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)

The post 15 Years of Farm Stay USA: Celebrating Our Roots and Honoring the Founders Who Helped Cultivate a Movement appeared first on Farmstay.

“Everything we eat has a story. Know what you eat.”
– from the Toddy Pond farm website

The story of Toddy Pond Farm in Monroe, Maine is not one of 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th generation farmers continuing in the family tradition. This is the story of ‘new’ farmers, Greg and Heide Purinton-Brown, who decided food and how it is grown was important to them and something they wanted to pursue. So, in 2014 Greg quit his 9 to 5 desk job and Heide, who had been homeschooling their two sons, switched gears to farming.

Flourishing Pastures

Originally planning to be caretakers of an existing farm in Monroe ME just to get their feet wet, they ended up buying it! Toddy Pond Farm, on the banks of Toddy Pond, is a 520-acre property with 30 acres of pasture used now for their cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, and bees. In just a few years, they were able to improve and provide permanent pasture for their livestock with rotational grazing. They don’t irrigate or fertilize their pastures because this would require the use of large amounts of fossil fuel. They don’t till the soil which would release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They plant clover for their bees. The pastures are flourishing with grasses up to the bellies of the cows.

Humane Dairy Farming

What is even more impressive about their operation is that the Purinton-Browns decided to enter the dairy business, one of the most challenging areas of farming! If you’re going to go down this risky path these days, you need to have a niche. Coming from a background as a vegetarian and an OB nurse before she became a farmer, Heide had a keen passion to make sure her livestock was treated humanely, and the way nature intended. So, unlike most dairies, the farm keeps calves with their mothers for their strong emotional bond, and the cows are only milked once a day.

Milking once a day had additional benefits these farmers wanted in their finished products. The full-fat Jersey milk, higher in protein and fat than from cows milked twice a day, made for a wonderful tasting yogurt, now the farm’s signature product. Offered in plain and vanilla flavors, the Toddy Pond label can be found not only at their farmers market stand and at their on-farm store, but also in local groceries. Of course, there are other products to find at their on-farm store: packaged meats, from ground lamb to pork sausage, kefir, eggs, honey, and ice cream in season.

An Idyllic Getaway

Does all of this make you want to stay at Toddy Pond Farm to get a better feel of farm life…and how taste is grown and finished? Or maybe just kick back at your own private farm retreat in the middle of 500 acres with cows and sheep grazing off the porch, grab a kayak for the pond or hike the many trails through the woods?

Toddy Pond offers the quintessential week-long farm stay in the summer, when the farm is in top production, and three-day stays for the shoulder seasons. Guests stay in a gorgeous, fully restored 4-bedroom cottage that sleeps 7, has a large kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms, and screened in porch.  It’s the perfect place for an unplugged vacation.

Check out the Toddy Pond Farm listing here on Farm Stay USA… then book a stay and make your own story!

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Rêves de Moutons translates roughly to “the dreams of the sheep” or “sheep dreams”, which sounds a lot like sweet dreams, which becomes reality when you find you can stay on a sheep farm in the heart of Paso Robles wine country!

Meet Evan and Kristy Bishop – a lovely young couple who opened their Inn, farm, and fromagerie in 2014, following their own dream to create a place where they might ultimately retire, but while still young could enjoy a region of their choice and be productive participants in the landscape and community.

Evan and Kristy raise sheep and goats for milk, cheese, meat, and wool. They are working to become a certified dairy (hopefully by spring), and then will be able to sell their cheese to their lucky guests.

Evan spent summers at the family dairy in Maine and is a photographer by trade; Kristy was in the health industry until the couple settled down to make their way on the farm.

Best of all, rather than keep their beautiful farm to themselves, they decided to open an inn for guests! Here you can stay in luxury retro style campers with plush queen sized beds and fully equipped kitchens, as well as an intimate community courtyard for hosting a group retreat or meeting the other guests. If you prefer, there are two rooms in the farm house shared with the Bishops.

Daily farm tours and meet and greets with the flock of sheep and goats allows guest to get the farm experience without having to muck out the pens! Or, if guests want the full hands-on experience, that can happen too. Evan is happy for the help with the feeding and the milking, and Kristy will hand you an extra muck rake if you are willing.

