Archive for the ‘Farm & Wine Bus Tours’ Category

Exploring Northern California’s hills and valleys by bus is only the beginning. We take participants right to the source of our local food chain: the farms and vineyards.  Our bus goes behind the gates and beyond the tractors to meet local farmers & vintners. Learn where their farm story began, how they see our local agriculture growing, and their role as a provider to our local communities and restaurants. We literally go from the farm to fork in our bus adventure.

Take advantage of our special farm and wine bus tour day this upcoming May 19th with discount savings on tour tickets.  For this date only, we are offering a special ticket price of $54 per adult ticket – a $15 savings per ticket!  Use promo code: FRESH to receive discount:  http://www.zerve.com/LocalRoots/Sierra

Our Sierra Foothill Farm & Wine Tour focuses on the Placer County area on the Sunday, May 19th bus tour route. We showcase Placer Grown farms and vineyards along a beautiful planned tour route.

Though subject to change, you can expect:

• Transportation from a central meeting location in our 14 passenger executive bus
• A 4 hour bus tour with 5 to 6 different stops
• A trained local guide ready to showcase farms, orchards, & vineyards
• An opportunity to shop at each stop
• A catered, 4 course gourmet lunch
• Local Roots Food Tours reusable shopping bag

Typical stops will be to a indoor farmers market/bakery, a local olive oil mandarin farm, 1 or 2 fresh berry patches/farms, 1 organic produce farm, 1 flower farm and 1 local vineyard with wine tastings. Shopping will be allowed on all stops and is highly encouraged!  Our bus tour is fully guided by our locally trained hosts who will delight you with stories and fun facts about the region. Each participant will be treated to a gourmet lunch, along with complimentary beverages.

Come along and enjoy the beauty of the rolling Sierra’s along with bountiful farms, spring flowers and delicious bites of our local bounty.  It will be a day you will always remember and the opportunity to connect to our local farmers and vintners.  Don’t forget to bring your cameras -  there will be some wonderful photo ops!   For further questions about our farm & wine tours please give us a call:  1-800-407-8918  or contact us via our email:  info@localrootsfoodtours.com

Local Roots Food & Farm Tours Celebration Gift Certificate Offer

In honor of our food touring company’s 2 year anniversary mark – we are offering all our customers the opportunity to SAVE!!

Buy our CELEBRATION GIFT BOOKLET for $250 and receive a FREE ADULT FOOD TOUR TICKET.   Celebration Booklet comes with 5 adult food tour tickets to all walking food tours excluding our bus tours.)   A SAVINGS of $110.00

Buy our SPRING FARM TO FORK GIFT BOOKLET for $350.00 and receive:  6 Farm & Wine Bus Tour Tickets and a SPECIAL FREE GARDENER’S GIFT!  A SAVINGS of $100.00

******Offer expires 4/30/13.  Discount pricing only for ADULT TICKET.  Limit 2 per booklets per person/per offer/per order.  To receive Gift Booklet Deals, please call our home office: 1-800-407-8918 OR Submit your gift certificate request on our form below.

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This could be my favorite time of year. The weather warming up, the trees starting to bloom and best of all… my mouth watering at the new, fresh produce. With that being said, I have compiled a list of some ‘foodie’ events happening in California in April. Get your calendars ready and put a bib on. If you love food, wine and fun- this list of events is for you. Enjoy!  (Blogger- Bethany Woy)

Sacramento Turn Verein Bockbier Festival- April 5: 6pm-12am, April 6: 3pm-12am
Tickets: Adult $20, Children under 12 $5
Turn Verein Hall- 3349 J Street, Sacramento

http://stvbockbierfest2013-zvents.eventbrite.com/

A traditional bockbier is a strong dark beer usually brewed around Christmas or the Spring. Well, it’s that time of year ladies and gentlemen! The celebration kicks off the first week in April and will take place at the historic (and beautiful) Turn Verein hall here in Sacramento. The festival will showcase the authentic Bockbier from Germany, traditional German music from local bands and delicious, mouth-watering food. Special performances of traditional German dances will be performed during both days. An amazing, educational and best of all delicious way to spend the weekend!

