Blog > From Christmas Trees to Pumpkin Dreams: The Prancer's Farm Journey
Welcome to a captivating episode of Farm Talk, where we dive into the heartwarming story of Mario and Vanessa Robledo, the dynamic duo behind Prancer’s Farm in the picturesque town of Santa Paula, California. In this special interview with host Paul Ward, discover the incredible journey that transformed Prancer’s Farm from a humble Christmas tree venture to a vibrant hub of agricultural delight and community connection.
Join us from the very beginning as we meet Mario and Vanessa, the cheerful faces behind Prancer’s Farm. In this episode, we explore the fascinating evolution of their farm, starting with Paul’s first on-location episode three years ago featuring Prancer’s Farm. Learn about the farm’s incredible fall offerings, from pumpkins of all shapes and sizes to unexpected delights like a TEQUILA BAR, stilt walkers, jugglers, and live bands.
Mario, a former policeman turned pumpkin farmer, shares his experiences of planting and harvesting pumpkin seeds while Vanessa takes us on the journey of how they ventured into pumpkin farming. Ever wondered if pumpkins pick their buyers or the other way around? The answer might surprise you!
Mario and Vanessa Robledo reveal their enduring commitment to education, their involvement with farmer’s markets, and their collaboration with organizations like the California Dairy Association. Hear about their challenges, triumphs, and the international recognition they’ve gained over the years. Plus, get a sneak peek into their future plans and the exciting festival on October 22, 2023, featuring live bands, folklorico dancers, a mariachi band, and dancing horses.
Watch the full episode on Paul’s YouTube Channel
0:00 Welcome to the show: Mario and Vanessa Robledo from Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula, California
0:21 We find out that Prancer’s Farm was Paul’s first Farm Talk episode on location
0:54 How many people are expected to visit the farm on the day of filming
1:11 Besides Pumpkins, what else does Prancer’s Farm have going on this fall?
1:49 A TEQUILA BAR, stilt walkers, jugglers, live bands: Just another fall weekend on the farm
2:35 Mario is a Policeman turned pumpkin farmer, but his dad was a farmer
3:32 Vanessa tells us how they got into pumpkin farming
4:07 Mario explains what planting and harvesting pumpkin seeds at Prancer’s Farm is like
5:06 Do pumpkins pick their buyers or is it the other way around?
5:49 What determines the size of the pumpkins?
6:14 School field trips are a daily occurrence on the farm
6:30 A 95 year old woman on a mechanical bull and the desire to get people exposed to farm life
9:03 Believe it or not, LA brings more visitors to the farm than surrounding areas
9:19 Prancer’s Farm: A family operation
10:24 The produce stand is open year-round
11:19 Mario and Vanessa explain the farm’s relationship with farmer’s markets
12:05 Education on the farm and the California Dairy Association
13:38 Prancer’s Farm has both “Fat-Happy Cows,” beef cows, and Miniature Dexter cows, but also the furry ones, the Highlander cows.
14:18 Other farm animals come from the Ventura County Fair and the 4H club
14:52 The future plans for Prancer’s Farm and riding a bike on the railroad tracks
17:09 “Prancer’s Farm” all started from Christmas trees. Mario and Vanessa tell us how that started
19:45 Once the Robledo’s got a bunch of Christmas trees, find out how they sold them and what sacrifices they made to be successful
21:56 The first year of tree selling definitely came with its challenges
22:33 After 10 years, Prancer’s Farm becomes the only focus of the Robledo’s, and now they are a hotspot for day trips and travelers
24:15 Prancer’s Farm even gets international visitors
25:34 Growing pumpkins for fun
26:16 The Robledo’s also run and operate the Fillmore Equestrian Center
27:01 Find out what other varieties of produce is grown on the farm
27:50 Find Prancer’s Farm online at www.prancersfarm.com, on Facebook and Instagram
28:08 Hours of Operation for Prancer’s Farm
28:46 On October 22, 2023 there will be a festival with Live bands, folklorico dancers, a mariachi band, and dancing horses starting at 1:30pm
29:43 Thank you to our sponsor: Opus Escrow
Related Episodes:
Interview with Prancer’s Farm and The Polar Express
Fresh Thai Coconuts & Artisan Products You Can Purchase at Farmer’s Markets with Mingle’s Coconuts
Interview with Suzannah Underwood of Underwood Family Farms
Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com
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A special THANK YOU to our sponsors! 15 Minutes with Paul Ward would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, Opus Escrow and Community West Bank. Supporting our sponsors ensures 15 Minutes with Paul Ward can provide listeners with the best possible episodes.
Paul Ward (00:00):
Hi, it’s Paul Ward here, and welcome to another edition of Farm Talk. I’m very excited today we are out near Santa Paula, California at Prancer’s Farm, and we have the owners, Mario and Vanessa Robledo, welcome to the show.
Vanessa Robledo (00:18):
Thank you for having us.
Mario Robledo (00:20):
Thank you for being here.
Paul Ward (00:21):
Absolutely. Thank you for having me. And actually, you guys were my first show three years ago, so it’s very exciting to be back.
Vanessa Robledo (00:29):
Well, likewise. I think you were our first interview ever. And I think the news even came out that day. Then you were out here too. So, we’re delighted to have you out here again.
Mario Robledo (00:40):
About three years ago for our Christmas trees. You came out for our Christmas trees.
Paul Ward (00:42):
It was, you had the train come in and all the folks jumped off the train and picked out their Christmas tree, and I think it had been turned into the Polar Express.
Vanessa Robledo (00:50):
Yes. Right.
