At Prancer’s Farm in Santa Paula, agriculture is not something visitors observe from a distance. It is something they walk through, pick from, taste, touch, smell and, sometimes, carry home still warm from the field.

Mario and Vanessa Robledo built Prancer’s Farm as a working farm, roadside fruit stand and hands-on agritourism destination along Highway 126 in Ventura County. The Santa Paula location offers a year-round fruit stand, seasonal farm events, pick-your-own produce, school field trips, a petting zoo and family-friendly farm experiences; the family also operates a Fillmore ranch focused on horse trail rides, livestock, equestrian activities and 4-H programs.

But behind the pumpkins, strawberries, flowers, animals and photo-ready farm days is a family that knows agriculture is more than a business. It is heritage, hard work and a way to connect people back to where their food begins.

“We’re Prancer’s Farm,” Mario says. “We are a local roadside fruit stand off the 126. We also have you-pick, where you can pick your own strawberries and vegetables.”

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A Family Rooted in Agriculture

For Mario and Vanessa, farming was not a new world. It was a return to their roots.

Mario says his family has been in agriculture for more than five decades in the Santa Paula area. Vanessa grew up around farming, too, visiting her grandparents on a ranch in Camarillo and Oxnard, where tractors and field life were part of the landscape.

Today, Prancer’s Farm is a full family operation. Mario and Vanessa’s daughters — Olivia, Hailey and Klarize — are all connected to the business, and Vanessa’s mother helps at the fruit stand. During the busy fall season, nieces and nephews join in, too.

Their eldest daughter, Olivia, describes her role with a little humor and a lot of truth.

“I am a CEO, I guess you can say, and the eldest daughter to Mario and Vanessa,” she says. “So whatever they need me is what I do,” she adds with a grin.

A Farm for Every Season

Prancer’s Farm is best known for fall activities, when the pumpkin patch opens from late September through October. But the Robledos have built the farm to offer seasonal experiences nearly year-round.

In the fall, visitors can find pumpkins, strawberries, vegetables, marigolds, sunflowers, corn and tomatoes. In the summer, the farm offers you-pick tomatoes, watermelon and strawberries. In spring, visitors can pick tulips. After pumpkin season, the farm transitions into Cowboy Christmas, with Christmas trees, including choose-and-cut trees and trees brought in from Oregon.

Prancer’s Farm also offers school field trips, a petting zoo, horse trail rides through its Fillmore location and other agricultural experiences designed to help visitors get closer to the farm.

Its Santa Paula location includes pick-your-own strawberries, tomatoes and seasonal vegetables, along with school field trips, a petting zoo and farm events.

Fresh From the Field

For the Robledos, when it comes to produce, freshness is not a marketing phrase. It’s the point.

“Our strawberries are straight from our field right to our farm stand,” Mario says. “Our produce, our vegetables, everything is right from the fields to here. It doesn’t go into a refrigerator.”

That immediacy is what the family wants visitors to taste. A tomato picked off the vine is different from one that has traveled for days. A strawberry eaten just after harvest can change how someone thinks about fruit. A watermelon grown in the Heritage Valley can surprise customers who never expected to find that crop there.

Mario says many visitors are surprised to learn that Prancer’s Farm grows its own watermelons, including seeded, seedless, yellow and occasional orange varieties. The family farms about 40 acres at Prancer’s Farm and another 50 acres in other locations.

They grow a wide range of crops, including Monterey strawberries, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, rosemary, yellow watermelons, Tuscan melons, heirloom tomatoes, avocados, oranges and mandarins.

Teaching People Where Food Comes From

One of the most important parts of Prancer’s Farm is agricultural education. The Robledos see the farm as a place where children and adults can learn what agriculture really looks like.

Visitors learn how strawberries grow, how tomatoes ripen, how to pick produce correctly and why a white strawberry or green tomato may not be ready. For children, those lessons can be powerful. Some arrive never having touched a live animal or picked a strawberry before. Others have parents who work in the fields, but have never had the chance to experience agriculture as a hands-on lesson.

“It’s amazing to see the kids smile and know where their food comes from,” Vanessa says.

Vanessa sees that same surprise in customers from Los Angeles, Orange County and beyond. Many arrive at the farm amazed by things that farm families may take for granted: strawberries growing close to the ground, corn standing tall on stalks, heirloom tomatoes so large a child might mistake one for a pumpkin.

For the Robledos, that surprise is an opportunity. If people can understand the work behind food, they may value it differently.

Farming is Hard Work

Prancer’s Farm is fun by design, but Mario and Vanessa are clear that farming is labor-intensive.

“There’s a lot of hard work behind farming,” Mario says. “It’s a lot of labor.”