Festa di Vino- April 6: 6:30pm-10pm
Tickets: Adult $45
Scottish Rite Masonic Center-6151 H Street Sacramento

http://festadivino.com/

Music. Dancing. Live auction. And best of all… FOOD. A lot of food.
This tasty event  and will be showcasing over 20 local restaurants and 20 local wineries. Some of our local favorites (Ambrosia Cafe, Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, Firestone Bar- truly the list goes on and on) will be contributing at the event. A true celebration of food and wine. Right up my alley.

Sacramento Beer and Chili Festival – April 6: 1pm-4pm
Tickets: Adult $35 pre-order, $40 day off
Fremont Park- 1515 Q Street, Sacramento

http://sacramentobeerandchilifestival.com/

Sacramento Artists Council in partnership with the Grid Agency and Dad’s Kitchen is proud to announce the 2nd Annual Beer and Chili Festival. I don’t know about you but when I hear chili and beer as a combination my mouth instantly starts to water. The pair just seem to go so well: like peanut butter and jelly.  The Festival is a fundraiser for The Sacramento Artists Council and raises money for art programs that help at-risk children, children of homeless families and fund adopt a school art programs for Sacramento schools. Not only will you have your fill of delicious beer and chili, the money for the event goes to an amazing cause. You can feel like you’ve helped the community while gorging yourself! My kind of event! The festival will begin with a chili cook off competition (industry and individual) and unlimited beer tastings provide by local breweries. (Mad River Brewing, Lost Coast and Speakeasy Ales— just to name a few!)

Sierra Foothills Food and Wine Bus Tour- April 14: 10:30am- 2:30pm
Tickets: Adult $69,
Newcastle, California

http://local-food-tours.com/culinary-cultural-experience/farm-tours/

Wouldn’t you love to take the back roads through the beautiful California olives trees, vineyards and fruit farms? Want to know how vineyards can tell when it’s time to pick their grapes or how to grow the best tomatoes? We are so fortunate to live in the “Farm to Fork Capital of America”. Now is time to jump on board the Local Roots Food Tours Culinary Passport bus and explore the cornucopia of agriculture. Tickets include: transportation in a 14 passenger executive bus, a 4 hour bus ride with stops at independent farms, local  vineyards and a local produce market. A trained local guide ready to showcase their knowledge of the area. Hands-on, one on one access, from owners of the farms, orchards and vineyards. A catered 4 COURSE GOURMET LUNCH (what a deal!) and a reusable Local Roots Food Tours shopping bag. Can you say amazing weekend?! Don’t you want to be able to get to know this area of California a little better? This is the way to do it!

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Get your mobile calendars out…..March is just around the corner with many opportunities to explore your palates in and around Northern California.  Take the time to savor each moment by planning ahead and mapping out every weekend’s foodie adventure for the month of March.  No reason to get up and dig in!

March Foodie Events

Capital Beerfest -  Sacramento, CA
Saturday, March 2nd – 9am – 5pm – Cal Expo
The 3rd annual Capital Beerfest is expected to attract almost 90 breweries, including every Sacramento-area brewery. Celebrate the close of Sacramento Beer Week with one of the largest beer festivals in Northern California. The generosity of brewers, attendees and partners benefits the Runnin’ for Rhett Scholarship and the Runnin’ for Rhett Youth Fitness Program.                  Tickets:  www.capitalbeerfest.com

Pig Out at Pig Day – Davis, CA
Saturday, March 2nd -  8am – 1pm – Central Park
Come celebrate National Pig Day at the Davis Farmers Market.  This is a Piggie themed event for the whole family.  Lots of fun filled food, activities and entertainment all celebrating the plump pink and fabulous pig!  We encourage you to come in pig attire.  Davis Farmers Market is one of the top markets in Northern California – bring your market bags and baskets to fill up on all your local fresh produce, fruits and meats.   www.davisfarmersmarket.org

Spring Obsession Art & Wine Show 2013 – Murphys, CA
Sat & Sunday, March 2nd &3rd – 10am – 5pm – Ironstone Vineyards
16th Annual Art Show, Wine Tasting and Food.  There will be art in action, art demonstrations and cooking demos by chefs. Live music and daffodil flowers exhibit on the ground level. Ironstone Vineyards is a beautiful place set in the Sierras Foothills north of Sonora and south of Lake Tahoe.  www.ironstonevineyards.com

Sierra Foothills Farm & Wine Bus Tour – Placer County, CA
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We tour all around different cities looking for what might be a winner and hot topic to talk about with our food tour participants.  Trying to stay ahead of the kitchen mallet as to what is trending compared to what is here to stay in the culinary arena has its perks and challenges.  Local Roots Food Tours has compiled their top finds on what you might experience in 2013 while on your “foodie adventures.”