Mario Robledo (00:51):
So, that was our very first year on this property.
Paul Ward (00:54):
And look how you’ve grown. I mean, this is incredible. I mean, what, we’ve got 800 people here right now, and you’re expecting over 5,000 today, maybe more.
Vanessa Robledo (01:03):
Yes.
Mario Robledo (01:04):
Yeah. Hopefully we get people coming in and enjoying the farm.
Vanessa Robledo (01:07):
But slowly, we’re adding year after year, day by day.
Paul Ward (01:11):
And, and what, I mean, you’ve got the traditional stuff, right? You’ve got pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, but what else is going on?
Vanessa Robledo (01:18):
We have hay rides, a petting zoo, barrel train ride, mechanical bull. We have our petting zoo where you can pet all your animals. We even have baby chicks, baby ducklings. We just made a pumpkin house that we just created as well.
Mario Robledo (01:35):
We have two corn mazes. One of our corn mazes, our barrel train ride goes through it.
Paul Ward (01:40):
Interesting.
Mario Robledo (01:40):
And, we’ve done a corn maze with corn and sunflowers mixed together. So, you get the sunflowers, and you get the corn maze at the same time.
Paul Ward (01:49):
Very cool. And I noticed you’ve got a tequila bar. I think you’re the only pumpkin patch that I’ve visited with a full tequila bar.
Vanessa Robledo (01:57):
Yeah. They’re a local restaurant out of Fillmore. It’s a Vallarta Restaurant. They’re a local family owned restaurant. And they asked us if they can come out here, serve some margaritas, tequila, a little bit of variety of everything for parents, and their children.
Paul Ward (02:13):
That’s awesome.
Vanessa Robledo (02:15):
For everybody to come out and enjoy a day. We can’t forget to add, we have our stilt walkers and in the evenings we have a fire show.
Paul Ward (02:22):
Oh, really?
Vanessa Robledo (02:22):
Yes.
Mario Robledo (02:23):
And the jugglers
Vanessa Robledo (02:24):
Jugglers
Mario Robledo (02:25):
Our live bands are playing today. Yes. One of our stages we’ll hear will be filled with live bands till six o’clock.
Paul Ward (02:31):
Awesome! So that goes on during the weekends?
Vanessa Robledo (02:33):
Yes.
Mario Robledo (02:33):
Weekends only. Yeah. Yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (02:34):
Weekends.
Paul Ward (02:35):
Very cool. And how did you get into this? Your story is interesting. You were a policeman before getting into the pumpkin business.
Mario Robledo (02:42):
Yes. I was a full-time police officer for the city of Oxnard for close to 11 years.
Paul Ward (02:48):
Wow.
Mario Robledo (02:49):
I got hired on there at the police department at 21 years old. Then retired at 31.
Paul Ward (02:55):
Interesting.
Mario Robledo (02:56):
But my roots have always been in farming. My dad was a citrus and avocado grower, and he worked for a very highly respected farm here in the valley of Santa Paula; for 53 years until he passed away about eight years ago, so he never got to see what we have built. But what we’re out here struggling or trying to grow is something that’s having a little bit more of a difficult time. I feel that he’s always blessing us with his answers.
Vanessa Robledo (03:26):
I think he’s the one that got us into pumpkin patches, because on his property they used to grow pumpkins.
Paul Ward (03:31):
Oh, really?
Vanessa Robledo (03:32)
And in between the lemon and avocado orchards, there were pumpkins. So, every year before we had a pumpkin patch, we would wake up on a Saturday morning and we had these huge pumpkins on our front doorstep. And the kids looked forward to it every year. And one year he’s like, “You guys do Christmas trees. Why don’t you guys do pumpkins?” And for like three years straight, he’s like, “What do you guys doing? You guys need to do pumpkins.” Then Mario purchased our first horse, and I was like, “What are you doing?” He’s like, “Well, we need some attraction for our pumpkin patch.” I’m like, “So I guess we’re doing a pumpkin patch.” Now we’re doing a pumpkin patch. So that’s how we started our first pumpkin patch.
Paul Ward (04:07):
That’s awesome. And did that workout, ’cause you’re starting something new. I mean, it’s new, it’s not crisp. I mean, every crop is different, right? I mean, Christmas trees are different from pumpkins. And now you’ve got a variety of different types of pumpkins and different sizes. And how did it start and kind of now how has it grown?
Mario Robledo (04:25):
Yeah. Well, we grow a little bit over 45 different types of pumpkins. Our first pumpkin seed that we put out is in the middle of June, and that should be harvested at the end of September. Then we go into two week sections of planting, starting in June, all the way up to July. I think July this year was July 12th or 14th. Our last seed (went) out. And the pumpkins that we seeded July 14th, they’ll be ready to harvest next weekend.
Paul Ward (04:55):
Interesting.
Mario Robledo (04:56):
And that’ll be our last harvest.
Paul Ward (04:57):
So you’re kind of timing it perfectly.
Mario Robledo (04:59):
We’re trying to time as much as we can perfectly to get everything to grow at that time that we need it.
Paul Ward (05:06):
And do you notice if people gravitate to a certain one? Is there one type of pumpkin more popular than the other? Or are you kind of surprised at what people are buying?
Mario Robledo (05:15):
Yes. The kids always want something under five pounds. And you’ll always see the dads carrying really proudly; hauling their wheelbarrows or carrying the pumpkin on their shoulder is the biggest pumpkin they can find.
Paul Ward (05:29):
That’s funny. Right.
