This weekend, we spent the morning at Tanaka Farms with friends Elisa, Logan, Karly, Olivia, Phi, Michael, Parker, Katie, Jenny, and Lily. When I explained to S and A we were visiting a farm, they immediately started chanting, “Animals! Animals!” the entire way there, which made me a wee bit nervous that they would be disappointed as this was solely a produce farm.
The samples (way better than Costco!) and row upon row of fresh veggies did not end up boring the girls– they loved it! We will definitely be shipping the girls off to work with their cousins on their farm in Washington during the summers when they are old enough– just like Jake did when he was younger. S and A are farm girls at heart!
The kids loved looking at all that yummy produce growing in the fields.
S and A liked to pick little snacks along the way.
Umm….I don’t think Amelia was supposed to pick that one.
Lily was such an awesome helper with the girls– can I hire you, please?
Sugar snap peas tasting.
How come the girls absolutely REFUSE to so much as nibble on a snap pea at home, but gobbled them up here?
Blue skies headed my way.
Here sister– try a carrot!
My little bunny.
The girls couldn’t get enough of the fresh carrot samples.
Reminiscing back to his days on the farm, Jake took great pride explaining to the girls what all the farm equipment was for.
And now for the main attraction– strawberry picking!
I’m sure the actual farmhands were wondering why in the world anyone would pay to pick their own strawberries.
We learned the correct way to pick strawberries like a pro– grasp the stem just above the berry with your forefinger and thumbnail; then, flick your wrist ever so slightly and pull with a twisting motion. It’s all about the wrist flick.
Look at the those big, juicy berries!
Samantha was in 7th heaven.
Let me stuff this in your face, mommy!
I’m ruined forever. These strawberries were absolutely divine– so much so that I had to freeze a huge box of strawberries I had just bought at Costco so that the fresh strawberries we picked at the farm wouldn’t go bad before we had a chance to eat them.
Nothing better than a morning of strawberry picking with my girls.
I’m thinking this could be a good fall back career option.
The girls probably ate 10 times more strawberries than they picked.
We started out with one box each for picking berries, and ended up adding on four more boxes– they were that good.
Nom nom.
To my horror, Samantha loved to pick the strawberries and then crush them in her hand, leaving a trail of crushed strawberries in her wake. Don’t let those good berries go to waste!
Amelia was so excited about picking the berries and placing them carefully in her little box.
Proud of her pickings.
Strawberry fields forever.
As all of us were waiting for the girls to exit the fields with their spoils, Michael commented that the girls looked like vampires– zombie vampires, that is!
Strawberry face.
I honestly thought the girls were going to explode from how many strawberries they gorged themselves on, but they were somehow still hungry for lunch after a morning of pigging out on farm-fresh samples.
What’s up, doc?
So glad we could spend a morning on the farm with these cuties: Logan, Parker, A, S, Lily, Jenny.
S and A were too focused on their corn eating to take notice of the camera.
When we left, all of us agreed we wished we lived right across the street from the farm so we could pick up fresh produce every day. Even Sprouts and Whole Foods won’t be the same for me anymore. We hope to come back to the farm soon!
Lots of love,
This post made me hungry! So cool!