Top 10 Culinary Trends For 2013:
1.  Chef’s behind closed curtains is a thing of the past.  2013 will continue to bring celebrity (as well as local chefs) front and center hosting special themed culinary events, symposiums and contribute to hands-on cooking classes.  No more hiding behind the frying pan – their talents and passion will continue to be exposed with many culinary events.  We are looking forward to seeing more of our local executive chefs come out and support Sacramento’s Farm to Fork Capital of America efforts by offering some pretty awesome cooking events in and out of their kitchens in 2013.

2.  Restaurant gardens – Whether it be in back alley gutters or a transformed back lot, gardens are popping up all over the nation.  Chefs cite many logical reasons why restaurant gardens are a good idea: cost, convenience, control, sustainability. The concept of in-house farming is hardly new and the trend has hit far and wide—there are countless restaurants tilling their own soil and planting the seeds for vegetables that will eventually appear on a customer’s plate.  A small farm adjacent to an eating establishment keeps that path from farm to table about as short as it can get.  One example we love is share is Mineral Restaurant in Murphys, CA.  Executive Chef Steve Rinauro and partner/co-owner Maya Rinauro have been busy planting, weeding, watering and harvesting their restaurant garden in 2012.  Their farm to table philosophy is lived vivaciously every day in their vegetarian menu.  For those restaurants who don’t have the option of a garden out their back door, buying plots of land in local farms creates a great option.  One local farm in Sacramento, Feeding Crane Farms offers such plots to local Sacramento chefs…..the next best thing to offer local farm ingredients.

3. Nordic food is out – Peruvian and Korean food is in for 2013.
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Many might wonder what actually defines; “Agritourism” Is it a trend or just a catch phrase that is becoming more and more prevalent in agricultural communities? Agritourism is widespread in America. Agritourists can choose from a wide range of activities that include picking fruits and vegetables, riding horses, tasting honey, learning about wine and cheesemaking, or shopping in farm gift shops and farm stands for local and regional produce or hand-crafted gifts. People have become more interested in how their food is produced. They want to meet farmers and processors and talk with them about what goes into food production. For many people who visit farms, especially children, the visit marks the first time they see the source of their food, be it a dairy cow, an ear of corn growing in a field, or an apple they can pick right off a tree.

Northern California is growing their Agritourism and several tour companies offer great options in the form of tours and events in which participants are taken directly to the farms, the cheesemakers, the winemakers and bakers. So many options to choose from……are you ready to go?

1. Local Roots Farm & Wine Tours in Sacramento Valley
http://www.localrootsfoodtours.com 1-800-407-8918
Sierra Foothills Farm & Wine Bus Tours take participants on a 4 hour bus journey through the beautiful hills and valleys of Placer County visiting local olive groves, mandarin orchards, organic farms, beautiful vineyards and an indoor produce market and bakery. The opportunity to meet passionate farmers and vintners on each tour stop. Tours include a gourmet lunch which includes farm to fork ingredients from placer county farms and wine tasting at local vineyard. Tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays year round. Custom group tours for private parties are offered 7 days a week.

2. Ag Venture Tours in Salinas Valley
http://www.agventuretours.com 831-761-8463
Van tours planned around the Monterey Bay Region stopping at several chosen organic farms in the prosperous Salinas Valley. Different tour options. Advanced ticketing required.

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The weather outside might look frightful, but the opportunity to explore is more than delightful with events being offered all around our communities. 

December is filled with many chances to go out and explore our hills, valleys and peaks.  Northern California is blessed with farms, vineyards, and the chance to shop locally.   Get out your calendars and plan for a few weekend road trips this December….it’s time to get up and get active!

5 Ways to Explore your Own Backyard:

1.  Twin Peaks Orchards Fruit Tasting Open House – Placer County  http://www.twinpeaksent.com/events.htm

Sunday, December 2nd -  11am – 3pm  Free admission.   Fruit tastings, u-pick mandarins & persimmons, brick-oven pizza, shopping, farmers market, hay rides, and so much more!  Fun for the entire family!