Vanessa Robledo (05:32):
The kids grab what they could carry like a little one, and then you’ll see the dad with the big pumpkin, the grandpa or, yeah. Or grandpa or whoever. Even moms too. They have their big pumpkins barely walking. You have a wheelbarrow right there, help yourself. But yeah, it’s funny.
Paul Ward (05:49):
It is funny. And do you decide the size or does the pumpkin just decide on its own that it’s gonna be a big pumpkin or a small pumpkin?
Vanessa Robledo (05:54):
It’s the variety of pumpkins.
Mario Robledo (05:55):
The variety uh-huh. Yeah. We buy Big Mac pumpkins, as they are called. Then the Hulk. Then the Cannonballs that only grow up to four feet at majority and our Big Jack-O-Lanterns grow 25 to 30 pounds. We’re buying the seed that’s creating the size of that pumpkin.
Paul Ward (06:14):
And you have school groups coming in?
Vanessa Robledo (06:17):
Yes. So every week I have probably about, almost every day. Probably Tuesday through Fridays. We have field trips on a daily basis.
Paul Ward (06:27):
So they bring the school, the kids on buses?
Vanessa Robledo (06:30):
Yeah. They bring school on buses. We’ve even have special needs kids that come out here. Different programs come out here. Even adult programs. One time, we had a 95 year old lady ride, a mechanical bull.
Paul Ward (06:41):
Really?
Vanessa Robledo (06:42):
Yeah. It was really fun. And that’s what we look forward to each year, you know, putting smiles on everybody’s faces. You know, like this lady, she saw, we had our music playing. She was dancing and she’s like, “Can I ride the mechanical bull at 95 years old?”
Paul Ward (06:56):
95 years old?
Vanessa Robledo (06:57):
At 95 years old? And I was like, “Are you sure?” And then her caregivers were like, “Later on.” I said, “Okay.” And so, she got on, she rode it, and she was the happiest, you know, they said they haven’t seen her that happy in a long time.
Paul Ward (07:10):
That’s awesome. She just kind of waddled over and got help on?
Vanessa Robledo (07:14):
Help on.
Paul Ward (07:15):
Got bucked off?
Mario Robledo (07:16):
And I think that’s why Vanessa and I started this. We started off selling Christmas trees off of Ventura off of the 1-0-1 and Johnson Drive. Then like how she said, we converted into pumpkins and did both. The whole backstory to all this was to get people exposed to farming and agriculture and animals. I went out there with one horse and I was amazed by the people that had never been close to a horse. Felt a horse, saw it, saw any type of animal. That’s what intrigued me to continue bringing this to the public.
Vanessa Robledo (07:54):
And educating the public. ‘Cause, yes. A lot of our youth, they have never seen, touched or been around any kind of, even a lamb or sheep. Or even seen a horse up close. A cow…
Mario Robledo (08:08):
Let alone just even walk onto a farm.
Paul Ward (08:10):
Right.
Vanessa Robledo (08:10):
Walk into a farm. Or like, we have picked your own strawberries as well. And you know, we show them how you could pick a strawberry and it’s amazing just to see the smile on their faces. Even a lot of our workers bring their kids and they pick strawberries for a living, and their kids never even went on a strawberry farm.
Paul Ward (08:29):
They live local.
Vanessa Robledo (08:29):
And they live local.
Paul Ward (08:31):
That’s amazing. ’cause We live in an agricultural region and you’d think that everybody would be familiar, but they’re not.
Vanessa Robledo (08:35):
They’re not.
Paul Ward (08:36):
That’s incredible.
Vanessa Robledo (08:37):
Yeah. It is incredible. Yeah. You would think since we’re at the….
Mario Robledo (08:40):
Majority of our customers, we were having this conversation earlier, are from all LA or from that area. 10-15% are local. So, I think what was happening is that we’re so used to going up and down this whole valley. We see the lemon trees, we see the row crops. We see what’s around us daily. So, we try to outsource somewhere else where you normally don’t live.
Paul Ward (09:03):
Yeah. You don’t think that, you know, 10 million people live right over the border in LA County and live in an urban area. So they’re not familiar with this, this type of environment. And you’re providing a, you know, an escape and education at the same time,
Mario Robledo (09:18):
Right.
Vanessa Robledo (09:18):
Yes.
Paul Ward (09:19):
And then you’ve got a bigger staff. I mean, I was here and you were small and just starting out now there’s all kinds of young people working here.
Vanessa Robledo (09:27):
A lot of the young people here you see are, we have three girls and they all work. And they help us out every year. They put their sports aside, everything. We have a daughter in college.
Paul Ward (09:39):
So, it’s a family operation?
Vanessa Robledo (09:40):
Yes
Mario Robledo (09:41):
A family operation. We also use Los Arboles Farm Labor Contractors. They’re providing all the service for us, for all the workers are here.
Paul Ward (09:49):
Interesting.
Mario Robledo (09:50):
Yeah. So, they stay with us year-round. They harvest. They help us with the growing, with what needs to be done here at the farm, and Los Arboles is bringing in farm labor contractors. They’re bringing over the employees and providing us the service for that.
Paul Ward (10:08):
Okay. That’s awesome.
Vanessa Robledo (10:10):
As we need employees, they provide whatever employees we need.
Paul Ward (10:13):
Gotcha. And so seasonal, like right now, you’re at peak.
Vanessa Robledo (10:17):
At peak, yes.
Paul Ward (10:18):
Peak, peak, peak. And then Christmas will kind of pick up again and then…
Vanessa Robledo (10:21):
Yes.
Paul Ward (10:21):
Taper off afterwards till maybe Easter time, right?
