While you may know everything there is to know about caring for
livestock or planting crops, adding lodging to your property takes
careful planning and preparation to do it well and to do it
properly.
This primer outlines the basic steps you must consider to
successfully add lodging to your property. It is not meant to
cover everything because our operations, our requirements, even our
laws are so varied from state to state (even county to county) when
it comes to hosting guests on farm or ranch land.
We provide this information from our own experience. It is
a good idea to either take a business planning class or speak with
your local Small Business Development Center or Extension Services
if you have questions or need assistance with your business
setup.
Just to be clear: whether you treat you farm stay as a hobby or
a business, there are usually legal requirements within your
county. Whether you decide to adhere to these requirements or
not is up to you. We would recommend you be legal in what you do
because you never know when you might end up as the cover story for
a news outlet and the magazine ends up on someone's desk and...you
get our drift.
This primer is a work in progress. We will add to it
as time allows. If you have a particular question we haven't
covered yet, feel free to contact us directly [Contact Info].
We have a lot more in our head and at our fingertips, than we have
in writing.
Farm Stay 101: The Basics
Marketing your Farm
using the Internet
Land use permitting (Planning and Zoning)
Insurance coverage
Legal considerations
Financial feasibility: hobby or business?
Accommodation requirements
Hospitality requirements
Reservations; how to
Food: options, permits