Pricing starts at $149 per night in the glamping trailers, identified as Bliss, Harmony, and Joy. Or rent all three for a family reunion or holiday with friends for $349. The two rooms in the farm house are available on Airbnb (search for Rêves de Moutons) for $129 per night, and these include breakfast.

The lodging is bordered by a vineyard on one side and the farm’s livestock on the other. Use the farm as a base camp for all there is to do and see in the area. It’s a quiet retreat from the hustle and bustle of life and you might just find that you don’t go anywhere but fall into the gentle rhythm of the countryside with a glass of wine and a good book!

For more information, check out the Rêves de Moutons listing here at Farm Stay USA, or visit them on their website, Facebook, or Instagram (a must follow, for more of these gorgeous photos)!

All photos courtesy Rêves de Moutons.

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Guests and visitors to the farm can also opt to sign up for a cheese making class, where they learn to make chèvre, mozzarella, or cheddar cheese. They also give the option of milking the cows and goats in the morning before class!

Overnight guests have the option to be “farmer for a day”, which includes hands-on egg-collecting, feed and water the ponies and horses, feed and milk the goats, and observe cow milking. Draft horses help with much of the everyday farm work during certain seasons.

The farm itself dates back to about 1850 and run by two families until Kathleen Fields purchased it in 1997. Vacationers can choose to stay in the farm house, where there are two rooms with queen beds, plus a room with twin beds, or stay in a mobile home/RV that is situated in the six acres of woods on the property.

Camps are offered during the summer, including Farm Camp, Horse Lovers Camp, and Kindercamp. More information can be found on the farm’s website.

Start planning your trip to Flint Hill Farm today!

Enjoy a closer peek at Flint Hill Farm through this video:

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Liberty Hill Farm forms a lovely bucolic picture: a 102-cow dairy and inn nestled along the White River between the steep hills in Central Vermont. There’s a tall red barn where guests can try milking a cow or feeding the calves. There’s a cozy 1800s farmhouse where guests sleep, eat two home cooked meals a day, and relax, either in the comfy sitting room or on a rocker on the roomy porch. There’s also an abundance of nature to enjoy – swimming, tubing and fishing along the White River, hiking and biking through the Green Mountain National Forest, and berry bushes and flowers growing on the wild pieces of the property. In winter, opportunities abound for both cross-country and downhill skiing.

Beth and Bob Kennett have owned Liberty Hill Farm since 1979. Their two grown sons have recently come back to work on the farm as well. The farm is a proud member of the Cabot Creamery Cooperative, makers of “The World’s Best Cheddar” according to a spate of cheese competition awards. Liberty Hill Farm itself has also garnered a suite of awards: in 2008 it was designated as “Vermont’s 1st Green Agritourism Enterprise.” In 2010, the farm was among the few destinations selected for an Editor’s Choice “Best of New England” award from Yankee Magazine. The farm has been consistently highlighted in the media, including USA Today, The Boston Globe, and ABC News.

These accolades are well deserved: Beth Kennett is an incredible hostess, and a pioneer of and charismatic spokeswoman for Vermont agritourism — she’s been hosting guests in her farmhouse since 1984.

I chatted with Beth as she and her friend Lois danced around the kitchen cooking up dinner for 15 guests. Beth regaled me with fascinating tidbits about the history and challenges of the dairy industry and about the incredible impact her farm stay has had on some of her guests. She told me about one man who arrived with serious doubts about spending time on a farm again, having grown up on one. This man, Beth told me, hugged her tightly and literally cried with gratitude as he left, as if the farm stay at Liberty Hill had allowed him a true emotional release. Another guest has visited every year since she was a small child, and now brings her own children for summer vacations to the farm.

Beth loves to cook, and she treats guests to two homemade meals a day featuring Cabot dairy products and food from her neighbors’ farms. The dinner menu includes mouthwatering fare like cheddar biscuits, maple cranberry chicken, rice pilaf with wild ramps, and maple pumpkin ice cream for dessert.

Liberty Hill Farm also hosts wonderful knitting retreats oriented towards cancer support and charity – knitted items are often donated to local hospitals and organizations.

Liberty Hill Farm can host up to 17 guests in the farmhouse. Rates (includes lodging, breakfast, and dinner) are $98 per adult, $75 per teenager, $54 for children under 12, and kids 2 and under stay free. For more information on Liberty Hill Farm, visit their Farm Stay USA listing.

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