Mario Robledo (10:24):
Now, remember, our produce stand is here open all year-round. So, we’re always harvesting and growing what we need to grow for our fruit stand here at the farm. We cut from what we’re growing here at the farm and selling directly at our fruit stand.
Paul Ward (10:40):
So direct, direct farm to table and I saw fresh local honey, you know.
Vanessa Robledo (10:45):
Yes. We have fresh local honey, we have produce; our strawberries are like our number one seller and we have strawberries all year long.
Mario Robledo (10:54):
Oh, you do?
Mario Robledo (10:55):
Yeah. We grow, we grow four, four different blocks yearly on strawberries.
Paul Ward (10:59):
So, anybody can come drive down the highway and get strawberries?
Vanessa Robledo (11:02):
All year long. Even for New Year’s and Christmas.
Paul Ward (11:04):
That’s awesome.
Mario Robledo (11:06):
Next year, we’re gonna start selling eggs, ’cause right now we have close to about 208 chickens.
Paul Ward (11:12):
Oh really? That’ll be super popular.
Vanessa Robledo (11:13):
That’s my new project going on.
Paul Ward (11:15):
My gosh. That’ll be very popular. Free range eggs?
Vanessa Robledo (11:19):
Free range eggs are very popular.
Paul Ward (11:19):
You guys do farmer’s markets too?
Vanessa Robledo (11:21):
We were doing ’em for about two years, but it just got…
Paul Ward (11:26):
Too much.
Vanessa Robledo (11:26):
It got too much. And we were neglecting our fruit stand and, you know, it’s just, it’s a lot of employees you need and…
Paul Ward (11:32):
Right. And then here you’ve got a fruit stand 24/7. Like, you don’t really need to have…
Vanessa Robledo (11:37):
Exactly. That’s where we decided…
Mario Robledo (11:39):
Goal is to get back to it once we get to the point that we’re able to sustain this, as well put together and build that. But until then, we’ll start going back. We’ll stay here and then we’ll start going back to (the markets.)
Vanessa Robledo (11:52):
Our fruit stand is gonna be open, it has been just a little bit over four years that it’s been open. We’re still building, and you know, still trying to establish everything, but we’ve been doing good.
Paul Ward (12:05):
So, what else is going on here education wise? I mean, there’s a lot. You got the, I mean, we talked about the tequila bar and the, and there’s, but there’s a pumpkin painting and there’s education kids’ groups coming out and
Vanessa Robledo (12:16):
Yeah. And we also have the California Dairy Association. She’s right over there and she actually educates the children and she talks about all our cows and our livestock. And she comes out here at least two or three times a week and educates the community. She also goes to different schools in LA and educates children on where milk comes from, cheese comes from.
Mario Robledo (12:40):
She takes one of our jersey cows.
Vanessa Robledo (12:42):
Our Jersey calf.
Mario Robledo (12:43):
She hauls it at her on a horse trailer.
Paul Ward (12:46):
Really? And takes it to LA school, and then brings it back.
Vanessa Robledo (12:50):
Yeah, and brings it back.
Mario Robledo (12:51):
She’s here, she beats me sometimes. I’m surprised. She’s a young lady. I think she’s like in her early twenties and she can back up that trailer load like I’ve never seen before.
Vanessa Robledo (13:01):
Yeah.
Mario Robledo (13:01):
So she beats me here sometimes. I get here about 5:15am and she’s already leaving sometimes.
Paul Ward (13:06):
Interesting. Now did that just kind of fall in your lap where she’s just a local and she just said, “Hey, I’ve got an …”
Vanessa Robledo (13:12):
Well, I got a text. I saw this number. I got a text saying, “Hey, I’m looking for a cow locally here, and I see that you have cows on your farm. Can I speak to somebody?” And we called her. And within a week she, no, within two days she was here.
Paul Ward (13:27):
Wow. That’s amazing.
Mario Robledo (13:28):
We just happened to have the jersey cow that produces the most amount of milk on hand. And she’s very friendly. So, she’s been (doing it.).
Paul Ward (13:38):
These are all fat happy cows. No, no beef cows? They’re all just grazers and milk producers.
Vanessa Robledo (13:45):
Yeah. Well, we have beef cows.
Paul Ward (13:46):
Oh, you do? Yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (13:48):
Yeah. Uh-huh .
Paul Ward (13:48):
Oh, wow. So, you guys are gonna do like free range beef later on?
Mario Robledo (13:51):
No, our beef cows, we keep.
Paul Ward (13:53):
Oh, you keep ’em? As pets.
Mario Robledo (13:54):
Yeah. But we have Jersey cows that are milk producing and we have beef cows that we also have Dexter’s miniature cows.
Paul Ward (14:02):
Oh, you do?
Mario Robledo (14:03):
Yeah. Some of our cows here, like you see there, they’re full grown.
Paul Ward (14:07):
Oh, really? I would’ve guessed they were just young.
Mario Robledo (14:09):
Like that one right there here is full. It’s full grown. They’re miniature Dexter.
Vanessa Robledo (14:13):
We also have Highlander cows. A real furry one.
Paul Ward (14:15):
I was wondering what that was and what’s his name?
Vanessa Robledo (14:18):
His name’s Cash and he’s right up there. We also have turkeys. And then our lambs and our turkeys. We actually bought ’em at the Junior Livestock Fair for the Ventura County Fair with for the 4H youth. So, we support that. And we purchase their animals, and we bring ’em to the farm, and we use them to educate people.
Paul Ward (14:40):
As pets?
