Celebrate Mom with Fresh Air, Good Food, and Farm Hospitality
Celebrate Mom with Fresh Air, Good Food, and Farm Hospitality
RETIRED. NO LONGER OPEN. SORRY
Want a fun and rustic getaway that's like visiting grandma on her farm? Check out Willow Creek Farm Stay in Mountain Ranch, California!
Located halfway between Modesto and Sacramento near the Stanislaus National Forest, Willow Creek Ranch offers a nostalgic trip back in time to grandma's working farm. Guests can get their hands dirty and pitch in with various chores, like gathering eggs, working in the garden, or pitching hay to cows, or they can opt to just sit back and relax with a book, or go for a swim in the small above-ground pool.
Hosts Cathie and John Orr truly love to share their lifestyle with guests and teach a few things along the way. The farm raises milk cows, so when there's fresh milk available, there are also opportunities to milk a cow and feed a calf, make butter, and learn how to make your own mozzarella cheese. When there's produce in the garden, you can learn how to preserve food either by canning or freezing. Every seaon brings unique activities!
The two bedroom cabin accommodates up to eight guests, and John and Cathie also allow camping on their property if you want to bring your own tent. The cabin also features a kitchenette with the necessary dishes and kitchen utensils, so you can choose to cook on your own, or add breakfast and/or dinner to your farm stay experience and enjoy Cathie's home cooking. The farm has also recently added a 20x20 foot tent to accommodate large parties!
You can see more of Willow Creek Ranch on America's Heartland! Click here to watch episode 1109, streaming on the America's Heartland website. To learn more about Willow Creek Farm Ranch Stay, visit their listing here on Farm Stay USA, then head over to their website to book next year's vacation!
Welcome signs painted by guests of Willow Creek Ranch Farm Stay
Celebrate Mom with Fresh Air, Good Food, and Farm Hospitality
This June, we’re packing our bags and heading to Aberdeen, Scotland for something pretty special.
Across the country, farms are welcoming guests in growing numbers, from short visits to longer stays, offering a close look at everyday farm life. It’s an invitation to see where food comes from and to experience farm life. Those who have chosen to do this have done so thoughtfully. There is no performance or theme, but instead a form of welcoming, a chance to share the land and introduce the families who care for it. From the outside, visiting a working farm can feel a little unexpected. The farmer has laden the breakfast table with jams they made and eggs fresh from the chicken coop. You step outside your door to pick fresh fruit from the orchard, or maybe you’re invited to try your hand at milking a dairy cow or holding a bottle of warm milk for a calf. The lights are on for your late arrival, and a friendly note on the table welcomes you to the farm. This is a visit to a family’s home in the countryside. At Farmstay, we work with farms and ranches across the country that welcome guests in many different ways. Some are just beginning their hospitality journey. Others have been opening their gates for decades, shaping hospitality through lived experience rather than any single formula. This is a small glimpse of the many farms that do this kind of hosting especially well (the first three farms on our list were early U.S. pioneers in farm hospitality, welcoming guests as far back as the 1950s).
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