LaGrange County Barn Tour & Fall Fun in Shipshewana

Fall in Shipshewana and LaGrange County is a beautiful thing! Annie Jansen and I wound up our Indiana road trip with a straw bale trail, shopping fun, fall stops, dinner and a show, and the AMAZING barn tour! Hosted by Visit Shipshewana and the amazing Sonya Harman Nash, read about the fun you can have during the fall in Shipshewana.

The Straw Bale Trail

I’ve seen straw bales decorated before but never to the level that Annie and I saw on our visit to Shipshewana. Farmer creativity took a new level this fall in Shipshewana, Indiana with their Giant Straw Bale Trail. As far as I could learn, 2025 was the first time for this fun free fun event. While we didn’t find them all, we saw a goodly amount following this self-guided free trail. It takes place from September 1 through November 2, 2025, so you have time to go. Look for a story in Farm Show about this fun phenomenon.

Besides those in the fun Amish area of Shipshewana, straw bales are also found in the towns of Howe, LaGrange and Middlebury. What makes this so fun is that each straw bale was designed by a local artist and the business owner. Designs vary reflecting the business, to just plain fun, to agricultural. Laverne the Steer was our favorite!

Davis Mercantile and shopping fun.

Friday morning, Annie and I visited Davis Mercantile, which has origins that date back to 1891. Today there are four floors and 21 stores! Located in the heart of downtown Shipshewana, Sonya arranged for me to set up with my books for a book signing.

I met the wonderful Dorian Roepel of Visit Shipshewana and enjoyed seeing folk as they stopped to talk and learn about my book, Farm Girl Adventures.

Annie and I walked through shops, enjoyed a pretzel from JoJo’s Pretzel, yum, and I bought a small leather money holder for my cross-body purse where the money just was loosey goosey. Organized we walked around and enjoyed the nice autumn weather! Our afternoon ended with the delectable ice cream from the Vanilla Bean Creamery.

Before heading to Bright Morning Star B&B, we had to ride the carousel at the top of Davis Mercantile. A 1906 Dentzel Carousel with hand carved horses and more. What fun.

Bright Morning Star B&B

We checked into the beautiful Bright Morning Star B&B on Friday afternoon. The owner Marcia greeted us and showed us to our lovely upstairs room. Our breakfast was amazing, and the country location outside of Middlebury was perfect. The only outside sound was the clip clop of horses pulling Amish buggies.

We loved the ambience and camaraderie of the place.

The Bluegate, Dinner and a show!

Annie and I were excited to get a chance to enjoy the Blue Gate Buffet Dinner and Musical Show. As always, I had to try out the wonderful fried chicken and eat a piece of pie! Chocolate!

The show, The Everly Brother’s Experience was well done with lots of history on the brothers. The show was a tribute featuring the Zmed Brothers, celebrating the iconic music of The Everly Brothers .

The amazing LaGrange Country Barn Tour!

Annie and I both had been looking forward to the LaGrange Country Barn Tour for months. Sponsored by the Indiana Barn Foundation, I set up in the morning with my books at the Pretty Valley Barn headquarters. I loved meeting everyone that stopped by. Sonya Harms Nash explained a bit about this tour. “We are excited to share the story and rich history in LaGrange County to elevate the stories of families, farms, and the farmers and barns that still today provide a livelihood of farming in this community and nation.”

Sonya added, “The objective is to share working farms and gain access to farms built in the 1920’s that still exist today. In LaGrange over 2100 farms, four million chickens, and pork producers supply to five-star restaurants. They are a vital part of the livelihoods sharing farming history and the way people live today.”

Stutzman Dairy Farm

Annie and I had saw that the Stutzman Dairy Farm was open on Friday. Not realizing we were supposed to have reservations. Mr. Stutzman was kind enough to give us a tour. We enjoyed learning about the barn and operation. They adapted to modern times by bottling their own line of milk.

The Barn Tour

Eight barns were offered on the tour. They were Cook’s Bison Ranch, which Annie and I had actually visited before. The Crooked Gate Farm, MK Percheron, Our Heritage Honey Farm, Pretty Valley Barn, Springfield Farm, The Hay Barn, and Yoder Family Farm.

Each place was different with distinctive shapes and stories. There was antique farm equipment set up at some, and events taking place like Amish bake sales, and honey tasting and a milking demo.

I enjoyed seeing the animals like the majestic Percheron horses, and the noisy HUGE pigs that came snorting my direction when I peaked at them. The barn roofs soared

The Our Heritage Honey Farm in particular was amazingly beautiful, its architecture vying anything I have seen as of late.

The Hoosier state is a beautiful place, and Shipshewana has a soft spot for me, especially the barn tour. For those planning to travel a bit further northeast to see the fall foliage, check out the Best Pumkin Patches this fall. Indiana and Shipshewana in particular is one of my favorite eastern destinations!