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Now, picture this: a farm where fields of sunflowers sway in the breeze, dahlias stand tall in the morning light, and guests are welcomed to stay the night among it all. These floral farms are a feast for the senses, fragrant, vibrant, and humming with bees and summer energy. It’s the kind of beauty that slows you down and fills you up.

With summer slipping by, there’s no better time to soak in the season. Come along as we explore farms where the flowers are blooming and the welcome mat is always out.

(Header photo: Tanglebloom Flower Farm)

Bohemian Bloom and Herb – Eagle, Idaho: A true flower farm getaway: pick blooms from lavender fields and flower patches, try your hand at floral arranging in the potting shed, and linger under the grape arbor for a scented respite

Brunner Family Farm – McKinleyville, California: This farm grows it all – food, fiber and flowers on 10 acres, then sells their products at the local farmers markets. You’ll find a variety of specialty cut flowers all year round so be sure to take some home with you for a colorful and fragrant reminder of your time on the farm.

Cypress Crossing Farm – Florence, Alabama: Take a bloom-and-stroll walk through the gardens or wildflower fields with vase in hand to design your own flower arrangement. This 60 acre farm offers veggie harvesting too. Call it eats and treats from the farm!

Mary’s Land Farm – Ellicott City, Maryland: This 160 acre working farm follows beyond organic practices and regenerative farming to produce meats and vegetables and recently added fields and fields of sunflowers, promising a spectacular display at the end of summer for the Clarksville Sunflower Festival.

Pleasant Hills Farm – Darnestown, Maryland:  Just outside D.C., this organic farm offers flower fields for guests to explore and U‑pick. It’s part of their broader flower/crop CSA and farm‑fresh experience.

Tanglebloom Flower Farm – Brookline, Vermont: This woodland flower farm invites guests to immerse in sustainable growing and seasonal picking. Workshops in floral design add creative flair to the experience.

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Most of us as kids learn that, to find the North Star in the sky, we must first find the Big Dipper and then look to where the handle points. I remember never being entirely sure which way was north as a kid and this was a big help when the sky was so large and filled with stars. These days, as I stand looking at the night sky from my farm, finding the North Star is not such a challenge because I know our farm is set in a valley running east-west. But, I still look for the Big Dipper… and then get distracted by the Milky Way racing across the sky, one of the benefits of farm life – no city lights to compete with the universe.

The North Star has always been a constant, a directional tool for sailors and trekkers and all of us trying to find our way from one place to another. For centuries it has been a beacon to ground us on our journey and keep our direction true. Thus, we chose the North Star for the Farmstay logo, in part because it is a powerful motif commonly found in quilts and echoed in the barn quilt tradition that began with European settlers in the eastern United States. These paintings were used to bring good luck and often doubled as wayfinding tools (i.e., go left on the road where you see the barn with the North Star painted below the eaves). Our North Star is a bit more mission driven. We want to provide a face to farming in the most personal way – on the farms and through their stories.

As we approach July 4th for the 250th year of our nation, the challenges of farming are vastly different now than from the original settlers or even from farming 75-100 years ago. It’s hard to make a living as a small farmer these days and the joke is that “farming is a lifestyle, not a living”. Haha! Actually it’s not that funny. The U.S has seen a steady decline in family farms since World War II.

The North Star farmers on Farmstay have a special talent – they are both working farmers and farming hosts who have opened their farm gates to the public with lodging, tours, u-pick and more. It’s a necessary bridge from the digital world to the natural world. It’s connection to the land. It’s connection that leaves politics outside the gate. Best of all, everyone benefits. Adding agritourism lessens the risks of farming and allows these farms to run sustainably. Visiting a farm often delivers an endorphin rush—thanks to goat cuddles or just laughing at all the things we don’t know, like how to feed the chickens, collect eggs, pull carrots, spot a potato plant, or tell a goat from a sheep.

We recognize the current trend in business is to tell “stories”. We’ve been doing that for 15 years. Every farm has a story. We don’t have to search for them. They are as authentic as the farmers behind them. We hope you will search out some of our farms to visit and listen to their stories. Farms are never boring, so we know you’ll head home with a story of your own—maybe after seeing the North Star or even discovering your own along the way.

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Welcome to the final chapter in our four-part celebration of Farm Stay USA’s 15th anniversary! We’ve introduced you to the visionaries, the adventurers, and the enthusiasts—now it’s time to shine a light on the rest of us: the farms that didn’t quite fit neatly into any one category but were equally instrumental in building this movement.

These farms, including my own—Leaping Lamb Farm—started in the early 2000s. We weren’t just testing the waters, nor were we seasoned pros. We were somewhere in the middle, navigating the challenges of keeping our farms afloat while exploring new ways to share what we loved with others.

For us, farm stays weren’t just a fun idea—they were a lifeline. In my case, the concept quite literally saved our farm. Opening our doors to guests gave us the financial and emotional support we needed to keep going. And as I looked around the country, I realized we weren’t alone. There were incredible farms and ranches doing the same thing—but scattered, hard to find, and operating without a shared platform.

So, with the help of a USDA grant and a whole lot of determination, we launched Farm Stay USA: a centralized site where curious travelers could discover authentic rural experiences, and where farmers could find community, visibility, and support. We knew it worked in places like Italy and the U.K.—why not here? Why not invite people out to the countryside, just a short drive from their homes, to reconnect with food, nature, and the people who make both possible?

It turns out, we were onto something.

