This website serves Farmers and Ranchers in the Kansas AgriTourism Industry.

For family outings, go to http://www.travelks.com

Welcome to Kansas AgriTourism!

This website has been developed specifically for Kansas farmers and ranchers involved in AgriTourism, rural properties where the traveler has an opportunity to experience farm and country life far from the hustle of the city.

The site is a project of the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council, working in cooperation with:

the Kansas Agriculture Marketing Division and the Travel and Tourism Division of the Department of Commerce

and with financial assistance from Frontier Farm Credit.

We invite you to explore this website to find a variety of articles and resources that will help you succeed in agritourism.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Division, and ask for the Agritourism Liaison.

The Kansas AgriTourism
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Destination Dining
at Trader's Lodge

“We provide destination dining,” says Kay Kindall, “We cater to tourists that want to go to a unique place for a special and delicious meal.”

Kay and her husband Neal Kindall own Trader’s Lodge, a Bed and Breakfast in Wells, Kansas, and it’s hard to decide whether guests are attracted by the meals, or by the unique and attractive surroundings.

In addition to fine dining, guests are treated to a fascinating tour of antiques, Indian artifacts, and handcrafted Indian tomahawks, peace pipes, war shields, drums and other pieces made by the resident artist and historian-in-residence, Neal Kindall. Long rifles, pelts, black powder pistols, rawhides, knives, and other items catch the visitor’s eye. Not to mention the Buffalo head mounted on the limestone fireplace, and the cedar beams made from cedars that grew there on the farm.

But the highlight of the visit for many people revolves around fine food, especially the Kansas beef and buffalo that many choose for their entrees. The fine food, prepared with care and attention, is then topped off with Kay’s homemade gourmet desserts.

Dinner arrangements to eat at Traders Lodge are all made in advance, which allows Kay to determine what her visitors enjoy most, and to have it perfectly prepared when they arrive. Most of her dinner guests come with groups, and the dining room will seat 40 people. The Kindall’s can also open the double doors to the adjoining family room to seat larger groups, seating another 16 or 20.

The destination dining business continues to grow at Trader’s Lodge

“We probably average two dinners a week, and of course in December, it is every weekend and often a few weeknights, with corporate dinners, church groups, and so forth,” Kay said. “We get two or three buses a year, and that’s growing too. The word-of-mouth is our best marketing, as one tour group tells another what a great time they had at Trader’s Lodge.”

Overnight guests will find the four bedrooms all to be quite different, and interesting. Named the “Renaissance Room,” the “Trappers Room,” the “Plains Indian Room,” and the “Southwest Room,” the rooms are decorated accordingly, with unique features such as the willow frame for the bed in the Plains Indian room. Each room has it’s own bath and climate control. There is also a hot tub and exercise room for guests.

“Our guests love to sit out on the big porch in front and watch the sunset, listen to the birds, and to not see or hear any traffic,” said Kay. “ A lot of visitors will also wander out to the grape arbor, by the fountain, or meander through the rose garden, perennial garden, and my new herb garden-there’s nothing as tasty as fresh basil.”

How is the business doing?

“Right now, with the cost of fuel and fertilizer, the bottom line for the B & B business and dining is doing better than the farming,” Kay said. “We farm about 600 acres in wheat, and have about 30 head of cattle.”

Kay and Neal received an Agritourism Scholarship from the Kansas Department of Commerce, and used these funds to attend this year’s Kansas Bed and Breakfast Associations' annual conference. The conference was held at The Barn Bed and Breakfast Inn, Valley Falls, Kansas, a large B & B owned by Tom Ryan with 21 guests rooms, an indoor swimming pool, and other great amenities.

The conference had 42 attendees, and offered 19 different workshop presenters offering a broad range of topics. Some topics were extremely practical, such as “Safe Food Handling” and “Setting Up and Using Credit Cards”, to more motivational topics such as a presentation on “Thinking Outside the Box” and another on the wonders of rural life called “Exploring Kansas.”

Trader's Lodge, Wells, Kansas

The greatest impact for the Kindall’s came from the presentation by Russ Rudy of Balance Home Energy, providing specific information on “Saving Money by Being Energy Conscious.”

“For example, he suggested replacing regular incandescent light bulbs with CFLs-compact fluorescent lights. He said that efficiency comparisons show that for every 60 watt bulb your replace with a 15 watt CFL, you’ll save $26.50 in energy, plus not have to replace the bulb for approximately 10 years,” Kay said. “Then our host, Tom Ryan, added that he was able to save several hundred dollars per month just by changing out the light bulbs!”

Not surprisingly, Neal has already changed most of the light bulbs at Trader’s Lodge, replacing them with CFLs, and he’s putting several other suggestions into practice. The presenter also stressed good insulation, saying that 48 ounces per cubic foot was needed to be effective, and said that in most cases, it was more important to insulate the walls than to replace the windows.

Summer Garden Spot at Trader's Lodge

Kay might have leaned towards another presentation as her favorite, when Deb Sanders gave “an informative and tasty” demonstration on how to “Keep the Excitement in Breakfast.” Some things Kay says she’ll definitely try include: using syrups to sweeten fruit, how to slice and separate a pomegranate; blending or grinding herbs to release essential oils, new ideas for breakfast meats and egg dishes, and a useful product called Burn & Bite, for burns, bites and cuts.

Kay and Neal took great advantage of the networking time before and after sessions, and during meals. They made a point of sitting with different people, and consequently got a lot of great ideas and made a number of new friends.

“We are very thankful for this scholarship to the Kansas Bed and Breakfast Association’s annual conference,” the Kindall’s said in their report back to the Kansas Department of Commerce. “The conference was very beneficial to both of us, providing meaningful interaction and ideas that we can use in our own agritourism business.”

If you’d like to know more about Trader’s Lodge, or perhaps to contact Kay and Neal Kindall, please visit their website at http://www.traderslodge.com.

Provided by the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council.

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