VISITING A CHRISTMAS TREE FARM

I've been on the hunt for a Christmas tree farm since Mila's first Christmas, so I was excited to finally find Peltzer Pines (through JL Designs on Instagram). We visited their Brea farm location, which is less than an hour from Los Angeles.

Mila loved leading the way through the rows of trees. 

As a note, these trees are pines (not the firs that we're used to).

Choose your tree and they cut it down for you to take home. That's pretty fresh!

Visiting a tree farm was a fun family activity that I could easily see becoming an annual tradition. 

Mila's dress is Tutu Du Monde via Thumbeline and her moccasins are Lil'fut and Company.

MCGRATH STREET PUMPKIN PATCH

We had a "fall" day in Southern California! So we stopped at McGrath Street Pumpkin Patch in Ventura to celebrate. We pass this patch on our [near weekly] drive to Santa Barbara so I was so excited to finally check it out.  

This pumpkin patch was just heaven on a cool, crisp day. Lots of space to run around, drive a wheelbarrow, pick out heirloom pumpkins and talk to the goats, llama and sheep.

These colors are killing me. 

I love that Mila got a chance to run through an actual patch. So much fun! 

Jacket: J.Crew | Dress: Go Gently Baby | Leggings: Old Navy | Boots: Hunter 

BLACKBERRY PICKING AT UNDERWOOD FARMS

In an effort to teach Mila that food doesn't come from the supermarket, we've taken a few trips to local farms. We chose blackberry picking at Underwood Farms Somis for our latest outing. Underwood is well known in Southern California, especially for their Halloween festivities, but their Somis location is a smaller, more low-key destination. In addition to pick-your-own berries, they have a farm market, animal center and a sandlot to play in.

The blackberries are on tall bushes with thorns so they're not as easy/kid-friendly as strawberry picking, but still fun to gather. Next time we'll try blueberries (April - mid-June).

A nice picnic table in the shade to sit and enjoy your harvest.

Local avocados and citrus at the farm market.

Alpacas looking for some food. You can buy carrots for $1 at the farm market to feed them and the other animals.

The pygmy goats getting a snack. 

ORGANIC STRAWBERRY PICKING AT MCGRATH FAMILY FARM

It's strawberry season! For Mila's first pick-your-own strawberries adventure, we decided on McGrath Family Farm in Camarillo, CA (less than an hour north of LA). The organic farm was a perfect setting for our endeavor, it turned out to be a very simple yet fruitful afternoon.

I didn't know if we had enough farmer skills in us to fill an entire basket, but we did it!

Saying hello to the chickens as we make our way back to the market.

We took home as many bunches of their carrots as we could carry. They made for incredible crudités.

We sat on an outside bench and ate our entire basket of strawberries (the sweetest I've ever tasted), surrounded by the smell of cinnamon oil (a natural way to keep the pests away).