's house 

that weekend. It didn't even last that long. The kids ate the raw sweet corn 

straight off of the cob before I could BBQ it the next day!

Are you a farm girl or a city girl?

Do you think your family would like an 

experience like this?