Crow Farm Vineyard and Winery in Kennedyville MD, taken on by Judy and Roy Crow in 2008, is a third generation heritage farm. They transformed the family farm from dairy, wheat, corn and soy to grass-fed Angus beef and planted a vineyard. At this time they also opened their B&B. Their motto: “stay original” drives a growing business of selling their natural grass-fed beef to local citizens and restaurants in the area. Guests enjoy their quality estate wines and farm-to-table events in the Haybarn.  As Judy says, “Having the public be a part of your farm family takes commitment and planning.” She thinks of safety first. Her husband enjoys taking guests to feed and rotate the cattle. Judy enjoys taking them to the chicken yard to collect eggs. The winemaker enjoys speaking about his wine making techniques. Even their volunteer gardener who manages the vegetable gardens gets into it and gives garden tours, enlisting guest help in return for veggies they can take home with them. One funny story had to do with the guest who sent a message saying how much they had enjoyed their stay but on return home had cooked some of the corn they had taken from the field that was just terrible. Judy had to explain that the corn they had picked was field corn for the cattle and not human consumption! In the end, the reward for hosting guests doesn’t come from other family members or staff but rather from the guests themselves. Having outsiders see the efforts and dedication to farming that is rewarded with money and kind words is the greatest compliment, improving morale and keeping these farmers smiling.

Fairwind Farms in North East MD actually started to host guests in 1999. JoAnn and Ted Dawson had dreamed of having a B&B where they could share a farm experience. They finally found their farm and made their dream come true, not only inviting guests to stay over, but their horses as well! They advise new farm stay owners to be open and welcoming to visitors, showing them around and patiently answering questions. They feel it important to realize many may never have seen or been near any kind of farm animals, even dogs, so they try to help them ease into the experience. Collecting eggs from the chicken house is always fun for the questions…and for the answers. Asking how many eggs a chicken lays in a day has had some funny answers and one adult even asked once what the farm does with the eggs after collecting them. The thought was that the eggs had to go to the store first before they could be eaten. When asked for a favorite story, JoAnn referred to her book “Bed, Breakfast, and Beyond: Twenty Years of Kooky Guests, Gentle Ghosts, and Horses in Between” for some of the more interesting experiences. As for why they listed on the Farm Stay USA site, JoAnne feels is has always been a well-respected platform that pairs guests with just the right farm experience they are searching for, making life easy for the farmer as well.

Leaping Lamb Farm is a small family sheep farm in the Coast Range of Oregon. Scottie and Greg Jones moved to the farm in 2003 as new farmers and by 2008 had launched their farm stay when it became evident that running a small-scale lambing operation was not going to pay to fix the tractor. Luck was on their side for getting the word out: Sunset Magazine mentioned them, the Today Show included the farm in a summer travel piece, and the Oregonian ran a front page story – all within the first year. That and word-of-mouth have kept them busy ever since. Scottie launched Farm Stay USA in 2010 because she recognized a need for farms doing what she was doing to show up on one site…and she was tired of searching Google to help guests find another farm stay when she was booked! Guests at Leaping Lamb Farm are invited to help with chores and love this part, whether it is feeding hay to the sheep, helping with lambing, or “scooping poop”. Of course, for that last chore the option is always given to cuddle goats instead. It’s the hands-on activities that make people keep coming back. As for the reward, when kids say the experience is better than Disneyland and the parents comment on the “best vacation ever” and re-book for the next year, it’s enough to know an impact has been made…and for the better. Also that the tractor can be fixed because of the added income. While Farm Stay USA has taken a moment to find its place in the travel world because both guests and farms have had to be educated about farm stays: what they were, why they were a unique experience, their importance. 15 years (and Covid) later, it all makes sense. Her memoir, Country Grit: A Farmoir of Finding Love and Purpose, was published in 2017.

Sweet Retreat Guesthouse and Sugarworks in Northfield, Vermont is owned by Hannah and Ray Morvan. Having bought the property in 1992, the Morvans built a guest house for friends to visit during sugaring season in spring and leaf season in fall. In 2001 they decided to turn the guest house into a farm stay business. The primary product for the farm is maple syrup produced in their Sugarworks building and sold both wholesale and retail in finely etched bottles. But, the farm is also home to Heritage Ox Farm where show oxen are raised and trained to take to fairs, parades and demonstrations. The experience on the farm is observational for guests rather than hands-on as both areas of production (Sugarworks and Ox Farm) can be dangerous. Instead, guests can enjoy hiking and cross country skiing on the trails throughout the 400 acre farm. Hannah’s advice to those considering hosting guests on farm property is to think about what guests will be allowed to do. One should always be conscious of the liability risks and post signage addressing the risks of visiting a farm. Her most memorable story has to do with the ongoing education of guests about the oxen. Brought to the farm as steers, these animals are not oxen until they are trained. Somewhere in between, they are called Handy Steers. It takes four years for a steer to become a fully-trained oxen. The Morvans were introduced to a European head yoke style which lashes the yoke to the bony part of the head at the base of the horns while up in Nova Scotia scouting for steers. The oxen wear decorative leather face pads and collars with brass bells hanging from the collars.  Interestingly, a number of guests who have found Sweet Retreat through their Farm Stay USA profile are farmers from all over (New Zealand being the furthest away) trying to learn either about sugaring or oxen (or both).

