My husband and I have always had a lot in common. How ironic is it that we both owned Toyota 4 Runners, attended the same church (at different times in our lives), dreamed of living in another country, and enjoy musical theater? My husband and I are also very different. He grew up in the rural Southeast and I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He prefers meat and potatoes and I’m nearly a Vegetarian. He likes to spend his days off relaxing with the kids at home. I like to take them on exciting adventures to places like Tanaka Farms.
Over the weekend, Tanaka Farms invited several OC Family Magazine bloggers and their families out for a preview of their Summer Cookout Tours. Tanaka Farms, which is ironically located in Irvine, allows families like ours, the opportunity to get an insider’s look on the happenings of a working farm. Throughout the year, they host seasonal activities including their U-Pick Pumpkin Patch, Strawberry and Watermelon Tours, and their new Summer Cookout Tours.
When I told my son we were going to ride on a tractor and visit a farm, he was elated, but had different ideas of what visiting a farm meant (mainly the fact that there were no animals on this farm). After a short ride into the middle of nowhere the farm, we were dropped off to begin our tour. Our guide explained a bit about their farm and the produce (which was actually more interesting than I thought it would be) and off we went to picking our veggies. Much of the produce on their farm is organic, which means (among other things) we were able to eat the veggies we picked without washing them. I was amazed at how vibrant and delicious their veggies looked (although I still won’t eat broccoli and cauliflower, no matter how organic they are). My son took the guide literally when she said try everything because you can spit it out right onto the ground if you don’t like it. Need I say more?
After a short hike up the mountain hill, we arrived safely at the cookout area. So what’s next? Don your chef’s hat, cook up those veggies with a little tofu and voila…lunch. It’s actually more like a snack after that hike, but tasty nonetheless. Round out the day with the juiciest strawberries ever, hand-picked by yours truly.
My son had a blast. He didn’t want to leave, particularly since we didn’t take the tractor ride back (parentfail!). Now…to convince hubby to go back out for another visit…
Now through August 29th, Tanaka Farms offers their Summer Cookout Tours. The tours are approximately 2 hours long and can be booked through their site.
No compensation was received for this post. We were invited by Tanaka Farms to visit and experience their Summer Cookout Tours.
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How fun! I would have missed the animals too! Sometimes places like that have small petting zoos there. Too bad they didn’t!
We would have loved to see animals….my son just assumes “farm” means animals….you know? : )
Caryn, I would’ve loved to have met you on the tour. I’m still getting to know the Mom Bloggers. I loved the tour and those veggies filled me up!
Terry…were you there and I totally missed meeting you? ACK! Next time for sure…yes???