Would you take a “haycation” down on the farm?

[Morticia]

Gites rural have been a mainstay of French farms for years now. Many farms couldn't survive without the income.
But even as well established as they are, the farmers still really crack up at the cityfolk coming out to the countryside. It's all just hard work to them.
But man oh man are those farmstays popular all across the French countryside. It's about time American farmers started in on the action..

Gites rural have been a mainstay of French farms for years now. Many farms couldn't survive without the income.
But even as well established as they are, the farmers still really crack up at the cityfolk coming out to the countryside. It's all just hard work to them.
But man oh man are those farmstays popular all across the French countryside. It's about time American farmers started in on the action

I would have to wonder about the insurance. Greenhorns and livestock don't often mix.
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Gites rural have been a mainstay of French farms for years now. Many farms couldn't survive without the income.
But even as well established as they are, the farmers still really crack up at the cityfolk coming out to the countryside. It's all just hard work to them.
But man oh man are those farmstays popular all across the French countryside. It's about time American farmers started in on the action

I would have to wonder about the insurance. Greenhorns and livestock don't often mix.

In our state, since there has been a push for agritourism to help save the farmers whose goods have been sold out by china, each farm - even those hosting corn mazes have an authorized state placard stating that any person on any farm for agritourism is there at their own risk and the owner/operator of the event holds zero liability. I read these placards at a few diff events now, even the place where we milked a cow - you are on your own if you touch baby animals or milk cows or climb aboard a John Deere. This is a good thing for the farmers who are trying to recoup their losses.
Edited to say before someone mentions it - they do not let people run wild on their land, they have proper bathrooms, handwashing stations, and safety measures in place. The liability is not theirs if YOU go to their farm YOU are the one taking the risk. I think this has been a really good push - it is a win win for those who get to visit these farms normally off the circuit to visitors.
Me - I would do a farm stay in a heart beat. Esp in the Spring when babies are born. But I like to camp, I like bacon over an open fire and the stars over head. I am totally not interested in spas, indulgence and Vegas style surroundings (I mention Vegas as that is where people go to be waited on and pampered like kings and queens.) Gimmee a new born lamb and I will spend all day in a field with it.

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I will go camping with you, just have done the farm in real-time long enough. I could live it, just do not want to visit it. Pampering holds no charm for me either as I am nOT a "Helpless Hannah". Would take farm over pamper.
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Me, I'm a Helpless Hannah! Take care of me. I would absolutely love a spa vacation where all the spa stuff was included. Pummel me, buff me, make me pretty. Dinner with candlelight. A sauna. Sign me up!
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Take care of me. I would absolutely love a spa vacation where all the spa stuff was included.

Me too. The best part of the conference at the Homestead was the aromatherapy massage with a mineral bath starter. Next to meeting innmates. Although that would have been better if we had all gotten a massage.

"Fawlty Towers" boot camp for aspirings. I like that idea myself.
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Gomez won't do an aspiring innkeeper class here. It's not in his nature to tell people what to do. (Opposites attract? You betcha!) But I could see it, clips from the show, real life examples, keep it light but informative.

 

[The Farmers Daughter]

Weatherbury Farm in Avella, PA gives a farming certificate to the kids that come. I cannot remember what it is called exactly but they give it a cute name and the kids love it. I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine..

I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine.

Same here, but I have to laugh at what appeals to some folks. I had a woman come out here from a chichi manhattan address one weekend specifically for a 'down home' package where she could go to a neighboring farm, milk cows by hand, churn butter etc. She worked for Martha Stewart and just loved her 'country experience.'
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And I bet she pontificates to everyone about farms because she is now an "expert" on farm life.
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She had the wardrobe perfected. The first day she went to the farm, she wore overalls (by Ralph Lauren) and 'Wellies' (work boots imported from England). I think it just gave her an excuse to shop for items she probably hasn't used since.

 

[Morticia]

Weatherbury Farm in Avella, PA gives a farming certificate to the kids that come. I cannot remember what it is called exactly but they give it a cute name and the kids love it. I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine..

