Experience the Ranch

If you’d like to see what daily ranch chores the Kruse children are expected to do, they’d be happy to have you tag along Immediately after breakfast and head out to the barn. There, they’ll show you how to bottle feed a calf, they’ll deliver the kitchen scraps to our free-range laying hens, feed baby chicks, collect eggs and feed & water the peafowl. This morning routine is a guest favorite! All these activities will be done again in the early evening so guests who may have missed morning chores can always get in on the fun later in the day.

During peak season our black angus cattle herd are all 7-miles west grazing in summer pasture but we stay busy putting up hay for their winter feed. You can often times watch from the back patio and see Phil and the boys driving tractors out in the hay fields cutting, raking and putting up huge alfalfa hay bales. And if they happened to encounter a rattlesnake while out there, most likely they’ll bring back the trophy (in rattle form) for all to see!

Our curious, and often adorably naughty, herd of burros (donkeys) roam the property grazing all summer. But they always keep a close eye on the front driveway and when its guest check-in time, they head up to the house asking for carrots and affection. They’ve even been known to help guests unload bags from their trunks and wipe their lips all over the kitchen windows!

Inside the house, we offer WIFI, a gameroom, boardgames and good company. But the real memories are made outside. We have kites to fly, bonfires to burn, land to roam, vistas to see, rocks to pick, kitties to hold, a playful dog to chase and the setting to enjoy as much or little of this as you’d like while you stay with us. Oh, and did we mention the sunsets from the back deck? They are some of the best, truly!!