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Family Hunting trip Oct 2018
2018 was our second year staying at Longspur home and again it was a perfect match for our needs. We are a family from southern Minnesota who hunt ducks and geese every fall in the Jamestown, Woodworth and Carrington areas of North Dakota. The owner and staff are very responsive, concerned about our stay and always flexible and easy to work with. The home has 7 beds which is great and one full bathroom upstairs with a bonus shower in the basement. We also appreciate having the laundry facilities in the basement. The farm site also has ample garage space for our hunting equipment and even a basketball hoop for the kids and a large grassy area for football games. Thanks for another great stay!
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Peaceful country stay
Beautiful and Peaceful Country Stay
Perfect location for visiting relatives in Carrington, ND. We stayed in the Bobolink for five nights and it was perfect. Clean and spacious home. Kitchen had everything you need for full meal preparation. Nice private yard with a huge deck, grill and two picnic tables. We enjoyed our nightly walks after dinner around the property by the pond and through the wooded areas. Very peaceful place. Highly recommend Ann's hidden gem.
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Delightful Cottage
Delightful cottage in North Dakota
This is my second visit to Pipestem Creek and it was just as enjoyable the second time as it was the first. The gardens are beautiful and our hostess was delightful. Ann shared fresh fruits and veggies from her garden and anytime I needed something for the kitchen she was more than accommodating. I definitely recommend this hideaway in North Dakota, and we are already making plans to visit again!!
Rachel D
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New patio 2018
Patrick
August 2018
A very nice farm stay. A simple but well appointed house with plenty of beds for sleeping space. Comfortable mattresses and pillow. Nice quilt blankets and bed linens. The house was very clean and tidy. A new patio was recently installed including a kettle charcoal grill and fire pit, with plenty of wood to take the chill off the evening. Ann was very accommodating and was terrific with regard to communication. The place is close to Carrington and probably 30 minutes to Jamestown. Since there are not many restaurants in Carrington - this farm stay is a great option - grill outside and enjoy a comfortable place to relax. I highly recommend Ann's place to anyone visiting the area.
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Fantastic place to stay
Christopher
September 2017
Fantastic place to stay if you need to get away from it all for awhile. Lodging was immaculate, with a fenced in yard, fire pit, private deck and picnic table. Ann was very accommodating, even sending me home with fresh corn and cucumbers from her garden! Beautiful land and gardens on the property, lots of butterflies and birds to gawk at. Would absolutely stay here again.
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Phenomenal
Shane
May 2017
Everything was phenomenal! While we had some needs for a few more dishes or a few more cooking utensils, Ann was super accommodating and was able to deliver them promptly and accurately. Our family had a water balloon fight on the property, explored the gardens, barbecued, and cooked up plenty of tasty foods. The place had plenty of extra bedding and pillows that the kids built a fort or two. While it does have 6 beds, be aware there is 1 bathroom with an additional stand-alone shower downstairs. Everything worked out super well and it simply required patience to take turns in the bathroom, no problems there. The place is only 9mi from downtown Carrington and the town has a grocery store and public park. The whole trip was exceptional and provided the perfect setting for a great family gathering. I would highly recommend this place and Ann for any traveler heading in this area.
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May 2017
Pipestem Creek Garden Lodging. Bobolink house
Great living space, great gardened environment. Great walking trails. Our 2y/o "Nation" enjoyed planting a seed-potato, and spent hours upon hours pouring water from one watering can into another while her parents relaxed. A+ !
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Wedding
Hello.....My family and i stayed here....It was beautiful! We also had our wedding on the grounds! It was everything i could have asked for! There was 22 of us and between the two house lots of room and everyone was really comfortable. My sister and her boyfriend stayed in one of the cabins "the gift shop" and they loved it! It was so nice to have everything available to us to use and if we had any question or anything the owner were on site to help with whatever we needed! Would recommend for something as little as a vacation or bigger family reunion or wedding! We look forward to going back and enjoying some R & R!!
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Longspur July 2017
The owner and all of the staff were very friendly and helpful. Super fast refund on the deposit was much appreciated. I really liked how the house was decorated, lots of old antiques gave it a very cozy warm atmosphere. There wasn't anything I didn't like and I would highly recommend this property.
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A bobolink singing in the morning choir. Photo by the BirdChick.