Vanessa Robledo (14:40):
As pets. Yep.
Paul Ward (14:41):
That’s awesome. So, they’re not gonna go to slaughter.
Mario Robledo (14:44):
The livestock that we have here. They’re too, they’re too friendly. <Laugh>.
Vanessa Robledo (14:51):
Yeah. They’re, they’re our pets.
Paul Ward (14:52):
I get it. I get it. What are your future plans? I mean, you guys have obviously been growing over the last four years and you’re gonna have thousands of people here literally today and throughout the, the weekend and, and the season. What, what’s the future for Prancer’s Farm?
Mario Robledo (15:06):
The future of Prancer’s Farm is what you see here in this park. This is a two acre park here, and we’re gonna continue to build. So next year there’ll be more additions added to this area. We plan on having a duck pond, more environment and animal shelters here in this area. But in a garden aspect. So, like a beautiful botanical garden type of environment. People could come year round and
Vanessa Robledo (15:35):
Yes.
Paul Ward (15:35):
Enjoy the season. Flowers.
Vanessa Robledo (15:36):
We also have the rail carts that stop here.
Paul Ward (15:39):
Oh yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (15:40):
Yep. I don’t know if you heard the rail carts Aboard Railroad.
Mario Robledo (15:43):
Oh, they’re coming back?
Vanessa Robledo (15:44):
In Santa Paula.
Paul Ward (15:45):
Okay.
Vanessa Robledo (15:45):
They’ve been running this valley already for almost a year, and they stop here, and they do petting zoo. They buy fresh produce from our…
Mario Robledo (15:57):
Fruit stand.
Vanessa Robledo (15:57):
Our fruit stand.
Mario Robledo (15:58):
So you can catch the Sierra Railroad. You can catch that train that’s like a bike. What is it?
Vanessa Robledo (16:04):
It’s a bike. It’s a rail bike.
Mario Robledo (16:07):
It is out of Santa Paula. And from there you’re riding…
Paul Ward (16:10):
On the railroad tracks? You’re riding a bicycle on the railroad tracks?
Mario Robledo (16:13):
On the railroad tracks. We just heard it go by.
Vanessa Robledo (16:15):
Actually, they just got here.
Paul Ward (16:17):
How fun is that?
Vanessa Robledo (16:18):
Yeah. So, it’s electrical and you could pedal. So, people come up through this valley.
Mario Robledo (16:24):
All the way up to the beginning of Fillmore, they turn around there, they come back, and they stop here for an hour.
Paul Ward (16:30):
Wow. So, get some exercise.
Mario Robledo (16:32):
Yeah. You can peddle it, or you can just press the automatic. It’ll just go by itself.
Paul Ward (16:37):
That’s awesome. I gotta try that.
Mario Robledo (16:39):
And Sierra Railroads bringing back their, their train starting next year.
Paul Ward (16:42):
Oh, they are. From Santa Paula?
Mario Robledo (16:44):
From Santa Paula. Everything will be based out of Santa Paula as far as catching the ride will be based out of Santa Paula.
Paul Ward (16:50):
So, folks can come here, pick out their pumpkin, pick out their Christmas tree and then go back.
Mario Robledo (16:55):
Yeah. Yeah.
Mario Robledo (16:55):
On the train. Very cool.
Mario Robledo (16:57):|
That’s starting next year. But right now, they do have the railroad bike going on. Now they just go to Sierra Railroad. And you can get your tickets online there.
Vanessa Robledo (17:07):
It’s all pre-rendering.
Paul Ward (17:09):
How did you guys pick the name? Prancer’s Farm.
Vanessa Robledo (17:13):
So, we were looking, so we started off doing Christmas trees. Right.
Mario Robledo (17:17):
Off 1-0-1 and Johnson.
Paul Ward (17:17):
In Ventura?
Vanessa Robledo (17:20):
Yeah. Well, we started Christmas trees ’cause we owned a semi trucking company.
Paul Ward (17:25):
Oh.
Vanessa Robledo (17:26):
He hauled. We had a truck driver call in sick and he was off from the P.D. (police department) And I said, “Hey, I need a driver to take..” We had hauled avocados from Mission up there and our back haul was Christmas trees. And he is like, “I’ll take it.” And so he went, took it and he called me. He’s like, “Hey they’re selling Christmas trees for super cheap. Should I bring some down?” I’m like, “Yeah, why not?”
Paul Ward (17:48):
Because, did you have the fruit stand at the time?
Vanessa Robledo (17:49):
No,
Mario Robledo (17:50):
We didn’t. We haven’t started with Prancer’s Farm yet.
Paul Ward (17:53):
So, what was the, you were just gonna bring some Christmas trees for your own family?
Mario Robledo (17:57):
No, we went up to Oregon. We were gonna haul a load of Christmas trees to a Christmas tree lot in the LA area.
Paul Ward (18:05):
Okay.
Vanessa Robledo (18:06):
So, we took avocados to Oregon. Our backhaul was Christmas trees.
Paul Ward (18:10):
Gotcha.
Vanessa Robledo (18:10):
To actually to a lot in LA.
Mario Robledo (18:12):
So, I went to the farm in Oregon where they were loading me, I saw the amount back then. We’re talking 14 years ago, right. They were going for like $15.
Paul Ward (18:21):
For a Christmas tree?
Mario Robledo (18:21):
That wholesale. And I called Vanessa. I said, “It’s okay. They’ve got Christmas tree selling ’em at $15. How much can we sell ’em over there for?” Back then a 7′-8′ Noble was going probably about $75-80 back then.