Willet Ponds Horse Farm in Todd North Carolina is a horse farm owned by Walton Conway. Soon after he and his wife, Betty, set up their horse farm in 2005, their closest neighbor put his house up for sale. It was the original old farmhouse for the land they were living on. They decided to offer the Old Farmhouse as a guest house to share their dream. In subsequent years they were able to buy out two more neighbors, piecing the old farm back together, and adding more houses for guests. They sell eggs, poultry, firewood, trout, apples and more, but the real treasure there is intangible.  Set in the back of a secluded valley with 100+ acres of mountain views, streams, trails, and meadows, Willet Ponds Farm offers the perfect Appalachian mountain farm stay.  For farms considering doing what Walton does, he advises “Do it! Our youth have a great hunger and need for wholesome, hands-on experiences. Our most important crop is the next generation!’  The more we share, the more comes back to us.” When asked for a favorite farm chore shared with guests, it’s an enthusiastic “mucking the barn!” Kids learn to drive a wheelbarrow, use a rake and shovel. Parents discover that their kids can work! And they all go home with a new idea about what a vacation can be. Walton says he still smiles thinking about the lady who exclaimed, “If you had told me yesterday that I’d be shoveling horse manure on my vacation!!!” A particular family has returned to the farm many times over the years. Each time Walton finds unique experiences for them to enjoy: pressing apple cider, building a holzhausen, even slaughtering a deer. Most recently they brought chainsaws with them and spent their vacation helping to clear trees blown down by hurricane Helene. The farmer was humbled. For Willet Ponds, Farm Stay USA has been instrumental in connecting them with families far and wide who seek out farm experiences when they travel. The guests sent from the site are always enthusiastic and eager to celebrate their mission–connecting people to the land and life in the country.

Conclusion

Looking back on the last 15 years, we’re filled with gratitude and awe—for the farms that took a chance, for the guests who showed up with curiosity and open hearts, and for the growing community that continues to believe in the power of agritourism. From the trailblazers to the new farmers and ranchers just starting out, each story shapes the vibrant patchwork that is Farm Stay USA.

This may be the final part of our anniversary series, but it’s not the end of the journey. We’re more inspired than ever to keep growing, connecting, and sharing the magic of life on a working farm or ranch.

Here’s to the next 15 years—and to all of you who make this movement matter. Thank you for being part of our story.

(Header photo courtesy of Willet Ponds Farm)

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Welcome to Part 3 of our special anniversary series celebrating the passionate pioneers behind Farm Stay USA! As we mark 15 years of connecting travelers with authentic, working farms and ranches across the country, we’re turning the spotlight on the spirited founding members who believed in the dream from day one and helped turn it into a thriving national network.

When Farm Stay USA first launched in 2010, farm stays were virtually unheard of in the U.S., a far cry from their popularity in Europe. Many Americans didn’t realize it was even possible to spend the night on a farm; let alone why they might want to. But a small group of forward-thinking farmers and ranchers saw the potential in opening their gates and sharing their lives with curious, countryside-seeking travelers.

From the very beginning, we walked alongside these early adopters, offering support, tools, and a community that celebrated the value of rural hospitality. Together, we nurtured a vision of agritourism rooted in connection, education, and genuine experience.

Fifteen years later, these farms have flourished. They’ve grown into confident, innovative businesses, continually adapting like all successful small farms do. Their voices are stronger, their offerings richer, and their place in the agricultural landscape well-earned.

We are incredibly proud to have been part of their journey and even more excited for what’s to come next.

B and B Orchards, located outside of Salem, Oregon was inherited by the next generation in 2011. The hazelnut orchard had been leased out and the family was not in a position to move to the farmhouse or take over operations right away. 3rd generation, Bari, and her 4th generation son, Anthony, became aware of Farm Stay USA’s website that would allow them to share the farm with others. With a few upgrades and just the right number of modern touches, the farmhouse retained all the warmth and coziness of grandma’s house.  These days, taking visitors around the farm and through the hazelnut orchard is a favorite: explaining how hazelnuts flower, set nut clusters, and are harvested. Equally popular, especially with kids, is visiting the farm animals: feeding the chickens, goats, cows and barn cats, and collecting fresh eggs. One family even spent an afternoon helping to plant flowers in the garden beds, their children wide-eyed and excited to dig in the soil, choose each plant’s spot and asking questions. As for advice to others, Anthony and his mother began modestly and learned as they went along. They searched out best practices, fostered strong relations with their neighbors stayed informed about local zoning regulations and even found grants and cost-share opportunities to offset some of their setup expenses.

Dogwood Hills is owned by Ruth and Thomas Pepler. The farm is located in Harriet, Arkansas and now offers a hands-on experience starting with morning chores, milking, harvesting fodder, gathering eggs, feeding the animals, and checking in on the babies as they arrive. It didn’t start this way. The first iteration before knowing about farm stays started with hosting pastors and their families in 2009. Their guests would walk down during chores and ask to help. It was the beginning of an idea. Ruth found Farm Stay USA and joined. She asked other farms about their setups and began from there with the assistance of her then teenage daughter. Her advice: start simply and as you get that operation under your belt, you can add another. Do things well and think through the business plan.  Her farm has grown with cooking classes, a cooking show, a barbecue contest and more. Her favorite chore with guests is milking the cows, starting with the hydroponic barley fodder they hand feed, then on to the milk stand and the entire process of brushing down the cow, cleaning and milking. Afterwards everyone heads upstairs for a full farm breakfast made with the farm fresh milk. As for favorite guest interaction, Ruth tells of the guest that was very animal shy, scared to death of everything from the moths to the dogs and when she finally put a squirt of milk in the can, she just screamed and then squealed with delight. For Ruth and her daughter, Farm Stay USA proved more than a platform to advertise their property. It opened up international travel for them through USAid to help other farm communities set up agritourism operations and it gave the farm its own community in which to engage and share and learn best practices.