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Birdchick.com June 2007
While in North Dakota, I had the good fortune to stay in a trailer converted into a cabin called the Bobolink on the property of Pipestem Creek. If you are planning a visit to North Dakota, I highly recommend staying here. The photos on their site show the cabin, it can sleep six if you are willing to share a double bed (I'm way too floppy in sleep and shouldn't inflict it on anyone apart from Non Birding Bill). Otherwise, it easily sleeps four--two double beds and two singles. It's cozy, clean, has a full kitchen and living room with bird, plant and mushroom books.
There were bobolinks singing around the cabin. There is an incredible dawn chorus, which is worth the price of admission alone. The loudest and earliest singer was the western kingbird. He started at about 4am.
Tours of the facility and production are available when you visit. I was so impressed when I went through. We carried some of these when I worked at the bird store and to see the process from creation to the shelf was pretty darned incredible. Ann also really loves the birds and is very involved in organizing and promoting the festival, she's as dedicated to preserving the birds and wildlife in her state as she is to her business. As a matter of fact, if you pick up a Birding Drives Dakota brochure, that's her in all the photos.
Tours of the facility and production are available when you visit. I was so impressed when I went through. We carried some of these when I worked at the bird store and to see the process from creation to the shelf was pretty darned incredible. Ann also really loves the birds and is very involved in organizing and promoting the festival, she's as dedicated to preserving the birds and wildlife in her state as she is to her business. As a matter of fact, if you pick up a Birding Drives Dakota brochure, that's her in all the photos.
The goldfinches covered the ground snarfing up all the spilled seed. Killdeer nested along the gravel roadways, I found three pairs just along the gravel covered loading area in back.
Other birds around Pipestem Creek include orchard oriole (nesting) and Baltimore oriole (nesting). It's a cool place, and I highly recommend staying there.
Sharon, the Bird Chick.
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American Profile - Sept 9-15,2007
American Artisan - Fashioning Seed into Bird Feed by Cynthia Elyce Rubin.
"... in addition to the multitude of customers around the nation who have fallen in love with her all-natural products, people come from all over to tour Pipestem Creek's gardens, observe the production process and share Hoffert's artful vision.
"Using the skills and ingenuity of a true pioneer," says former North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer from his home in Fargo, "Ann creates products of worldwide appeal that allow her to live and work in the rural area she loves."
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Business Week May/June 2007
Story by Crystal R. Reid, Bismarck Tribune (excerpts)
"We became a tourist destination because it's the nature of our business," Ann said. A tour takes visitors through old-fashioned buildings salvaged by the family, repainted, and set up for drying and storage. They have an old train depot and granaries, small barns and cabins.
... if the production shops aren't open, she has always welcomed people to walk around her gardens any time of the day, to saunter through her property and see the flowers before they become product.
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Watch It Made In The U.S.A.
2007
Pipestem Creek's local factory tour has been selected and featured as one of the best in the U.S.A. by factory tour experts Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg in the new edition of their book, Watch It Made in the U.S.A.
"Here at Pipestem Creek, we use our tour as a tool for demonstrating our commitment to quality, education, and a lot of fun," said Ann Hoffert, Owner. "We are proud they featured our company tour in the book and have given our manufacturing efforts and pride in the Made in the U.S.A. label national attention.
A factory tour adds a fun, memorable experience. Pipestem Creek creates home decorating accessories, homegrown and handmade. Products come from nature and return to nature as edible birdfeeders. Nearly all the components of the handmade designs are grown on site. Several historic granary buildings and a train depot were moved onto the farm and restored by Pipestem Creek. They house the drying, shipping, production, and gift-shop facilities. If you visit during summer, your tour guide will walk you past a big farmhouse and through the private gardens to admire the hundreds of feet of rainbow-colored beds planted in everlastings and unique edible grains and grasses and corn. Watching the flowers and grains being assembled by hand into works of art is always a fascinating part of the tour.
See photos and read more about Pipestem Creek under Tours and About Us (tabs at top of page).
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| Ann Hoffert birdwatching on Arrowwood NWR. Tom Bean Photo |
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Birds & Blooms, Dec/Jan 2003
It's all part of Pipestem Creek, the business Ann started in 1992 and named after the stream that flows near the farm. She uses materials like Indian corn, sunflower seeds and sorghum to make a wide selection of edible bird feeders, birdhouses and wreaths.
With her experience as a bird-watcher, Ann knew these nutritious seeds were at the top of the avian menu.
One of the most recent ideas is the Lewis and Clark wreath. It celebrates the 2003 bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery, the expeditionary group Meriweather Lewis and William Clark led.
It's also fitting because, like the famous explorers, Ann has done a little trailblazing of her own.
