Thistle Byre farm is a family farm located in Burnettsville, Indiana with over 80 acres of pastures, gardens, and woodlands. It is owned and operated by Abby Abbott-Rider and her husband Jeff Rider. Abby is passionate about sustainable agriculture, healthy, NON-GMO food and sharing her quiet, tranquil property with anyone who wants to learn about sustainable, healthy living.

Below written by Abby Abbott-Rider of Thistle Byre Farm

I grew up on a farm in Central New York and have been passionate about agriculture from a young age. My play-pen was often put on a wagon and taken to the field so I was not far from my parents as they worked together on my family’s dairy, potato, apple and grain farm. My parents have always loved welcoming visitors from around the world on their farm. Growing up meeting and listening to these travelers and their stories drew me to pursue international travel – especially to farms around the world. Several of the European farms I stayed at were the highlight of my travels and they sparked in me the desire to give others the same opportunity in the US – just as my folks did. It was because of traveling that I was also led to pursue coursework in international agriculture at Purdue University, before settling down to graduate with a more production-oriented degree in agriculture.

Thistle Byre is a family farm where my husband’s cousins were raised. They remember fields of strawberries and watermelon on part of their farm that was about 1 mile from the main farm up a private, beautiful, gravel road. We are located in the heart of rural, northern Carroll County’s rolling, wooded hillsides. The main farm is located on a dirt road but is not far from the amenities of a lake town – Monticello, Indiana – where water sports abound and shopping is available. We are also very close to Purdue University and the Lafayette area; the home of great sports and culturally-diverse offerings year round.

In addition to being a farmer, I am an adult, nurse-practitioner. Although I am a prescriber of medicine, I know the most powerful prescription is clean food. As a woman who has battled autoimmune disease, I know the power of clean food on a cellular level. It is my hope our visitors can learn to appreciate clean food, raised with care and concern for our environment. I believe as hosts we learn so much from our visitors and it is the rich stories shared by my guests that make this fun for me, and in turn, I want to teach visitors about how clean food is grown and raised.

At Thistle Byre, we’re passionate about modeling responsible land-stewardship, growing and raising our food using ecologically beneficial methods, and we strive to teach others about how to grow their own food in a sustainable way for a healthy and nurturing home. Therefore, we humanely raise NON-GMO-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free meats and NON-GMO, vegetables, fruits and herbs. Our sheep and cow herds are 100% grass-fed and pastured. The sheep are Katahdin/St. Croix cross, hair sheep and the cows are also a cross of Galloway/Devon with a bit of Black Angus. These are hearty crosses that can withstand the harsh, winter weather we often have. Our Red Wattle/Berkshire cross pigs are fed NON-GMO corn and a 16% protein NON-GMO hog ration. We are a farrow-to-finish operation and also sell our extra feeder pigs to individuals that want to raise their own pork. Our chickens are a mixture of breeds that are given NON-GMO feed and have exposure to grass in the summer. Turkeys, ducks, and goats can be found here as well. The farm has a large market garden and we like to put our energy into the herbs and veggies our family enjoys canning and freezing.

-Abby Abbott-Rider

The Thistle Byre Farm stay is a remote, peaceful place in the countryside located in a private wooded area – a mile down a country lane to the main farm – and boasts clear night skies away from city lights. During your stay, the hosts invite you to learn about sustainable farming by taking free guided tours of the farm to meet the livestock and peruse the gardens. The farm offers fresh flowers and a dozen farm-fresh eggs and has many additional offerings for a fee: a farm-to-fork, 3-course dinner by a campfire once a month (June-Sept), tours, gardening and canning classes, and a CSA basket for guests who book 1 week. The fully-furnished, spacious farmhouse is newly remodeled with 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, a reading nook filled with books and games and an outdoor fire-pit (for s’mores!) stocked with complimentary wood.

Thanks to Abby for sharing about her lovely farm and farm practices. If you’re an Indiana native and want a quiet, local getaway or if you’ve always wanted to visit Indiana’s countryside, check out Thistle Byre’s profile to learn more.

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David and Caroline Owens bought their first farm in 1992 in Pelham, NH as a place to raise their kids and grow their own food. Caroline was a former vocational agriculture teacher with a degree from Cornell now working for a feed company; David was a biomedical  engineer with a degree from Boston University. Soon enough, friends and neighbors were asking to buy meat from them. They were on the cusp of the local, pasture-raised food movement raising sheep, pigs, cattle, chickens, and turkeys. They jumped all in.

Fast forward to 2006 when the size of the Owens’ operation had outgrown the existing farm infrastructure. Caroline and David began the search for something on the East Coast with more acreage, especially in pasture for their burgeoning sheep business. The search led them to the current 112 acre Owens Farm in Sunbury, PA in 2008, and they have been farming the land there ever since. Located in the beautiful rolling hills of the Susquehanna River Valley, they have found their ‘forever’ farm.

The Owens currently raise sheep, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, selling to local families. No small production, they birth upwards of 175 lambs in March, with piglets in April and October, and chicks brought on farm in April to grow into meat birds. All are heritage breeds raised sustainably on a rotational system through the pastures. To help move the sheep flock, part of which spends the summer controlling vegetation under the solar panels at Susquehanna University, the Owens include border collies in their animal count.

The Owens offer classes in Lambing and Sheep 101 for individuals with or thinking about getting sheep, beekeeping and honey making, and a Sheep Bootcamp for Ag teachers. They also offer tours of their farm for a close-up look at how they raise happy and healthy animals in a natural setting without the use of chemical inputs.

As exhausting as all the above activity sounds, the Owens decided to ‘share’ their farm with overnight guests starting in 2015 because they felt the benefit of 24+ hours on site gave a much clearer picture of farm life from dawn to dusk. They also had loved to travel when their kids were young and often stayed in unconventional lodging or looked for home stays.

A former carriage barn became the ‘farm stay’, and the Owens now host guests from mid-March to November when there are the most hands-on activities (and least amount of mud!). When asked about guests’ reactions to their stay, Caroline mentions her conversations tend towards the seasonality of things – that livestock births happen during the months that most benefit survival and production, not everyday on the farm; that summer is the best (and most prolific) time to eat out of the farm garden; that grass grows fastest in spring and summer so animals are rotated through the pastures to keep it fresh and not overgrazed… also when they send out their band of sheep to keep the solar arrays cleared; like that. Additionally, there is great surprise in the abilities of her working dogs to herd and corral the sheep (probably because Rover at home is not so well behaved or interested in a job!)

This farm might be in PA but it’s right off I-80 with guests arriving from New York City, Baltimore and DC in 2-4 hours. So, if you ever want to throw yourself into the middle of a working operation with 112 acres to roam, and you find yourself in Pennsylvania or had a hankering to go to Pennsylvania, Owens Farm just might fit the bill. Take an unplugged vacation, not because there is no wifi but because your electronics don’t hold a candle to this farm experience!  Retreat to the country and breathe it all in. We can promise you your trip home will be filled with stories of your stay and your camera will be filled with the photos to back it up.

Check out Owens Farm here on Farm Stay USA for more information and to book your stay today!

(All photos courtesy Owens Farm)

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