Serenity Sheep Farm Stay brilliantly converted two shepherd’s wagons to welcome guests on her farm, located halfway between Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park in Belgrade, Montana. LaVonne opened in 2009 after discovering (from us) that there was a thing called a “farm stay” and it could be something she added to her farm to generate additional income. Originally one of her favorite chores with guests was to show them how to milk her goats. These days the goats are gone and instead she runs a wool mill where guests can learn the process of taking a sheep fleece and turning it into roving. LaVonne’s advice to farms thinking of starting up with a farm stay – make friends with your local county health and planning departments in order to understand what permits you might need and what you are actually allowed and not allowed to do on your property. Her other bit of advice when it comes to hosting guests – you never know who they might be. She admits she is a “hugger” and she includes this in her welcome note just in case this is something that might make a guest uncomfortable. One guest asked if she really did hug her guests because he had read all her material. When she queried him as to why he was checking, he responded “I like to know what I am headed into.” It turns out he was an FBI Investigative agent! Farm Stay USA gave LaVonne a basis for her operation that has now welcomed guests from 29 countries and all over the U.S. As one of her friends said, “Leave it to LaVonne to bring the world to her.”

Stillwaters Farm is a family owned and operated 153+ acre farm and vineyard in Henderson, Tennessee with a menagerie of animals (including a peacock!) and gardens. Valeria began hosting guests in 2007. At first it was just a way to accommodate friends and family who wanted to visit the Pitonis since they had uprooted their lives in a move from Florida to Tennessee. This quickly turned into a career decision with Valeria focused on educating guests about the important role agriculture plays in everyone’s lives. With the opening of her farm to guests, there were lessons learned. Be yourself in your presentation as all farm hosts are as varied as what they grow. Use direct booking to save your guests the additional fees – this also is more efficient (for everyone) and makes interactions more personal without a middleman. Her favorite experiences with guests these days revolve around the grape harvest from the vineyard recently installed in 2023. They are able to truly engage their senses in the feel, the smell and of course the taste of a ripe wine grape. As for memorable experiences, Valeria tells of a young man who brought his mom to the farm specifically to learn how to build a compost bin. They spend a Saturday together building a small one where the boy learned how to use power tools, think through the process and enjoy a job well done. Only a year later, he passed away, but his mom still visits from time to time because this was one of his favorite places in the world, a bond they will have for life. Farm Stay USA, for Stillwaters Farm, gave them the credibility they were looking for as part of a network of farmers who work hard, share their knowledge and believe in their collective future.

Vermont Grand View Farm is located in Washington, Vermont just south of Montpellier and closer to the Canadian border than to New York City. The farm is run by Kim Goodling and her family. They first started hosting guests in about 2005 after purchasing their farm and realizing it was the perfect setup for what they were then calling a “bed and breakfast”. The farm is recognized as having Vermont’s first flock of Gotland sheep, an endangered wool breed from Denmark that is slowly being revived in the U.S.  Not just about the sheep, Kim has connected her guests with Vermont’s rich agricultural life, teaching about maple sugaring, shepherding, fiber arts, and sustainable farming. They can help with chores or just settle back to snuggle with the sheep. Farm Stay USA has helped Kim spread the word about her farm and what she offers. Guests have arrived to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. They have come to grieve the loss of loved ones and to get lost on the dirt county roads. They’ve come to get engaged and then write wedding vows. They’ve been opera composers, internationally know singing groups, Pixar graphic artists, German knitting experts, journalists, photographers, people from Siberia, Australia, Italy, India, Canada, Japan, Germany and France. The most memorable was the very first family who had a little girl. She went to help collect eggs. When she felt how warm the freshly laid egg felt, she went running to her grandmother sitting on the porch and held it out to her saying “Look, the hen laid an egg, and she even cooked it!” Teaching moments come in all shapes and forms and for all age levels and farmers like a good laugh now and then to see the farm as an outsider.

As we celebrate the enthusiasm and evolution of our founding members, we’re reminded that the farm stay movement in the U.S. has always been fueled by heart, hustle, and a deep love for the land. These early partners dared to try something new and helped shape a community that continues to grow.

But the story doesn’t end here.

In the coming weeks, we’ll share Part 4 – The Rest of Us, featuring a final group of farms that also launched in the early 2000s. those who, like Leaping Lamb Farm (my own!), were neither brand new nor deeply seasoned when they joined the Farm Stay USA family. The last part in this series offers a personal glimpse into how this movement not only supported other farms, but also helped save my own and how a vision for a nationwide farm stay platform took root. Stay tuned!

If you haven’t read Part 1 – The Trailblazers or Part 2 – The Ranchers be sure to check them out!

(Header photo courtesy of Dogwood Hills)

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As Farm Stay USA celebrates 15 years of promoting authentic farm stays and agritourism experiences across the country, we continue our spotlight on the 21 founding members who helped shape this vibrant national network of working farms and ranches.

In part two of this four-part series, we feel like this is the perfect moment to answer a common question: What’s the difference between a farm and a ranch?

In some parts of the country, what might be called a ranch in Montana is called a farm in North Carolina (and vice versa). Property owners decide what feels most accurate for their operation, often influenced by regional language and local traditions.

At Farm Stay USA, we use “farm stay” as a catch-all term—one that includes milking cows and herding them, picking apples and fixing fences. Ranches are an integral part of this story, even if they have to roll with the “farm” label now and then.

This week, we’re featuring a few of our founding ranch members out west—where the skies stretch wide, the hospitality runs deep, and guests come home with memories (and maybe a little dust on their boots).

