Tanaka Farms

About three years ago my mom read "Blueberries for Sal" to Kaeley. Ever since that book Kaeley has dreamed about picking her own berries.

Yesterday her dream came true. We joined a whole group of people we don't know for a field trip to Tanaka Farms. My mom joined us. What fun we had!

The tour was about an hour. We all loaded onto a tractor ride through the farm grounds. The guide would give us information on the local crops and what not and ever so often the tractor would stop, the driver would jump out, and pick up the produce that was soaking in buckets of cold water. We got to try fresh cilantro, celery, bak choy, carrots (delicious!), and lettuce.

When we got to pick our baskets of strawberries Kaeley went by herself through the rows, my mom went with Nathan, and I followed Alynna. That little girl can move! I had no idea she would have been so motivated by strawberries! She picked and ate and picked and picked and ate. She picked strawberries until she couldn't hold any more squished strawberries in her hands. Then she'd get upset that she couldn't pick any more strawberries! But she wouldn't eat the strawberries unless she herself picked them. Yes, we had a little bit of a disconnect in her very excited little brain.

After the picking, we finished our tour, and that was it. There wasn't anything besides their super overpriced produce market. We ended up going back to the car for our picnic lunches. Now we were parked in a dirt field lined with bushes. We laid out our picnic blanket in the corner of the bushes and ate our lunches. The kids quickly discovered the bushes were filled with ladybug larvae. They collected about a dozen pupas waiting to be hatched and larva before I cut them off. The cute little babies are in our net habitat. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get lucky.

The fresh produce really inspired Kaeley and me, but the prices at the farm were ridiculous. Instead we drove back to our home town and visited the little produce market we support. For dinner Kaeley and I made Potato Leek Soup, savory monkey bread, and salad. For dessert, of course, freshly picked strawberries.