Have you heard of the term Farm-to-table?  According to Wikipedia, “Farm-to-table (or farm-to-fork) refers to the stages of the production of food which includes harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sales and consumption.   Farm-to-table also refers to a movement concerned with producing food locally and delivering that food to local consumers.”

Do your children know where their food comes from?  In a desire to teach my own, I have taken my children to a couple of local farms to take a tour.  The purpose of a farm tour is to connect people with the farmers and land that grow their food.   During a tour, you get a behind-the-scenes look at how a variety of food is grown and meet farmers who grow crops and raise livestock.   In fact, the food your family eats may in fact come from one of Southern California’s family farms.

So take a peak at this list of local farms in our area and schedule a tour today!

Farm Tours in Riverside and San Bernardino

Amy’s Farms, Ontario

Amy’s Farm is a real working poly culture farm that provides hands-on, guided tours to students of all ages.  We went on a field trip to the farm in October 2013 and plan to write a blog post about it soon!  In the meantime, you should know that they offer elementary, middle and high school tours.

During an elementary school tour children get to:

• Take a walk through the garden and learn about fruits and vegetables.
• Harvest one item in the garden.
• View a mother cow and learn the “Story of Milk”
• Pet goats and sheep in the petting zoo.
• Feed the pigs vegetables picked from the garden.
• See chickens, roosters, turkeys, geese, and ducks.
• Milk a cow (this is super fun!)
• Pet and visit horses

Peltzer Farms, Temecula

Peltzer Farms offers group tours during the months of September and October.  Teachers can bring their classes out to see what thousands of children experience each year on the live farm.  A minimum of 20 people for a group tour.

The tour includes:

1. Corn Maze Visit.
2. Petting farm fun and educational visit.
3. Educational tour through our garden featuring  all kinds of pumpkins, gourds, sunflowers, specialty squash, fruits and vegetables.
4. Rare glimpse at our antique John Deere Tractor collection.
5. Jack-O-Lantern size pumpkin to take home . (kids only)
6. 16-page informational and fun book to take home.
7. Shaded picnic area for snacks and lunch.

Oasis Date Gardens, Thermal

Oasis Date Gardens offers date tasting’s, gift and bulk dates on a 175-acre working date ranch.  You can take a tour of the date gardens and packing house and check out their antique farm implement display.

Farm Tours in Los Angeles:

Bennett’s Honey Farm, Fillmore

Every June, Bennett’s Honey Farm offers 3 daily train tours to visit their farm during the Annual California Honey Festival.  The honey festival is an educational and tasty experience held in conjunction with the Fillmore & Western Railway.  Their tasting room is open year round.

The AGRIscapes Facilities at Cal State Pomona, Pomona

The AGRIscapes facilities serve as a community resource where people can come and learn about issues relating to food production and the environment.  The farm hosts a pumpkin patch in the fall and strawberry picking in the spring.

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