As with Part I, we used a light-touch Q&A format to gather reflections—some ranchers followed it to the letter, others blazed their own trail. Just like their operations, no two stories are the same:

Montana Bunkhouses Working Ranches based in Livingston MT is a collection of about 20 working ranches offering a look into ranch life from the back of a horse. In 2002 Karen Searle founded the organization as an agritourism co-op modeled on the European Farm Holiday program. She educated, then coordinated some of her ranching neighbors to add lodging as a diversified income stream as they worried about passing down their ranches to the next generation. She set out to be the go-between and to find paying guests who were not looking for the lux experience of a dude ranch but rather  the hands-on opportunity of a cow poke. Karen has always known her strength as a match-maker but her advice for someone just entering the business is to not reinvent the wheel. Rather take advantage of the types of training Farm Stay USA offers, as well as mentors in the field and local extension services. Now in its third decade as a cooperative, Karen is proudest of her organization being selected for the National Geographic Tourism MapGuide of the Greater Yellowstone area. They are the only Montana ranch-vacations to have met the criteria for authenticity of experience, culture and heritage. While she sees a benefit to her ranch owners in dollars and the ability of a family’s son or daughter being able to return home to carry on the ranching tradition, she also recognizes the non-tangible joy of sharing a way of life that is hidden to most.

Howard Creek Ranch in Westport CA is an historic 60 acre, ocean front farm, bordered by miles of beach and mountains on the beautiful Mendocino Coast. The farm opened to guests in 1978. When asked why they started up, the answer was “because it was here!” The ranch includes farm animals (sheep, llama, goats, horses), award winning gardens, fireplaces/wood stoves, a 75 foot swinging foot bridge over Howard Creek, hot tubs, on-site hiking, 1000 year old redwoods, and horseback riding on the beach or in the mountains. Favorite farm chores with guests include bottle feeding calves, lambs, kids and foals. Because of the location, there are all forms of wildlife. One year their dog treed a bear and a guest’s dog joined in the fun with plenty of barking all morning long. The bear finally left and never returned and luckily the dogs remained uninjured, but not for lack of effort and enthusiasm. (Editor’s note: this is why a number of farms do not allow people’s pets to accompany them on the visit. Farms provide too many options for dogs to get into trouble, either with livestock or with wildlife.) As for joining Farm Stay USA 15 years ago, interactions with the guests who have found the farm via the site have” been lovely and a wonderful addition to our lives.” – Charles and Sally Griggs.

Rustridge Ranch in St. Helena CA is a rustic Napa Valley property: a thoroughbred racehorse ranch, a vineyard and a winery, and a bed and breakfast. The B&B opened in 1989 just before Napa County put a moratorium on B&Bs. The operation didn’t actually start hosting guests until 1990. There had been talk of doing this, as the family was always hosting friends in their large rambling house in the middle of nowhere, but the changing laws hurried up the process. It also felt like a good way to promote the winery. These days guests can join in for chores at feeding time, sip wine in the tasting room while surveying the vineyards, and maybe even be lucky enough to watch a young racehorse running down the vineyard aisles for a workout. A fond memory for Susan centers on a particular family group from years ago. The couple, having visited the ranch as adults,  went on to have three children of their own. The oldest child loved horses and the couple remembered Rustridge and brought her to visit when she was nine years old. After that, they came every summer. Their daughter helped out, knew all of the animals and their histories, and would greet guests and give them a tour as if the ranch was her home. As for becoming an inn-keeper, Susan felt she really didn’t know what she was doing to start but guests would make suggestions that she would adopt. She wanted to be the best host she could be. When problems arise, she will ask if the guests have a solution. Generally these solutions are fair and everyone walks away feeling good. Napa Valley has not become easier for farm stays in the years since Rustridge opened, but Farm Stay USA has stayed true as an advocate for this kind of experience and the ranch has been able to promote what it has to offer under the more descriptive banner.

Willow Witt Ranch is a located in a box canyon nearly a mile high in the Southern Cascades near Ashland, Oregon. The 445 acres feature meadows filled with wildflowers, conifer forests, oak woodlands, springs, wetlands, and streams flowing from the crest of the Bear Creek Watershed. The ranch, owned since the early 1980s by Suzanne Willow and Lanita Witt, has been a project of theirs – to rehabilitate an overgrazed landscape into conservation areas, regenerative organic vegetable gardens and responsible livestock farming of goats, sheep, chickens and geese. The women started sharing their property in the form of a B&B studio attached to their farmhouse back in 1986 but it wasn’t until 2008 that they dove into a more serious farm stay format. The campground was added in 2010 and their Meadow House reverted from a full-time rental in 2012. While the property is expansive, Suzanne has found over the years that it’s best to set boundaries to protect your time, decide what you like to do in terms of hospitality mixing with farming,  and start small, then grow as it makes sense. Interacting with guests has been fun when taking a hike that included the goats and always allows for some education about the land. Her best guest experience: a father and his two sons came to the ranch three years in a row. On the third year the younger boy watched a goat giving birth. He was handed one of the slippery kids to dry off, at which point he turned to his dad and said, “This is the best day of my life!” As an Oregon ranch, Farm Stay USA  always held a kinship and was the #1 referral for their business. The larger benefit for Suzanne and Lanita was being part of a community where they could share their thoughts with those who knew exactly what they were talking about. Sadly, Lanita passed away in 2022. Suzanne continues to run the business which, besides the farm stay, includes an educational non-profit The Crest and The Forest Conservation Burial Ground.