Paul Ward (18:35):
It’s a good return.
Mario Robledo (18:37):
Yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (18:38):
We sold it for what?
Mario Robledo (18:39):
Oh, so I had, I had some cash on me. I said, “I’m bringing 50 trees for us, can we sell ’em?” She’s like, knowing Vanessa, she’s not gonna say no. “Yeah. Bring him down. I’ll get ’em, I’ll get ’em sold.”
Vanessa Robledo (18:48):
So, I sent a text message and email to our close friends and family saying, “Hey Mar is bringing Christmas trees. You guys want one I at 60 bucks?” They’re like, “Yeah, I want one.” (I said) “We’ll deliver it to your door.”
Paul Ward (18:59):
Wow.
Vanessa Robledo (19:00):
He came back with the trees. He had to go back to work at the PD and I delivered it to people’s doors. And that’s how we started our…
Mario Robledo (19:07):
That’s how we started our…
Vanessa Robledo (19:08):
Christmas Trees.
Paul Ward (19:08):
So, it’s just kind of a fluke. In Oregon, again, delivering avocados. You see the Christmas trees are $15 a piece. Call your wife, “Should we buy some trees?” Now you’re delivering the trees to the people that bought ’em. <Laugh>. And then did you say, “Next year we’re having a Christmas tree stand?”
Vanessa Robledo (19:24):
Yeah.
Mario Robledo (19:24):
Right after that we said, “Next year we’re doing a Christmas tree stand.” What is the most important thing that people are having the hardest time with back then? And it’s transportation. We have transportation. We have a trucking (company). And we have loads going to Oregon. So, let’s book four or five loads of Christmas trees coming in and each load comes in with 800-900 trees.
Paul Ward (19:45):
So, did you rent a lot in Ventura at the time? Just say, “Hey, there’s an empty lot we want.”
Vanessa Robledo (19:49):
We rented three lots our first year.
Paul Ward (19:51):
You did?
Mario Robledo (19:51):
In our first year.
Paul Ward (19:51):
You had three different locations?
Mario Robledo (19:53):
We had one in Fillmore. We had one in Somis. And we had another lot that was off of 1-0-1 and Johnson Drive.
Paul Ward (20:00):
So. You put up the fencing, you put up the lighting, you got the workers.
Vanessa Robledo (20:03):
Yep.
Mario Robledo (20:03):
And the workers were us.
Vanessa Robledo (20:05):
The workers were us.
Paul Ward (20:05):
How did you run three at once?
Mario Robledo (20:08):
We had one family employee running the Somis, I ran Ventura, and she ran Fillmore.
Paul Ward (20:13):
Wow.
Vanessa Robledo (20:14):
And I had a one-year old baby.
Paul Ward (20:17):
Oh my God. <Laugh>. That’s incredible.
Mario Robledo (20:18):
And this is a true story.
Paul Ward (20:20):
That’s awesome.
Mario Robledo (20:21):
As a matter of fact, I was just talking to her dad. Her dad came in from Columbia about a couple days ago and he helped us. We were going up to Somis just yesterday. We were driving up to Somis. I said, “We just passed that nursery there. That’s when we had our first creative bureau when we were there at four o’clock in the morning. Offloading those trees.” Like he was like, “I remember that. It was at four o’clock in the morning on Black Friday.”
Paul Ward (20:45):
Wow.
Paul Ward (20:46):
Our Thanksgiving was setting up all the lots.
Paul Ward (20:48):
Yep. ’cause people do buy Christmas trees on Thanksgiving.
Vanessa Robledo (20:50):
Yeah. So, our Thanksgiving that year was setting up Christmas trees.
Paul Ward (20:53):
Oh My God. So much for the family dinner and Turkey. No, none of that.
Vanessa Robledo (20:57):
I think for the first three years that we started Christmas trees; we did not have a Thanksgiving.
Mario Robledo (21:02):
Probably about five years. Vanessa. Easily, and now people, our friends and family will take us our Thanksgiving on Johnson Drive.
Paul Ward (21:11):
Oh, that’s awesome. They would show up with turkey and pie and…
Vanessa Robledo (21:14):
Yeah. So, our first two years, ’cause I had small children, I would rent an RV so my kids could be there ’cause it would be cold. And I had little babies, so my oldest would be in the RV, and I said, “If something happens, just call me. I’ll come feed the baby or whatever.” And that’s how we started.
Mario Robledo (21:32):
Our first year, then our second year we got rid of Fillmore, and we got rid of Somis and we just concentrated on one.
Vanessa Robledo (21:37):
Yes.
Paul Ward (21:38):
So you guys were in the same location?
Mario Robledo (21:38):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (21:39):
And probably had the best sales and the most people, the most traffic.
Vanessa Robledo (21:42):
Yes.
Mario Robledo (21:43):
And you know, we weren’t at each other’s throat <laugh>.
Vanessa Robledo (21:47):
It was more magic.
Mario Robledo (21:48):
It was more family for us. ’cause We were together, our kids were together. Our girls were there, the family was there. So, it was…
Vanessa Robledo (21:56):
That first year it rained cats and dogs!
Paul Ward (21:59):
Oh my God.
Vanessa Robledo (22:00):
Yeah. in the rain.
Paul Ward (22:01):
In the rain.
Paul Ward (22:01):
It was, yeah. We’re out there in the rain and it was quite a learning experience.
Paul Ward (22:05):
And then when did, so you still didn’t have this space, right? Prancer’s didn’t exist.
Mario Robledo (22:11):
No, Prancer’s Farm existed about 10 years later.
