Interview with Mario Robledo - Prancer's Farm

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On this edition of Farm Talk Paul interviews The Robledo Family, the owners and operators of Prancer’s Farm. They discuss what family activities you can do at the farm in Fillmore, CA during the month of December to get into the holiday spirit.

Transcript

Farm Talk: Interview with Mario Robledo – Prancer’s Farm

Paul Ward: Hey everyone. It’s Paul Ward and welcome to another edition of farm talk. We’re very excited because we are at Prancer’s Farm just outside of Santa Paula, California. Right now the Fillmore Western Railroad is going to be rolling into the farm. It’s going to be operating throughout the month of December. Families are going to be coming here to pick out their Christmas tree, and then they’re going to be able to ride the Fillmore Western, which has turned into the polar express. 

Paul Ward: So we’re talking to Mario Robledo and his family. And we’re here at Prancer’s Farm. You guys are the owners of the farm, owner/operators of the farm?

Mario Robledo: Correct, yeah. We’ve been the owners and operators for the last, going on two years.

Paul Ward: And this is a very exciting night because this is your first night with a new addition to the operation. Is that correct?

Mario Robledo: Yes. We teamed up with a Fillmore Western railroad and we’ll be doing our Polar Express from the farm here at Prancer’s Farm and to the North Pole and Fillmore and back. 

Paul Ward: That’s awesome. So people will come here. They’ll pick out a Christmas tree here at Prancer’s Farm, and then they will be able to take their tree on the train. Is that right? Take the tree on the train and then go back to Fillmore?

Mario Robledo: They have the option to load up their tree that they selected on the train or load them up in their, in their personal vehicles and take them here from the farm. 

Paul Ward: That’s incredible. So this is the first year you’ve teamed up with the train. 

Mario Robledo: Yes, our first year that we teamed up with a train for this 2020 season.

Paul Ward: So, in addition to the train, what other activities can folks enjoy here at the farm? 

Mario Robledo: We have our animal center where customers can view our cows, our donkeys, alpacas, goats and our bull. We also have a barrel train ride that will take you along the ranch, our Santa’s sleigh ride and our horse rides. We have over 500 trees on stand with flock color trees as well. We flock your traditional white, purple, red, pink, blue, black, all custom coloring that we do for a flock. 

Paul Ward: Very cool. Well, I did tell my son, we were going to come out and ride the train this year and pick out a tree. And he said, “well, that sure beats Home Depot.”

Mario Robledo: Yeah. We strive to provide the experience. Okay. You come out here as you can see, you can distance yourself around the fire. Hang out here on the farm, walk around. I mean, the farm is open to our customers. They can linger around wherever they feel that they want to go hang out from one side of the ranch to the other. 

Paul Ward: Great. And what other activities do you have throughout the year? I understand you did a pumpkin patch recently. And what other activities go on? 

Mario Robledo: Yeah, we just finished up with our pumpkin patch season. Now we start up our Christmas trees, after our Christmas, we gear up for Easter on the farm. During Easter, you’ll be able to pick your strawberries, your vegetables, numerous amounts of different activities that we’ll be doing for Easter as well as pictures with the Easter bunny, Easter egg hunts, the barrel train ride and bounce houses. 

Paul Ward: Very cool. So pick your own fruit is an up and coming activity.

Mario Robledo: Yeah. Pick your own food. You can go out there to the field, actually pick your own fruit. And if you don’t want to pick your own fruit, we harvest on a daily basis and we bring it to our fruit stand, Where our vegetables and our fruit baskets are all available seven days a week from our fruit stand. In addition to that, we do home deliveries for our farm boxes. So you can just go on, on Prancer’s Farm.com and you can order your farm box. And we do, deliveries on that same day, just straight to your door. 

Paul Ward: So it’s all fresh, not refrigerated, tastes great. That’s great. And it’s 30 acres? The farm is 30 acres?

Mario Robledo: A little bit over 30 acres. 

Paul Ward: And you’re located just outside of Santa Paula?

Mario Robledo: We’re located right off the one 26 freeway. Just less than a mile away from Santa Paula. 

Paul Ward: And you also have another location, correct? In Ventura?

Mario Robledo: Yeah. We also have a Prancer’s Village, which is located off of 101 and Johnson Drive and the city of Ventura. We’ve been there for 11 years and now we’re opening up our Farm. You have both options to go to the Prancer’s Village in Ventura or Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula. 

Paul Ward: Okay, but if you want to ride the Polar Express, you gotta come to the Santa Paula location. 

Mario Robledo: If you want to ride the Polar Express, and have the whole cowboy Christmas, you come to Prancer’s Farm. 

Paul Ward: Sounds good. Well, thank you guys. 

Mario Robledo: Thank you. Thank you for having us. 

Paul Ward: So we hope you enjoyed this edition of Farm Talk out here at Prancer’s Farm near Santa Paula. It’s an exciting location. They’re going to have their Christmas tree operation throughout the month of December, where you can also choose to ride the Fillmore Western Railroad, which has been turned into the Polar Express and have a very happy holiday.

We’d love to hear from you! As always, feel free to email Paul@homeandranchteam.com.