16 years and counting

It’s hard to believe that for the past 16 years we’ve hosted thousands of people here on the farm. Our grandfather died in 2006 and for awhile we only had a cattle ranching lease and a few longer term tenants in the farmhouse. Then in 2010 I decided I missed the farm and wanted our children to see and be a part of the place where my sister and I spent so many summers and holidays with our grandparents Junie and Clark. So in 2010 I started renovations on the farmhouse as best I could and the rest is history. We were one of the first vacation rentals in this part of McDonald county and I had no idea what I was doing. Most bookings were done through VRBO and after a couple of guest stays we started to accept prior guest bookings and people actually mailed me checks. Pretty surprising for sure.

I think the hardest thing about making the farmhouse into a vacation rental has been the fact that it seriously doesn’t make money. It swallows it because the house is so old and to be honest we really don’t want to sell the land to redo the entire house. Up to city dweller standards in my opinion. So we make do, for our guests and us and I love to make people happy here in the country and on the farm. It’s peaceful, it doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as you’ve got an exceptionally clean house, plenty of supplies for a stay (yes I’ve been to vacation rentals where we get one roll of toilet paper and a tiny bit of soap. We don’t work like that. Seriously our entire farm is based on the premise you bring your clothes, food and whatever you need for music or entertainment. We even have a book library and games in the farmhouse and the Glampground has outdoor games. I’ve got floats for people to use and we even have some fishing poles. Guests leave things here and there and we appreciate ya’ll so much for doing that.

Are we getting rich here from what we do? No we’re not. But we are keeping our heritage up and running for future generations and in this country that is unusual.

So thank you if you’ve booked our farm for accommodations or for events. We do our best, I do my best to provide exceptional service and your patronage is seriously a gift.

In gratitude,

Miss Jana

Owner/Operator of the Little Sugar Farm