I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine.

Same here, but I have to laugh at what appeals to some folks. I had a woman come out here from a chichi manhattan address one weekend specifically for a 'down home' package where she could go to a neighboring farm, milk cows by hand, churn butter etc. She worked for Martha Stewart and just loved her 'country experience.'
.

And I bet she pontificates to everyone about farms because she is now an "expert" on farm life.
.

She had the wardrobe perfected. The first day she went to the farm, she wore overalls (by Ralph Lauren) and 'Wellies' (work boots imported from England). I think it just gave her an excuse to shop for items she probably hasn't used since.
.

I must be losing my cynicism as I get older. (As I know I would have been shaking my head and rolling my eyes over this probably just last year!)
But, as a kid I didn't get exposed to a lot of anything. No culture- theater, museums, heaven forbid the opera or classical musicians (I can, however step dance and play the comb). No farm experience, no horses, no travel (NY-NJ, sum total of the states I had been to by the time I was 18, forget Europe or anything that required a plane.) No sports even tho the Yankees played a couple of blocks from where I lived. I had no idea that I could just have gotten on the bus outside my building and gotten off at the end and been at the stadium. (That said, I can build a molotov cocktail, live in an abandoned building and play stickball.)
And now I am missing those gaps. It's true that there is no place like home, but you don't really get that until you've seen something else, been somewhere else, been someONE else for a day or a week.
Yeah, she probably went overboard with the 'couture' but maybe she thought that's what was expected at Martha's! Or she didn't want to be out of place.
Then again, maybe she's an idiot and I should stop wishing my childhood adulthood was more adventurous and just go do stuff now!

 

[MTLLodge]

I like the both of both worlds. I think a farm in Aruba would be perfect!

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

I like the both of both worlds. I think a farm in Aruba would be perfect!

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Ditto....or a Napa/Sonoma wine farm would be fine. Hay makes me sneeze..Mary in Bridgewater

 

[gillumhouse]

Weatherbury Farm in Avella, PA gives a farming certificate to the kids that come. I cannot remember what it is called exactly but they give it a cute name and the kids love it. I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine..

I grew up an a farm so no, I will not be taking a haycation. I already know how to milk a cow without a milking machine.

Same here, but I have to laugh at what appeals to some folks. I had a woman come out here from a chichi manhattan address one weekend specifically for a 'down home' package where she could go to a neighboring farm, milk cows by hand, churn butter etc. She worked for Martha Stewart and just loved her 'country experience.'
.

And I bet she pontificates to everyone about farms because she is now an "expert" on farm life.
.

She had the wardrobe perfected. The first day she went to the farm, she wore overalls (by Ralph Lauren) and 'Wellies' (work boots imported from England). I think it just gave her an excuse to shop for items she probably hasn't used since.
.

I must be losing my cynicism as I get older. (As I know I would have been shaking my head and rolling my eyes over this probably just last year!)
But, as a kid I didn't get exposed to a lot of anything. No culture- theater, museums, heaven forbid the opera or classical musicians (I can, however step dance and play the comb). No farm experience, no horses, no travel (NY-NJ, sum total of the states I had been to by the time I was 18, forget Europe or anything that required a plane.) No sports even tho the Yankees played a couple of blocks from where I lived. I had no idea that I could just have gotten on the bus outside my building and gotten off at the end and been at the stadium. (That said, I can build a molotov cocktail, live in an abandoned building and play stickball.)
And now I am missing those gaps. It's true that there is no place like home, but you don't really get that until you've seen something else, been somewhere else, been someONE else for a day or a week.
Yeah, she probably went overboard with the 'couture' but maybe she thought that's what was expected at Martha's! Or she didn't want to be out of place.
Then again, maybe she's an idiot and I should stop wishing my childhood adulthood was more adventurous and just go do stuff now!
.

My son's "other mother" (college student who was babysitter) was from Spanish Harlem. We were in Illinois. She had seen horses in Central Park but had never seen a cow, chicken, sheep, goat until I took her to the Kane County Fair.