Paul Ward (22:15):
Oh, that many years. You were in Christmas trees for 10 years before Prancer’s.
Mario Robledo (22:19):
On Johnson. This would’ve been our 15th year there.
Paul Ward (22:21):
Are you still, do you still have that space?
Mario Robledo (22:23):
No.
Paul Ward (22:23):
Okay. This is too busy.
Vanessa Robledo (22:25):
We focus.
Mario Robledo (22:25):
So we have done the reverse. We started off with three. The second year we just focused on Johnson- one.
Paul Ward (22:32):
Right.
Mario Robledo (22:33):
And now we got rid of Johnson and just focus on the farm. ’cause This is our permanent home.
Paul Ward (22:36):
That makes sense.
Vanessa Robledo (22:37):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (22:38):
And people know who you are now and where to come. It’s not that far. And take the train. Yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (22:44):
And it’s only a 20-minute drive from Ventura. 20-minute drive from Valencia, from LA 45min to an hour, depending on traffic.
Paul Ward (22:52):
A day’s outing for an LA person.
Mario Robledo (22:56):
They just look around you. I mean, you got North and South mountains here.
Paul Ward (23:00):
Oh, it’s beautiful. Yeah. They come out here and have, you know, lunch and maybe a margarita.
Vanessa Robledo (23:05):
Yeah, that’s right.
Mario Robledo (23:07):
Hamburgers and hot dogs as well.
Paul Ward (23:09):
Yeah. That’s awesome.
Mario Robledo (23:11):
People usually eat here and hang out here. Then they go out to the local restaurants here in Santa Paula and in Fillmore.
Paul Ward (23:17):
And I love the, I love the vision for the future that you’d be here year round with the gardens and the animals and kind of a weekend escape for, you know, not just seasonal, but year-round.
Mario Robledo (23:28):
Well, we’ve noticed here our customers are mainly 80% travelers. They’re coming from LA. They’re either going to Solvang, they’re going to…
Vanessa Robledo (23:38):
Santa Barbara.
Mario Robledo (23:38):
The Chumash Casino, the wineries out there, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria. And they’re making this now their destination stop heading up north or coming back down south.
Paul Ward (23:48):
So, kind of like the halfway place.
Vanessa Robledo (23:48):
Yeah. Like they stop at the first. “What time do you guys close?” I’m like, “We close at seven or we close at 6:30,” depending, you know.
Paul Ward (23:54):
Right.
Mario Robledo (23:54):
“Yeah, we’re going to Santa Barbara, we’ll see you on the way back. Or we’re gonna take some stuff, some strawberries and have a picnic out there. So, we have, we have that local traffic now from LA to wherever their destination is and they’re stopping here.
Paul Ward (24:07):
And you said about 80% of the folks are out of towners.
Vanessa Robledo (24:11):
Out of towners.
Mario Robledo (24:12):
And about 10% are out of the country.
Paul Ward (24:15):
Really? International.
Vanessa Robledo (24:16):
Yeah. Yeah.
Paul Ward (24:17):
That’s cool.
Vanessa Robledo (24:18):
Yeah, it is cool. You get to meet, like last week there was a Russian guy he was from Russia, and he was trying to talk to, he’s like, “You speak Russian?” I said, “No, I only speak Spanish.” <Laugh>. And then he, his daughter came in, she spoke English and then he’s like, “Oh, you’re my new girlfriend.” I’m like, “I thought you didn’t speak English.”
Paul Ward (24:34):
<Laugh>. He knew enough. <Laugh>.
Vanessa Robledo (24:36):
Yeah. So yeah.
Mario Robledo (24:38):
We get a lot of different varieties of people that come here. It’s pretty cool working up in the front.
Paul Ward (24:42):
That is awesome.
Vanessa Robledo (24:43):
Different nationalities. You know.
Mario Robledo (24:46):
Then we talk to people. That’s the thing though, that’s why I tell all of our employees and our staff that are working there, you gotta treat people like family and ask them where they’re going. Ask them where they’re coming from, where they’re going, if they need their directions. Because like I said, it’s travelers, and what do travelers wanna do when they’re on their vacation? They wanna ask and get information.
Paul Ward (25:08):
Yep. And life is stressful. And you guys provide an escape, right? I mean, they’re getting out of the big bad city or they’re taking a few days off at work or they’re international, maybe they’ve had some challenges overseas. Right. And they’re coming here and it’s peaceful and it’s serene.
Vanessa Robledo (25:21):
And we had a family from Germany last week too. They were here for two months.
Paul Ward (25:26):
Wow. That’s a good long stay.
Vanessa Robledo (25:27):
Yeah. They had a two-month stay and they’re from Germany. And they asked, “what is this?” A lot of people say, “What are you doing?”
Paul Ward (25:34):
“Oh, we’re just growing pumpkins for fun.”
Vanessa Robledo (25:36):
Yeah. So, I explained to them what, you know, we do and you know, the American culture and they’re just so intrigued by it.
Paul Ward (25:43):
That’s awesome.
Vanessa Robledo (25:44):
Yeah. It is.
Paul Ward (25:44):
And, and I think that’s kind of the excitement about traveling too. It’s like the unexpected, like the unplanned is always the most fun, right?
Vanessa Robledo (25:53):
Right.
Paul Ward (25:53):
Things that you plan are fun, but when you’re traveling, it’s like the unexpected thing that you remember the most. Like, “Oh! That pumpkin farm!”
Vanessa Robledo (26:00):
And we have people, you know, a year later they come back and they’re like, remember and I, some of them I do remember, and it’s exciting seeing them come back.