2.  Holidays in the Hills Toy Drive – Placer County Wine Trail http://www.placerwine.com/events.htm

December 8th & 9th:  11am – 5pm;  17 Participating Wineries – Free Tastings with Unwrapped Toy Donation.   Live music, food, Christmas shopping, carolers, chocolate tastings, vineyard tours…..lots of fun in beautiful settings.

Download – Holidays in the Hills Wine Trail Map

Download – Holidays in the Hills Activities List
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Do you know anyone on your gift list who loves to eat?  Ever consider giving a gift that touches one’s “foodie soul” and fills them up literally?  Walking Food Tours are in great demand throughout the nation and trendy for 2012 and certainly will be a popular activity for 2013!  Who doesn’t like to eat?  Right!?  Go ahead, and make their day!  Treat your family, friend, coworker and your Secret Santa recipient to a culinary adventure – let them decide where, how and when.  Our sales team at Local Roots Food Tours will be happy to assist you in your gift order this season;  we can mail out gift certificates directly to you or to your recipient with a holiday message personalized by you or we can email your booklet to you for distribution on Christmas morning.  Just let us know and we will accommodate your needs.  Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for you and be ready for the recipients to redeem their gifts for the tour they select.  Sound good?  Here’s our Deals:

Local Roots Food Tours is offering STOCKING STUFFER SPECIALS this holiday season:

The Feast of Five (But Really 6!):   Buy our holiday gift certificate booklet for $300 and receive 6 Walking Food Tour Tickets redeemable for ANY of our Culinary Walking Food Tours in Sacramento and Murphy’s.  These gift certificates can be used individually and redeemed for any tour date. There is no expiration date.  Retail Value: $400.00 -  A $100.00 SAVINGS!

The Aggie Adventure:  Buy our holiday farm tour package for $275 and receive 4 Sierra Foothills Farm & Wine Bus Tour Tickets AND a Featured Holiday Foodie Gift Box
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Would you like to see where California’s delicious fresh fruit, produce, nuts, and wine come from?  Want to know how vineyards can tell when it’s time to pick their grapes or how to grow the best tomatoes?  Wouldn’t you like to see California olives on the tree, soaking up the sunshine?  We are so fortunate to live in the “Farm to Fork Capital of America”.  Now is time to jump on board the Local Roots Food Tours Culinary Passport bus and explore the cornucopia of agriculture.  Our Sierra Foothill Farm & Wine Tour is being offered to the public, Saturday’s and Sunday’s tours beginning the 1st weekend of December.

It’s mandarin season in the Sierra Foothills and the Mountain Mandarin Growers are ready for business!  Our bus route will point out over 30 mandarin grower farms along our route, stopping at 2 of the growers on each tour.  Nothing says ‘fresh’ like mandarins picked that very same morning and olive oil from the harvest’s first press.  Did you know the 1st mandarin trees were planted in Placer County in the 1880′s?  Sample Northern California’s best and locally-produced vegetables, fruit, oils and nuts…nearly everything we eat right out of our back doors!  Placer County lay riches to 18 family-run boutique wineries – many flock here for a pleasure not found in other regions – the chance to meet the winemakers.

What you can expect on our Sierra Foothill Farm & Wine Bus Tours:

• Transportation from a central meeting location in our 14 passenger executive bus
• 4 hour bus ride with 5 to 6 different stops on planned tour route
• Bus stops at 2 to 3 independent farms, 1 to 2 vineyards and one local produce market
• A trained local guide ready to showcase farms, orchards  &vineyards
• Up close contact with the owners of the farms, orchards and vineyards
• Opportunity to shop at each farm and vineyard stop
• Catered 4 course gourmet lunch all from local farms and bakery
• Unlimited bottled waters, tea and sparkling drinks
• Local Roots Food Tours reusable shopping bag

This tour is fully guided by our specially-trained hosts who will delight you with stories and fun facts about the region and the methods used to coax Mother Nature to grow her bounty.  Our tour bus is fully heated, reclining seats and spacious.  Each participant will be treated to a gourmet lunch, along with complimentary water, tea, and juice.  Each stop includes tastings of the grower’s produce, the vintner’s wine, and of course, the cheese-maker’s cheese!

To Purchase Your Sierra Foothill Farm & Wine Bus Tickets and Details Click Here