Heritage Hollow an Experiential Farm

Heritage Hollow an Experiential Farm Whole house rental on 30 private acres; experience the hobby farm lifestyle!

Fried, scrambled or boiled?We're an experiential family . That means you get to gather your own eggs and cook them up a...
03/25/2025

Fried, scrambled or boiled?

We're an experiential family . That means you get to gather your own eggs and cook them up any way you wish in your full-service kitchen.

What other ingredients are you bringing along??

🐔 🥚



03/24/2025

Heritage Hollow is a family-friendly experiential in northwest Illinois. Learn more about us and book your spring stay at heritage-hollow.com. 🐑

According to The Livestock Conservancy, adult Leicester Longwool rams can grow to be 140-330 lbs. But for now, Grover's ...
03/21/2025

According to The Livestock Conservancy, adult Leicester Longwool rams can grow to be 140-330 lbs.

But for now, Grover's still a little guy who likes chin scratches. 🐑

Paris: never far from the action. 🐈
03/19/2025

Paris: never far from the action. 🐈


"Are you my mother?"No, Clover is! But baby Grover is already making friends on the farm. 🐑 🐴
03/14/2025

"Are you my mother?"

No, Clover is! But baby Grover is already making friends on the farm. 🐑 🐴




Grover, meet Nova ❤️
03/14/2025

Grover, meet Nova ❤️

👀🐑 Wool blindness is a Thing when raising Leicester Longwool sheep. With shearing scheduled for mid-March, we only have ...
03/05/2025

👀🐑 Wool blindness is a Thing when raising Leicester Longwool sheep.

With shearing scheduled for mid-March, we only have a couple weeks to go!

1. Peek-a-boo, Bea!

2. For those severely affected by their tresses, they get an updo, like Fern!


Our animals don’t have winter coats, but they get by with natural alternatives! 🧥 🧤🧣Right now, the horses and sheep are ...
02/25/2025

Our animals don’t have winter coats, but they get by with natural alternatives!

🧥 🧤🧣

Right now, the horses and sheep are well insulated underneath a layer of healthy fat and fuzzy winter floof. 🐴 🐑

While the horses will start to shed this naturally in February, the sheep's wool will be shorn in early spring. ☀️ 🌼

Chickens are able to fluff their feathers, trapping a bit of insulating air to keep them warm. 🐔

I will have a small heat lamp available during the coldest temperatures for our silkie hens, as they are very small and their feathers not as warm as traditional breeds of chickens. Their more fur-like feathers — what makes them so cute — don’t insulate as well as a typical chicken feather. 🪶 🪔

Sheep shed update! 🐑 🏠 This fall, I took advantage of the mild weather to construct a shed for our ram fields. In my exp...
02/22/2025

Sheep shed update! 🐑 🏠

This fall, I took advantage of the mild weather to construct a shed for our ram fields.

In my experience, most projects only ✨generally✨ resemble the original plan, and this is no different!

While it is slightly larger and less square than the blueprints (hastily converted from my mind's eye to the closest spiral notebook on the day my neighbor and I started digging support posts in the ground) it has a roof, three walls, and a hay feeder.

As my dad used to say, it’s good enough for who it's for!

Rams Napoleon and Franklin accompanied Arlo, Dudley, and Frazier to their new abode right before the New Year; it does have a bit of a bachelor pad feel. It did take a small army to build over a couple weekends, and I was aided by drill-driver wielding family, friends and neighbors, to whom I'm eternally grateful.

SHEEP SHED!

How do I stay warm in the cold?For obvious reasons, winter chores are more labor-intensive and take longer than in the o...
02/20/2025

How do I stay warm in the cold?

For obvious reasons, winter chores are more labor-intensive and take longer than in the other seasons. ❄️

When temperatures dip below zero (like they already have this year! 😬), I break out the polar vortex-proof gear, wool socks (those sheep know what they’re doing! 🐑) and two or three thermal base layers.

With all that, I stay pretty toasty. 🔥

Ask me more questions in the comments, please! I'm always happy to share more about the hobby farm life. ✏

Let’s do some farm math!In the wintertime, the animals need more care to get through the coldest temps. For every degree...
02/19/2025

Let’s do some farm math!

