Nestled in the heart of Irvine, Calif., Tanaka Farms has stood for four generations.

Kenny Tanaka, now a fourth-generation farmer, recalls his mother Shirley bringing his preschool class to his family pumpkin patch and showing the kids how vegetables were grown. Today, Tanaka Farms welcomes over 60,000 schoolchildren annually on field trips. Families also flock to the farm, with up to 120,000 visitors attending weekend events each year. Many adults who once visited as children now return with their own kids, continuing the tradition.

“I’ve seen joy when they pick vegetables out of the ground because most of them have never seen anything like that, so it’s a really good experience,” Kenny said.

Tanaka Farms began with Kenny’s great grandfather, Takeo, a first-generation Japanese-American. The family legacy continued with Kenny’s grandfather, George, and his father, Glenn, who also dedicated their careers to the family business before Kenny.

But the journey to success was far than straightforward. George farmed until the start of WWII, and then fled to Utah to escape the Japanese internment camps. He returned to California at the end of the war and had to begin all over again.

In this episode of “America’s Heartland,” you’ll get to hear more about Tanaka Farms, how the Tanaka family honors the history of Japanese-American farmers who came before them and how they cultivate a community.

You can watch the episode here.

Episodes of “America’s Heartland” can be viewed on your area’s PBS station – check your local listings for exact date and time; more than 90 percent of all PBS stations in the country carry the show – as well as on PBS.org; the PBS standalone app; “America’s Heartland’s” website and YouTube; as well as weekly on RFD-TV. “America’s Heartland” is a production of Sacramento’s PBS KVIE.