32
May 2009
C
Ohio’s Country Journal
ountry lifE
Women’s retreat facilities offer Eyerman opportunity to pursue farming
By KylE Sharp We didn’t know,” Ken said. “Maybe it was
Ken Eyerman was born on a hog and fate, but things just fell in place.”
crop farm in northern Pickaway County. The Eyermans bought the 200-year-
Although his family got out of agriculture old house in 2006 and from Memorial
when he was still young, the childhood Day through its opening in October over-
experience had a dramatic impact. saw the renovation of the old home into
“All I ever wanted to do was farm, but a modern, stylish women’s retreat facility
my parents said, ‘No,’” Ken said. “I had to they dubbed the Zane Trace Inn. The
be successful at something else first.” complete renovation included a new
So after graduating from Teays Valley roof, raised ceiling, refinished floors,
High School, where he met his future wife, additional bathrooms, a 1,200-square-foot
Christi, he went off to Ohio State University addition to the back of the house, two
in Columbus and got a degree to become a new hot water tanks, single beds for the
broadcast engineer. He worked at WBNS bedrooms, and a whole lot of paint and
Radio during school, and after graduating new wood trimming.
began a 20-year career at WBNS 10 TV in “We did a lot of research ahead of time
Columbus, eventually serving as chief engi- and found the women who did these kinds
neer at the station. of retreats didn’t want to share beds, they
In 1995, Ken, Christi and their two sons, wanted plenty of bathrooms and they did-
Tyler and Cody, moved to a small, 32-acre n’t want to run out of hot water,” Ken said.
Christi and Ken Eyerman opened the renovated Zane
farm near Somerset in Perry County, built Ken designed the remodeling effort,
Trace Inn in Perry County in 2006 as a facility that spe-
a house, and three years later, Ken began and Christi and a local painter came up cializes in women’s retreats. The new venture and
doing some custom farming. with the painting and color schemes. The
alternative income source gave Ken the opportunity to
“I started farming on the side just project was a large challenge.
quit his full-time job in Columbus and focus more on
because I wanted to do it,” he said. “The crew doing the finished carpentry
custom farming.
But when he took the chief engineer job work took a month because nothing is
from outside Ohio. We’ve had women visit
at WBNS in 2004, the added commitment plumb in an old house, and it’s hard to
from Texas, South Dakota, Vermont,
meant giving up farming. make things fit and be level,” Ken said.
California, Florida and all surrounding
“I had a big auction and sold every- “Just like any old building, when you take
states. I don’t think a business like this
thing but the combine and semi, because I off a layer you find more problems.”
would have thrived 20 years ago.”
thought I could do a little custom harvest
The Zane Trace Inn and Craft Farm each offer a large
The local village government was sup-
Hosting women’s retreats offered a
activity room with ergonomic chairs, individual work-
work and keep a hand in it,” Ken said. portive of the idea and the potential eco-
niche, and while scrapbooking groups stations and state-of-the-art no-shadow lighting. Most
It didn’t take him long to realize he’d nomic activity the new business could
have been their bread and butter, they also
groups come to the facilities for photo scrapbook
made the wrong decision and wasn’t bring to the area. To help the cause, they
have hosted women’s getaways focused on
retreats, but they also have hosted women’s getaways
happy, so he began thinking of “an exit renovated and paved an alley next to the
quilting, beading, spinning, faith focusing,
focused on quilting, beading, spinning, faith focusing,
strategy” to live and work in the country. Inn. In their advertising material, the
family and friends.
family and friends. The success of the Zane
What evolved was a three-part plan that Eyermans promote local artisans, specialty
Trace Inn convinced the Eyermans to con-
through March at both locations, and we
included expanding the custom farming shops, restaurants, a scrapbooking shop,
vert their farmhouse into a second
have bookings into 2010 at both locations.”
operation, doing broadcast consulting the area’s historic homes and culture, area
women’s retreat facility called the Craft
The Zane Trace Inn can host 12 guests
work and developing a third, alternate festivals, and other local attractions.
Farm, which opened this past October.
and the Craft Farm 10 guests. There is no
income source. Oddly enough, the alter- “We work a lot with local people and
An owner’s suite was built in the base-
limit on minimum group size to book.
nate opportunity that allowed Ken to pur- businesses,” Ken said. “People don’t just
ment with a separate door in and out of
There may be more than one group
sue his farming dream turned out to be come and spend money with us, but other
the house. Ken and Christi stay there when
booked at a facility, but no one is ever
one of the fastest growing segments of the places too, and I think that’s important.”
the rest of the house is booked to guests.
asked to sleep in a room with someone
tourism industry — women’s retreats, par- Internet advertising enabled the new
Their sons, now a college sophomore and a
they don’t know, Ken said. Information on
ticularly photo scrapbooking. business to get the word out and build a
high school senior, live in an apartment
retreat packages is available at www.zane-
“At first, we were interested in some healthy clientele from a much larger geog-
built in the barn out back.
traceinn.com or www.craftfarm.com, or by
sort of agritourism, but it just so happened raphy than was anticipated.
“We felt if we could book one or two
calling 740-743-9230.
that an old house came available in “We felt the majority of our business
groups a month at the Craft House it
When he’s not booking rooms, doing
Somerset, and Christi’s sister, Kathy would be from Columbus, but more of the
would be worth the time, effort and invest-
maintenance, cooking “a mean pizza” for
Dorsey, is an avid scrapbooker, and she Ohio people tend to be from Cincinnati
ment,” Ken said. “But at the beginning of
guests, marketing or doing other work for
clued us in that those retreats took place. and Cleveland,” Ken said. “And 40% are
the year we had booked every weekend
the retreat facilities, Ken finds time to do
more of his first love — farming. Last year,
he custom planted 850 acres of corn, side-
dressed nitrogen on 1,100 acres and har-
vested about 1,000 acres. He also sells seed,
chemicals and a product that puts starter
fertilizer below the seed.
And while it’s not agritourism, he does
educate some guests about farming, if they
are interested.
“We’ve given driving farm tours. We’ve
had women who book at the farm and
The 200-year-old Zane Trace Inn is located in
want to know if there are tractors,” he said.
Somerset. Thanks to the Internet, women from all over Research showed that women on retreats want a facil-
the United States visit the facility for much-needed ity with plenty of bathrooms and their own bed, so the
The facilities boast luxury comforts, such as this hot
“So if we can bridge the gap and provide
getaways. The success of the business convinced the Inn and Craft Farm were remodeled to add more bath-
tub and massage chair at the Craft Farm. They also
some of the education to let people know
Eyermans to turn their own home outside Somerset rooms, and each guest has their own single bed.
offer different atmospheres for different people, with what farming is all about, then we’re all
into a second retreat facility called the Craft Farm in
the Zane Trace Inn in town and the Craft Farm offering
the better for it.”
fall 2008.
a rural, farm setting.
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