In the wintertime, the animals need more care to get through the coldest temps.

For every degree below 32 F, each member of our farm family requires an additional 1% of caloric intake to maintain their base temperature.

This means Glo, our largest at 1,800 lbs, needs approximately 36 lbs of hay on a normal dry 32-degree day.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Glo needs …

15 extra pounds of hay!

The best of friends. 🐈🐑
02/17/2025

The best of friends. 🐈🐑


Do you have questions about farm life? Shepherding? AirB&B-ing? Want to see more cute pictures of Sugar, Jasper, or anot...
02/09/2025

Do you have questions about farm life? Shepherding? AirB&B-ing?

Want to see more cute pictures of Sugar, Jasper, or another farm friend?

If you have a request, others probably do, too. Comment your wishlist for our Facebook account in 2025, and we will deliver!

Oh, hello, Glo. 🐴 ❄
02/06/2025

Oh, hello, Glo. 🐴 ❄

Today's weather forecast:Cloudy with a chance of Smidge. ☁Meet Cloud (white) and Smidge (grey), two members of the Herit...
02/05/2025

Today's weather forecast:

Cloudy with a chance of Smidge. ☁

Meet Cloud (white) and Smidge (grey), two members of the Heritage Hollow flock.

Hi my name is Sugar and I definitely do NOT like attention and butt scratches and meeting new friends and visitors who c...
01/29/2025

Hi my name is Sugar and I definitely do NOT like attention and butt scratches and meeting new friends and visitors who come to stay. 🐻‍❄️

Came across this 2021 photo of lambs Clover and Crystal. 🐑Who's booking for lambing season this year? Mid-March through ...
01/23/2025

Came across this 2021 photo of lambs Clover and Crystal. 🐑

Who's booking for lambing season this year? Mid-March through mid-May. 🌷🌱


Address

11804 E Wilson Road
Stockton, IL
61085

Telephone

(815) 541-4343

Website

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Videos

Heritage Hollow is a family-friendly experiential #FarmStay in northwest Illinois. Learn more about us and book your spring stay at heritage-hollow.com. 🐑 #FarmStay2025 #YourFarmAwayFromHome

Grover is a lamb. He was literally born two weeks ago. He does not know what Sunday scaries are. 🐑 #YourFarmAwayFromHome

Baby Grover is exactly where he wants to be: between mama Clover (left) and grandma Helen. 🐑🌱 #YourFarmAwayFromHome

Who else finds #ShearingDay strangely satisfying? (Franklin is raising a hoof!) #YourFarmAwayFromHome

There’s always time for a haircut! Especially for Clover, who needs one before she lambs next week. No worries that I’ll take up hairdressing — I’ll keep the shearing to the pros whenever possible. #YourFarmAwayFromHome #LeicesterLongwoolLambs

... if you're looking for a kid-friendly experiential farmstay complete with cute sheep like Fern! Woohoo, you found us! DM if you'd like to visit us! 🐑 #YourFarmAwayFromHome #FarmStay #CuteSheep #FarmStay2025 #IllinoisVacation #IllinoisFarmStay

Did you know you can use snow to wash off a horse’s tail? Prince is featured here. 👑

Just hold on! 🦋 🌱 🌼 #YourFarmAwayFromHome

This was a year ago! We will always love our 2024 "F-name" lambs and we can't wait to meet the 2025 bunch! #YourFarmAwayFromHome

Comment your old-timey “G” name suggestions — the shorter, the better! 🐑 #YourFarmAwayFromHome

Make your dreams come true! Jasper is waiting for you at #YourFarmAwayFromHome. See you soon. 🫏 😁

Sheep swap!
Sheep swap!

It’s a good, old-fashioned sheep swap. 🐑 🔁 Eira and Esme, two of our “E” sheep, spent breeding season at another farm. Two “exchange ewes” from that farm spent breeding season here. 🤝 This way, we keep both genetic lines strong, healthy and capable of thriving. 🌱 During our “sheep swap” on January 1, we welcomed Eira and Esme back and wished our two exchange ewes well. 👋 They arrived around the beginning of December, so it was a sweet reunion for both flocks. 🐑 Do you have any questions about heritage breeds? Let’s talk about it in the comments! ✏️

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