Wilson Ranches Retreat is a family-run working cattle and hay ranch on 9,000 acres in the beautiful Butte Creek Valley outside of Fossil Oregon. Eight generations of the family have been involved in ranching in the Columbia River Plateau and John Day Basin since the 1870s. Today, the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th generations are still working the ranch! In 2000, Wilson Ranches Retreat Bed and Breakfast opened to guests, offering an opportunity to experience ranch living in Eastern Oregon’s high desert. Guests from all over the world have become a part of the Wilson Ranches family. Many have viewed the ranch from horseback and been involved in cattle drives and pasture moves. Laughter at the breakfast table has greased many a wheel. The tradition of pioneer hospitality and the privilege of being stewards of the land are gifts the family cherishes and hopes to pass on. For those thinking of hosting guests on the ranch, a good hearty breakfast is always welcomed and sitting around the table to share stories and history adds to the experience. Sharing one’s ranch is a labor of love for a way of life that is quickly disappearing and the impact of sharing one’s time more important than ever. Often introducing a little buckaroo to horseback riding, even adults who have never sat astride a horse, is rewarding in itself as there is nothing like seeing the countryside from the back of a ranch horse. Many guest experiences have been memorable but they also have common themes: connection, healing journeys, the joy of riding, and families. For Wilson Ranches Retreat, located in the home state of Farm Stay USA, the organization has been a champion for Oregon working farms and ranches offering hospitality, invaluable in sharing their stories, serving as a resource, and carving a pivotal place at the table for agritourism.

These ranchers brought something special to the table—bold hospitality, deep-rooted traditions, and a true love of the land. Whether it’s corralling livestock, gathering around a fire, or saddling up for an early morning ride, their stories capture the spirit of ranch life in all its dusty, dazzling glory.

We’re so grateful they saddled up with Farm Stay USA from the very beginning.

Next week, we shine a light on The Enthusiasts—a few founding members who got their launch with us but have since built something uniquely their own. Whether it’s a vineyard, a fiber farm, or a little slice of creative heaven, these stays remind us that there’s more than one way to share farm life.

If you haven’t read Part I: The Trailblazers, be sure to check it out!

(Header photo courtesy of Montana Bunkhouses Working Ranches)

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Fifteen years ago, Farm Stay USA launched with a big idea and a small website: to introduce Americans to the joy of staying overnight on a real working farm or ranch. But here’s the twist, when we showed up, we discovered something wonderful: many farm stays were already out there! They just weren’t called that yet. Some went by “farm vacations,” others by “working ranches” or “bed and breakfasts.”

Farm Stay USA gave these pioneers a home, a shared identity, and a place to be found by curious travelers. For others just getting started, we offered a framework, a sense of community, and a cheering section as they opened their gates to guests for the first time.

As part of our 15th anniversary celebration, we’re shining the spotlight on our 21 founding members. That’s a lot of inspiration to pack into one blog, so we’ve split their stories into four digestible parts.

We used a light-touch Q&A format to gather reflections, asking when and why they began hosting, what moments still stand out, what advice they’d give a new farmer-hoster, and how Farm Stay USA made a difference for them. In true farmer fashion, some followed instructions, some plowed their own path. And just like the farms themselves, no two answers are the same.

We’re starting this series with the mentors, those generous trailblazers who were welcoming guests long before “farm stay” was a buzzword. They laid the groundwork for everything that followed.

East Hill Farm in Troy NH started hosting guests in the mid 1940s. At the time it was a small dairy farm and the owner decided to add some lodging for extra income. He expanded the business over the years, adding animals and amenities until the farm became a year-round family resort. In the 1970s, the next generation took over the farm, adding educational aspects including raising rare breed animals, cow and goat milking for guests, horseback riding, and butter and cheese making workshops. Currently Jennifer Adams and her siblings, part of the 4th generation, run the farm. Generations run in guests as well with some families having come to the farm for over 50 years! As for favorite experience, Jen runs a Farm School program where the kids spend 3 days and 2 nights working with the animals and the farmers. She loves to watch them move through the steps from being tentative to confident and curious, knowing she is sending them home with a better understanding of what it takes to be a farmer. When it comes to Farmstay, the site gave the farm a place to list nationally and the opportunity within its community to be a mentor to others.

Liberty Hill Farm, run by Beth and Bob Kennett, is located in Rochester VT and has been a pioneer in the agritourism movement since opening its doors to guests in 1984. Their multi-decades-long commitment to sustainability was recognized in 2008 when the farm was designated as Vermont’s first certified Green Agritourism Enterprise. Guests from around the world have stayed at this 120-head dairy that is part of the Cabot Creamery Co-op. Beth cooks breakfast and dinner for guests, shared around the farm house table. At this point she counts repeat guests in generations and in friendships. With tours on top of stays, guests can watch the milking process and even try their hand at manual milking. Feeding the calves, playing in the hayloft, walking in the fields, and in fall visits for the leaf change are all part of the experience. Beth’s suggestions for farms considering agritourism: look at what you like to do and make sure hospitality can fit into your farming schedule. Break up the responsibilities so the load does not become too much and, if you are cooking, stick with your favorite recipes. For the Kennetts, Farm Stay USA was a place to be recognized as the quintessential New England farm and the barn was the masthead of the site for many years.

Grace Note Farm in Pascoag RI, also known as the Benjamin Smith homestead farm c. 1730, is nestled in the northwest corner of Rhode Island adjacent to the George Washington Management area. It is a horse farm and riders can enjoy over six hours of riding on wide, mostly sandy trails that connect to Connecticut and Massachusetts. The inn opened in 2001 after Virginia built stalls for guest horses. Two factors helped with this decision: Virginia’s son announced the farm should pay for itself and two guests from a horse club who just happened to pull into the driveway suggested she become a B&B. Since opening, Virginia has found that both grownups and kids love to wash the horses and, in terms of the children, they love the freedom to roam, to collect eggs with her in the morning, and to ride beside her in her 4×4. She would advise new farm stay operators to make sure they have a private space of their own to retreat to; that guests are strangers until  they have completed their first visit; and that the Internet is best for marketing. As far as Farmstay, she felt it gave her national exposure and credibility as a working farm with lodging, not just a vacation rental. Now in her 80s, Virginia is about to close the barn door on guests but the experience has been worth the effort for the people she has met and the lives she has touched.

