By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

FLORA, Ind. — People hankering for an old-time rural experience can go to an Indiana farm and stay in an 1850s log cabin, and even help with the chores.

Heritage Farm has been transformed into a destination for individuals from as far away as Chicago looking to briefly escape the city and taste what agriculture is about. Once a livestock operation, the farm between Flora and Kokomo has raised Suri alpacas for more than a decade now.

Lodging started being offered inside the log cabin, and a more traditional style and newer two-story home, on the 120-acre spread just this year. With more people not as connected to agriculture as they used to be, “we just wanted to share the fare with people,” said Tim Sheets, who owns the farm with his wife, Beth, who grew up on the property.

About 20 years ago, they were employed full-time in the medical industry in Indianapolis but switched gears when her parents, Robert and Nelda Lovelace, began needing assistance at the farm they bought in the 1950s. Tim and Beth started living on the farm and making the daily commute to their jobs and, eventually, took over the property.

The Hereford cattle once raised there were replaced with alpacas, and the couple live in the 150-year old farmhouse on the property. The 60 alpacas now on the grounds are used for breeding and harvest of their soft fiber used in making products like fine sweaters.

Some of the fiber is sent out and turned into yarn sold at their farm store and outside events. “We thought that would be kind of a fun thing to do and we’ve been doing it ever since,” said Tim Sheets.

In 2016, the couple opened the farm to weddings and just this year made available the restored 1850s cabin and a brick residence Beth’s parents built several decades ago for putting up guests. About 40 nights have been booked since March in the cabin, housing up to six guests, and the residence, with a nine-guest capacity.

“They just want to escape the city, bring their family, get their kids kind of back to the farm and see what goes on,” said Sheets.

Guests can feed the alpacas and chickens and gather eggs. Some kids in one family, at their insistence, were allowed to clean the manure out of the restored 1911 English-style barn the alpacas use for shelter.

“It was a way we could share the farm and get people connected again and let them enjoy farm life a little bit,” Sheets explained.

Originally, the cabin stood about three miles away but was moved to the farm about 30 years ago to restore and serve as a family gathering place.

Also popular among guests Is a 400-foot zip line stretching from the second story of the cabin into the woods and a wood-fired pizza oven the Sheets use to make their guests’ pizza.

Each overnight stay in the cabin is $150. It’s $250 a night inside the three-bedroom residence. “It’s an experience. We’ll be involved with our guests as much or as little as they want,” said Sheets, who works part-time as a pharmacist in Kokomo.

He employs local high school students to work on the farm three days a week.

Honored with award

During the Indiana State Fair in August, the couple received the John Arnold Award for Rural Preservation from Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Farm Bureau. This came after having some of their alpacas declared champions at various contests, including one in Fort Wayne.

John Arnold was just 36 when he died in a farming accident in 1991. He was the owner of a Rush County farm owned by his family since 1820, and he applied modern architecture techniques to preserve buildings on the property in such a way that they could still be used productively in more modern times.

According to Indiana Landmarks, criteria for the award includes farm buildings that have a high level of historic integrity being used in an active farming operation with character-retaining features such as original construction, cladding materials, windows and doors.

Buildings do not have to serve their original use and can be altered, somewhat, to accommodate new uses or modern farming equipment. Preference is given to farms that are full-time operations, according to Indiana Landmarks.

Arnold’s mother, Eleanor Arnold, said the Sheets represent what she believes is the direction more farms should be going – not just to profit but to preserve the heritage of agriculture.

“It’s a good feeling to think his interest and our family’s interest are being carried forward with this award, and I’m always happy when I see these nice young people that are going in the direction we felt was essential,” she said.

“We have to face the facts of life. Farmers have to make money. We don’t have to tear everything down and put up a pole building. We can use the buildings we have and maintain their integrity, and many times the finished product is much better than something that won’t last very long.”

Arnold said she owns the 700-acre-plus property, still called Arnold Farms. About 160 acres of it is being actively worked by the families of her grandchildren, Emma and Sam; the rest of the ground is leased to another farmer for production.