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Testimonials
Check out what others have to say about Pipestem Creek Garden Lodging and Nature Retreat.
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| Larkspur and Limelight ready for hanging to dry in the flower granary |
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Prairie Business, March 2002
Life is for the birds! And what a nutritious and beautiful life it can be if Ann Hoffert of Pipestem Creek has her way. North Dakota's 1995 Outstanding Woman in Business continues the sucess she began in 1990 when she opened her company located just ouside of Carrington.
Ann knows birds. Growing up on the family farm, she loved nature and watched birds
from the time she was a little girl. She's continued watching and feeding them wherever she's lived. She knows what they like to eat. Birds are either seed eaters or insect eaters. If a bird is a seed eater, it will prefer to eat sunflower seeds.
Pipestem Creek specialized in creating beautiful natural wreath and swag designs for home decorations, and almost totally edible birdfeeders. Both combine natural grasses, grains, and flowers in attractive designs that are initially intended for decoration.
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Area Woman, Nov/Dec 2001
The early days of Pipestem were challenging, to state it kindly. "Every creature loves sunflowers," Ann ruefully remembers. "Our first year, we lost over 80 percent of the sunflowers because of mice, squirrels, birds and deer."
This year, Pipestem Creek will have products in Plow and Hearth, Jackson & Perkins, Seasons, and Duncraft. Her products are also in Wild Birds outlets and gift, floral stores and nurseries across the country.
One pleasureable outcome of her "marketing obsesion" has been an ongoing relationship with the staff for Martha Stewart. A few years ago, "Martha Stewart Living" came out to Pipestem Creek and spent a few days taking pictures and gathering information for its story. Since then, Ann has had several calls for specialty items--including an emergency call for corn silk and cornhusks to use in the Nov. 5 television show.
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Birding Testimonials
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North Dakota Horizons, Winter 1999
Former First Lady Nancy Schafer says, "Ann is a perfect example of someone who is taking North Dakota resources and crafting them into a very attractive product. She is enhancing the state of North Dakota and its image with her products. Ann also gives women the confidence to say they can do it too! Even though Ann is the first to say she has made mistakes, she has put those mistakes to good use and moved forward. Women in the rural areas will create a new infrastructure and they will find new ways of doing things."
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| Avian Feast with red cockscomb |
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North Dakota REC RTC, Dec 1999
Pipestems Creek's (wreaths) have a natural beauty and design all their own, combining grasses, grains, berries and herbs, along with spots of color. These versatile, artistic pieces work with virtually any home deocr. Once (they) have lost their appeal inside, they can be put in the yard to attract and feed favorite birds.
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This wreath (PC101)is one of the first designs and is one of the most popular .
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Martha Stewart Living, Nov 1998
This is fertile earth indeed. Here on the North Dakota prairie, where the fields of sunflowers and wheat stretch to the horizon, an idea was born. Inspired by the land she was raised on, Ann Hoffert began a business making wreaths and other natural decorations from materials that birds love to eat.
With her unique products, Ann has managed to carve out a niche in the competitive craft industry.
Her products have been sold in catalogs such as Robert Redford's Sundance, Jackson & Perkins, and Horchow; in stores like Wild Birds Unlimited and Wild Bird Centers; and they're featured in wholesale showrooms in gift markets across the country.
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E-Mails from Customers
Rcvd October 18, 2007. L.W. of Pingree, ND, wrote:
"Just wanted to let you know what a wonderful experience my family and I had during our visit with you yesterday. You have a beautiful area filled with such treasures! You truly are talented to take the beauty of the things God has created and turn them into works of art. My children have a better appreciation of nature and walked away with a mini-history lesson! Thank-you. I am inspired myself to start creating! I have guineas that are in molt right now and have been dropping the most beautiful feathers and I have been trying to figure out what to do with them! I think a wreath is in my future..... :) Blessings to you and your whole family, and when my family comes to visit from FL you will definitely be on our list of sites to see.....thanks again for a wonderul afternoon."
L.W.
Pingree, ND
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Rcvd November 17, 2005. P.D. of Findlay, OH, wrote:
"Just a quick note to tell you my small order of sunflower heads and a variety of dried flowers came in a few days ago and I'm absolutely so delighted I found you all those years ago. You continue to be so service-oriented, and you accommodated my request for smaller quanitites and you hand-picked, I'm sure, those perfect heads at an excellent price. Thank you!!!
"There are so few places out there anymore whose quality of product and quality of service go hand-in-hand. Pipestem Creek is one of them."
P. D.
Findlay, OH
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