Hull-O Farms in Durham NY has been in the Hull family since its 1779 post-Revolutionary War founding. The farm has been recognized and designated by New York State as a National Bicentennial Farm. Sherry and her husband, Frank, started hosting guests in June 1994. Back then they were milking 80 cows and struggling financially. They decided, encouraged by a friend, to offer a farm “vacation” option in a cottage that stood on the farm grounds. Another friend who worked for a cable station on Long Island ran a free ad for them about this new vacation opportunity. Within 30 minutes of the ad running, the phone started ringing. Sherry has never looked back. While Sherry handles the hospitality end, farmer Frank oversees guests interaction on the farm. Top of these is collecting eggs, hand-milking the cows, playing with the barn cats, and enjoying s’mores and music around the campfire. Their advice to new farm stay hosts: welcoming visitors can be a lot of work but also incredibly rewarding. You must genuinely love people and be okay with sharing your personal space, so be flexible and do your due diligence about all the ins and outs of a farm stay. As for a particularly memorable experience, three years after the farm stay opened, a very excited 10-year-old boy ran into Sherry’s kitchen and said with great enthusiasm “Ms Sherry, this may just be the best day of my life.” In the end, Farm Stay USA helped to raise awareness about the novelty of a farm vacation by adding more farms into the travel niche,  even acting as a resource for other options Sherry could point to when they were full.

Labour of Love Landscaping and Nurserv, owned by Kate  Glover started hosting guests in 1985. Her nursery in Glover VT is known as a “local destination”, offering more than the typical small nursery with the addition of display gardens, tours, lodging in a restored 1800’s Greek Revival home, and a gift and craft shop that includes 30 varieties of homemade jams and jellies (from local fruits) and handwoven apparel and home items. Almost on the Canadian border, the farm routinely hosts international visitors. Not your traditional ‘farm’, Kate, the owner, grower and designer, takes the idea of growing plants and puts them in a retail setting so they can go home with you, while offering ideas for your own landscaping. Landscaping and growing is all there in farming, just by a different name. When it comes to advice for new farms starting out, Kate focuses on making her place look like somewhere she would like to visit and of all her “chores” she enjoys answering questions from visitors. One of her favorite visits was from a 6-year-old who told his parents to let him stay at the nursery because he liked it better than home! Just as many come across the border as international travelers, so Farm Stay USA sends Kate visitors from far and wide to share her little piece of heaven.

These early hosts were the quiet pioneers, the ones offering fresh eggs with their morning coffee and handing over pitchforks to eager guests long before “farm stay” had a name. Their creativity, grit, and love of sharing farm life set the stage for everything that’s followed. Without them, there would be no Farm Stay USA. We’re endlessly grateful they opened their barn doors and hearts, giving this movement its roots.

We hope you’ll stick with us in the weeks ahead as we continue this celebratory journey.

Next up: a few of our amazing ranches who’ve been with us from the start, where the stars are big, the hats are wide, and the hospitality is just as heartfelt.

(Header photo courtesy of East Hill Farm NH)

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Puerto Rico is often associated with its beautiful beaches, but venture inland, and you’ll discover a rich farming heritage that has withstood the test of time—and hurricanes. This American Territory has always been known for its farm exports: primarily coffee (once sought after by kings and queens in Europe), but also cacaos, plantains, and citrus. We wanted to see and experience farming in the interior, farms carved into steep hillsides that would seemingly defy commercial planting.

Everywhere we stopped, we were welcomed with hot meals and met farmers who were generous with their time and eager to share their knowledge. We discovered in our visits that Hurricane Maria (2017) had wiped out most of the crops and meant many had to start from scratch with replanting. Despite this devastation, these farmers are embracing innovation—experimenting with new crops like vanilla, focusing on sustainable farming, and adding agritourism in the form of farm stays to their operations.

Want to experience farming firsthand? These four farm stays offer a variety of accommodations—camping, cottages, and off-grid huts—all with breathtaking views.

Hacienda La Tradicion in Utuado is a coffee farm owned by  Carlos Casanos. He returned to Puerto Rico after Maria, having lived in the States for over 30 years, and wanting to come home to the land where he was born. He bought a farm and has been in the process of planting over 12,000 coffee trees, as well as growing chilies and bananas. We saw the drawings for the Hacienda he plans to build for guests. Currently he offers camping (on a flat grassy area!) and hikes throughout the farm to ponds and waterfalls.

Finca La Puertas de San Pedro in Utuado is a farm growing coffee, cacaos, plantains and citrus. It is owned by Madelyn Heredia and Jesus Alcaraz Suyas. Most of the crops were destroyed during Maria so much of the planting is new. There are two accommodations at this farm, both with incredible views over the valley and the farm below. One is a one-bedroom cottage (Casita Limani) with a full bath, living room, kitchen, and covered deck. The other cottage (Casita Marsellesa) can sleep up to four and has a kitchen; also with incredible views. Additionally, there are three campsites laid out.

Hacienda La Guadeloupe in Jayuya is owned by Vidal Irizarry and Lisandra Pabon. This is also a coffee, cacaos, plantain and citrus farm, just beginning to experiment with growing vanilla as well. We were given a tour of the greenhouses, helped to plant some cilantro, and got a lesson on drying coffee beans. The couple offer lodging in an apartment above the roasting area and in a private off-grid cabin down a steep track that also takes you by the pond where the farmers grow tilapia (fish). Three more cabins are coming online and camping is available. Besides farm and coffee tours, the farm offers a workshop on harvesting, processing, brewing, and roasting specialty and eco-friendly coffees.

