I was able to attend a small event recently at Speckled Hen Farm featuring a couple of businesses they closely partner with including Lone Oaks Farm and Covered Bridges Winery. The Speckled Hen and Lone Oaks farms sit basically on the same property with a short walk joining the two. Until a few days ago I'd never heard of either farm. Luann was our host from Lone Okas along with Kris from Speckled Hen. I guess they are both kind of little hidden gems in nearby Madison country! Lone Oaks has a beautiful barn from the mid-1800s as it's showpiece! Moved here from a different location in Southern IA. It's a great story that you can tell Luann enjoys sharing and talking about. Luann hand makes some gorgeous pottery, from local clay, and fired on site that is available in the Speckled Hen retail shop. Lone Oaks also hosts seasonal farm to table dinners in their barn featuring some of our local well known chefs (most recently Chef Aaron Holt of Catering by Doolittle Farm). Luann and Kris were wonderful hosts filling us in on their history, how they select the people they bring into their businesses as vendors and for their events. And setting up an al fresco table of some small plates for us...! Caprese skewers, artisan bread, a dipping sauce, corn chips scoops, a corn dip, and chocolate brownies. Everything tasted wonderful. Winterset is about a 30ish min drive from where I live in Clive. A trip to the Northern part of Ankeny or to the South side can take me just as long...so it's really not far away at all and it's a nice drive. If you're like me and you enjoy a little bit of a day trip to find new things... It's worth the short drive from the metro! Check out upcoming activites at Lone Oaks Farms on their Facebook page and site (as well as those for Speckled hen Farm and Covered Bridges Winery on their respective pages). Loan Oaks has a series with a honey sommelier that might be some sweet events to check out..! Pun intended... Lol https://www.loneoaksfarmia.com/ https://www.facebook.com/loneoaksfarmia read more

Nice, small rustic event space in Madison County. Beautiful views of the Iowa countryside. I would love to visit and see all the different flowers through each season. read more

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