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What is Oratche?
The Tanna Basin is located in Kannami in Tagata District, Shizuoka Prefecture. The small basin with a circumference of 4 km surrounded by mountains on all sides is home to ten dairy farms and approximately 1,000 cows. Located in the middle of the Tanna Basin is the “Dairy Farming Kingdom Oratche”.
With over 140 years of dairy farming history and dairy culture, they are engaged in recycling-based organic farming that emphasizes the symbiosis between people and livestock, soil cultivation, and food production that focuses on safety and freshness
Soft-serve ice cream and local beer! Enjoy the wide range of delicious treats for both children and adults!
One of the best things to look forward to at Oratche is the fresh soft-serve ice cream. The distance from the workshop to the nearest barn is a mere 50 meters. What’s surprising is that the freshly squeezed raw milk is processed immediately and made into soft-serve ice cream in as early as eight hours later. During peak season, the fresh, one serving of fresh, rich soft-serve ice cream lets you enjoy the delicious taste of fresh milk to the fullest is sold every 15 seconds, or up to 2,000 scoops a day.
Adults can enjoy the local beer. There is a beer brewery inside the facility, which can be observed from the outside.
The local beer, which has been produced for 23 years and became the first beer in Japan to be certified as organic in December 2000, is brewed using natural water drawn from 300 meters underground. Because it is not filter-filtered or heat-treated, it is an authentic draft beer containing live yeast.
Four types of beer are available, including the certified organic “Pilsner” and “Witbier”, “Izu Ale”, made with locally grown two-rowed barley, and the amber-colored “Red Ale”.
Beer can be enjoyed in the flower greenhouse and restaurant and can also be purchased at the store as souvenirs.
At the restaurant, popular dishes include pork cutlet curry and pork steak made with “Tanna Hako Pork”, a healthy brand of pork fed with Tanna Milk powder for 20 days after weaning, and spaghetti made with cheese, butter, and other dairy products made at the workshop. Please try the sweet and refreshing flavor of Tanna Hakko Pork for yourself.
A variety of experiences to interact with peaceful surrounding nature
Another charm of Oratche is the variety of dairy, farming, food and production experiences that you can enjoy. The dairy farming experience includes milking and feeding the cows. You can also interact with other cute animals such as goats, rabbits, donkeys and sheep.
When we approached the animals with a basket of food, they all immediately came up to us and munched on it. They were so cute that we didn’t want to stop feeding them. (A fee is charged for the animal feed).
15- to 30-minute hands-on activities that even children can enjoy are available for the food experiences, which include making butter, bread, ice cream, herb tea, fruit parfaits, etc.
About ten kinds of seasonal vegetables such as eggplants, peppers, zucchinis and carrots are grown in the field inside the facility, and visitors can enjoy a harvesting experience (reservations are accepted on the day of harvest if available).
These are brand-name vegetables called “Kannami Meguri Vegetables”, and are grown using the same cow manure compost used to cultivate the soil in Tanna.
High-quality compost that has been fully fermented over a period of more than six months are used to grow environmentally friendly and high-quality vegetables as local circulation-type crops.
The harvested vegetables can be eaten at the BBQ corner in the facility, which is great for educating children about food.
The fields can be muddy, so wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty during the experience.
Vegetables harvested in the garden can be purchased at the store, and every Saturday and Sunday, a farmers’ market is held by the mothers of the dairy farmers.
Another popular activity is the giant maze.
The giant maze in the corn field, which boasts a large area of 75 square meters, is a popular activity that attracted more than 200,000 visitors last year. Search for the three checkpoints within the course and aim to reach the goal.
Both children and adults can enjoy the corn maze made of tall corn stalks, and the course changes every year.
On average, it takes around 20-25 minutes to reach the goal, so everyone should give it a try.
In addition, other hands-on activities such as making key chains, Raku ware pottery and tapestries are also available.
Bring home the bounties of Tanna
After interacting with animals and eating delicious food, of course you’ll want to take a look at the souvenirs. A wide variety of products including cheese, butter, and other dairy products made with Tanna Milk and popular Tanna Milk series sweets such as sablé, rusk, and Baumkuchen, local beer, vegetables and other Izu specialty souvenirs are available at the store.
All of the products made from fresh raw milk are specialties of Tanna and are sure to be appreciated not only to be enjoyed at home but also as souvenirs.
Please share these delicious products with your friends and family.
The official website of Dairy Farming Kingdom Oratche: https://oratche.com/