Finca Destellos de Luz in Aguas Buena (Utuado), owned by Evelyn Ortiz and Max Perez, is better known as the Permaculture Institute of Puerto Rico.  Max led us on a tour to demonstrate the incredible planting of his farm, on the hillsides where he grows plantains and pineapple and in the areas around the buildings where one finds medicinal plants, flowers, herbs, and a fish pond (again for tilapia). There are two off-grid cabins to stay in with the most incredible views over a valley with a river below and a bath house with running water just steps away. There is also an on-grid cabin with its own bathroom and campsites on ground leveled for the purpose.

While not offering any lodging, we were fascinated to tour Amasar, an award-winning bread fruit flour factory in Jayuya. Breadfruit is considered a super food and grows throughout the Caribbean. Usually eaten as a fruit, the founders, a chemist and a biologist, were aware of its distinctive properties and realized they could mill it into a more stable flour to be used in baking (including a pancake/waffle mix). If you get to meet them, Marisol Villalobos and Jesus Martes are as enthusiastic as they are warm when recounting their business journey and their plans for the future of breadfruit.

If you are looking for some tasty local food, stop at the Buren Cafe in Arecibo on the way up to the farms. Owned by Casanos (Hacienda La Tradicion) and friends Jessika Tanner and her husband Mike, the cafe offers fresh pastries and sandwiches, along with coffee from Hacienda La Tradicion and honey from Jessika’s bees at Dulce Jibara.

Most vacations leave you with great memories, but few experiences are as deeply inspiring and perspective-shifting as stepping onto a farm, where culture and livelihood are intertwined. This trip was one of those moments, and I couldn’t wait to share it with the farm stay community.

A heartfelt thank you to our hosts for an unforgettable experience of Puerto Rican farm life—their generosity, resilience, and passion made this journey truly special.

(Banner and farmers photo credit to: West Virginia University Extension. Thank you.)

Side note: The roads to these farms are narrow and winding, but the journey is as breathtaking as the destination, with lush greenery and stunning mountain views at every turn. Spanish is the primary language but all of these farmers spoke enough English for those of us who spoke no Spanish to get by. The best communication is over a meal anyway – no words necessary.

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1) Since its launch in 2010, the Farm Stay USA site has identified and promoted working farms and ranches offering lodging for guests around the country. Back then the term ‘farm stay’ wasn’t an identifiable travel niche within the U.S. and only referred to farm lodging in Europe. It took a global pandemic for the larger, more popular booking sites (OTAs) to catch on to what we’ve known all along: farm stays offer the perfect blend of safety, space, and authenticity. Practically overnight, online booking agencies everywhere embraced the term ‘farm stay’ and ran with it.

2) Again, at its launch with USDA funding and then through the following years, Farm Stay USA has focused as much on educating farmers and ranchers about hosting overnight guests as it has on educating travelers about this unique experience, often an easy drive but a world away. While farmers are great at reading the weather, hospitality is not farming and our members know that. They have the expertise (and a dedicated farmer host) to make sure your stay is warm and inviting.

3) It’s hard to use the word ‘authentic’ if it’s not qualified by something. Farm Stay USA came up with Accreditation Standards for the farms promoted on the site. The standards incorporate four areas we think are important to be an authentic operation: a working farm or ranch with the owners/farm managers on-site; visitor friendly – often with hands-on activities; attention to safety and cleanliness; seasonal production from the farm and/or local food. Full transparency – the farms self-accredit satisfaction of all four standards.

4) Searches are offered by experiences and offerings, not just by location. As an example, you would like to help with chores on a farm stay or maybe bring your dog. The filters help to isolate those farms that qualify for your specific interests or needs. There are filters for Activities, Animals, Amenities, Food, Events, Lodging, Capacity, Accessibility and Pricing. Thus if you desire to milk a cow, you can make sure the farm a) has cows, b) has a dairy (which means they are milk cows), and c) offers the experience (some large dairies are fully automated).

5) We keep you from going down too many rabbit holes on your search for a farming or ranching experience. The OTAs added Farm and Farm Stay categories when the idea of a stay in the country began to trend. The issue for travelers in search of a true farm experience, though, was that anyone, property managers included, could use the tag in their listing without proof that they were offering anything more than a house in the countryside with nary a cow in sight. You could call Farmstay a curated site for the real thing.

6) Back to the Accreditation Standards, the farms and ranches on Farmstay have passionate people growing your food and oftentimes (if they have time), they are happy to educate their guests about what they do, sharing their way of life and speaking to the challenges and rewards of running a farm. This creates a deep cultural exchange that goes beyond a typical vacation. In a survey of members, when asked why they host overnight guests, 70% ranked education as a driver that made them proud to be the face of farming in the 21st century.

7) Finally, because Farm Stay USA is not a booking site, farm members are free to choose where the Book Now button on their profile leads. It might be to their listing on Airbnb. Just as easily, it might be reservation software on their own website that doesn’t charge booking or additional fees to their guests. Then again, we do have some farms that would just prefer you call them!

Do you dream of a countryside vacation away from an increasingly chaotic world? Does collecting eggs from the chicken coop sounds like more fun than pulling them off the refrigerated shelf at the grocery store? When have you ever had the chance for an inside look at farm life and the people who grow food for your table, other than a conversation at the farmers market? The experience will either have you changing careers or conjuring more weekends in the country.

So, start here first to find just the right farm or ranch stay. Go home with stories to tell for years to come of the farmers you met and the lifestyle you experienced.

(Header photo credit: Sister Grove Farm, Van Alstyne, TX)

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