Paul Ward (26:08):
Yeah. ’cause If you struck up a conversation with them, you’re gonna remember those to just kind strangers.
Vanessa Robledo (26:14):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (26:15):
That’s awesome.
Mario Robledo (26:16):
Another thing you asked what’s our, our future and our plans. We also run and operate the Fillmore Equestrian Center in the city of Fillmore.
Paul Ward (26:23):
Oh, you do?
Vanessa Robledo (26:24):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (26:24):
Folks can go horseback riding.
Vanessa Robledo (26:26):
Yes.
Mario Robledo (26:26):
That we will be opening up next year.
Paul Ward (26:28)
Really?
Mario Robledo (26:29):
Right now, we board horses there. We’re permitted to have horse back riding and any type of equine and equine events.
Paul Ward (26:37):
What to do? Trail riding?
Vanessa Robledo (26:39):
Right next to the Fillmore Equestrian Center, there is a river where you could do trail rides. And then also we wanna do more equine events for the community as well.
Paul Ward (26:47):
So like rodeo. And… trail racing?
Mario Robledo (26:48):
We actually have a rodeo going on now.
Paul Ward (26:53):
Really?
Vanessa Robledo (26:54):
Yeah, there’s no more roping.
Paul Ward (26:54):
Oh, very cool.
Vanessa Robledo (26:55):
We are having a rodeo.
Mario Robledo (26:56):
So, maybe that’s another interview that we can talk about next year or sometime in the future at Fillmore.
Paul Ward (27:01):
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, pumpkins, Christmas trees. And you’ve got strawberries. What other varieties of fruits are you growing here?
Vanessa Robledo (27:10):
We grow yellow watermelon, orange, watermelon of course your traditional red watermelon with your seeded watermelon. We grow corn…
Mario Robledo (27:16):
Melons.
Vanessa Robledo (27:18):
Yeah. Cantaloupe. Honey dew. And then row crop, different kale, broccoli, parsley.
Paul Ward (27:27):
Wow. You got a lot.
Vanessa Robledo (27:28):
Yes. Figure a little bit of everything.
Paul Ward (27:29):
And you were doing the boxes during Covid, right? And people can still, I assume, still buy a box if they want.
Mario Robledo (27:37):
They can still buy a box. Yes. But now we’re getting more of the people actually coming to the farm. Right?
Paul Ward (27:41):
Yeah.
Vanessa Robledo (27:41):
They want come.
Paul Ward (27:42):
Pick out their own, not have somebody else put it in the box for us. Right.
Vanessa Robledo (27:45):
Yeah.
Mario Robledo (27:45):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (27:45):
It’s more fun. Anyway.
Vanessa Robledo (27:46):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (27:47):
<Laugh> How could folks find you online?
Vanessa Robledo (27:50):
You could check out our website: www.prancersfarm.com and all our information for all our events. What we grow, what we have going on at the farm is on our website. We also have Instagram and Facebook and it’s all Prancer’s Farm. And make sure you check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and our website.
Paul Ward (28:08):
Very cool. And then what are the hours for the season?
Vanessa Robledo (28:12):
Right now, our pumpkin patch is open from 9:30am to 6:00pm during the week. And then on the weekends from 9:30am to sundown.
Paul Ward (28:21):
Okay. And then we’re sitting on a very cool stage that was not here the last time I was here. And so, you’re gonna have bands?
Vanessa Robledo (28:27):
Yes, we’re gonna have live bands. They’re actually gone up now. So, we’ll have a live band, we have fire dancers, we’ll have our stilt walkers and jugglers coming in.
Mario Robledo (28:38):
For our pumpkin season.
Paul Ward (28:39):
Okay. And then I think also coming up this season, you’re gonna have, was it flamenco dancers?
Vanessa Robledo (28:46):
Oh yes. So, on the 22nd, on the 22nd of October, we will have folklorico dancers from Love to Dance Studio in Fillmore. The kids are gonna come out, we’re gonna have a local, a local mariachi from Oxnard School district. . that will be coming out here and performing. So, they’re mariachi from a high school and then we’ll also have dancing horses.
Paul Ward (29:07):
Dancing horses?
Vanessa Robledo (29:08):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (29:08):
Very cool.
Vanessa Robledo (29:09):
From a local ranch in Santa Paula
Paul Ward (29:11):
What is that date?
Vanessa Robledo (29:12):
And that is October 22nd. And that on a Sunday, and that will start at 1:30pm.
Paul Ward (29:17):
Is this the first time you’ve had the dancing horses?
Vanessa Robledo (29:20):
Yes. Yes.
Paul Ward (29:20):
Oh, that’ll be very cool.
Vanessa Robledo (29:21):
Yeah.
Paul Ward (29:21):
I’ll have to come back and check it out.
Vanessa Robledo (29:23):
Yeah, definitely.
Paul Ward (29:23):
That would be pretty cool. Well, Mario and Vanessa Robledo, thank you so much for being our guest on this edition of Farm Talk. We love coming again and meeting with you and seeing how the operation has grown. And we look forward to, you know, continuing to follow your success.
Vanessa Robledo (29:38):
It was our pleasure and thank you for coming out.
Mario Robledo (29:40):
I appreciate it.
Paul Ward (29:40):
Absolutely. Thank you.
Vanessa Robledo (29:41):
Appreciate it.
Paul Ward (29:43):
So, thank you for joining us on this edition of Farm Talk. Of course. We wanna thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow and be sure to tune in next time for the next edition of Farm Talk.