The work starts long before a visitor steps into a field. Crops must be planted, weeded by hand, fed, watered and monitored. Workers remove fruit or vegetables that did not develop correctly so the rest of the plant can keep producing. They harvest, sort and maintain quality so customers can enjoy produce at its best.

And then there are the animals. Prancer’s Farm has more than 100 animals on the property, and they need daily care no matter the weather. Rain or shine, someone is feeding, cleaning, mucking stalls and making sure the animals have what they need.

The farm also turns waste into feed. Vanessa shares the pigs eat produce that does not go to the stand, keeping edible scraps out of the waste stream and turning them into something useful for the farm.

The Next Generation: Olivia Robledo

Olivia Robledo did not always imagine farm life as her own path. She grew up first in a regular home in Fillmore, and as the family moved deeper into the farm lifestyle, she had to adjust to goats, horses, chores and, yes, manure.

Over time, she began to appreciate it.

“As I kept growing up, I started to appreciate it more and understand where everything comes from,” Olivia says. “And just eating farm fresh stuff is amazing compared to what you can get in a grocery store.”

Now, she helps carry the family business into new markets. Olivia manages the family’s Las Vegas farmers market presence, where Prancer’s Farm sells produce from California, including strawberries and other items from the farm stand. She also manages the family’s Palmdale pumpkin patch, which she ran for the first time in 2025.

Her favorite part of the work is content creation and connecting with customers. She likes talking to people who have never been to a farm, answering their questions and showing them what farm life really takes.

Bringing California Produce to Las Vegas

Selling produce in Las Vegas brings its own challenges. The heat changes everything.

Olivia explains that in California, the family has coolers on-site at the farm to keep produce fresh. In Las Vegas, where temperatures can climb quickly, they use a refrigerated trailer for strawberries, lettuces and other perishable items. Customers can see what is available on a menu board, and Olivia pulls items from the cooler so they stay fresh.

That attention has helped build loyal customers. Olivia says some shoppers come back week after week, and if they cannot make it to the market, they text her directly to ask about picking up an order.

“Seeing all of the customers and the local people that come out and appreciate you bringing out your fresh produce — I get thanked so much,” she says. “It touches our heart.”

At the Las Vegas markets, Prancer’s Farm has also expanded into items like eggs and organic grass-fed and grass-finished meats, making the stand a broader local food stop for customers.

More Than a Farm Stand

The Robledos have built Prancer’s Farm around food, but also around community.

They support local 4-H and agricultural youth programs, including housing 4-H animals at their Fillmore location. They sponsor events, support local explorers who help with parking during October, and purchase animals such as turkeys, lambs and goats from local agriculture students. Some of those animals come back to the farm, where the students who raised them can visit.

That cycle matters to the family. It keeps youth connected to agriculture, supports local programs and gives animals a continued role in the educational life of the farm.

Prancer’s Farm is not just a place to buy produce or take fall photos. It is a working farm that has become a community classroom, gathering place and bridge between rural labor and urban curiosity.

Close to the City, Rooted in the Valley

Part of Prancer’s Farm’s appeal is its location. Santa Paula sits in Ventura County’s Heritage Valley, close enough for visitors from the Los Angeles area to make a day trip, but far enough to feel like a different world.

The Robledos want people to know they do not have to travel far to experience agriculture.

“Our valley is beautiful,” Vanessa says. “We have a lot to offer here at our Heritage Valley.”

That beauty is part of the draw, but the deeper reward is connection. A visit to Prancer’s Farm lets families see the field, meet the animals, pick the produce, talk to the people who grow it and understand the labor behind a full basket.

Why It Matters

For Mario, Vanessa and Olivia, the goal is not simply to entertain visitors. It is to change how people think about food.

They want people to understand that farming is not automatic. It takes workers’ hands, family time, long days, early mornings, water, land, animals, equipment, weather and constant care. They want children to know strawberries do not come from a store shelf. They want adults to taste the difference between produce that has traveled and produce that was picked nearby. They want customers to leave with more than pumpkins, tomatoes or strawberries.

They want them to leave with perspective.

“Prancer’s Farm provides that hands-on experience that you just won’t find somewhere else,” Vanessa says.

And perhaps that is what makes the farm special. It offers the joy of the season — pumpkins in fall, flowers in spring, strawberries and tomatoes when they are ready — while never hiding the work behind it.

At Prancer’s Farm, the fun is real. So is the farming.

Visit Prancer’s Farm

Phone: (805) 317-7004
Address: 540 E Telegraph Rd, Santa Paula, CA 93060
Website: https://www.prancersfarm.com/

This article was written by Alison Needham (@atable_defloured) for CA GROWN. Images by James Collier, Paprika Studios.