Are you looking for things to do in Homer, Alaska?

Come Adventure with us at the Dean Family Farm and Art Studios for a heartfelt, handmade, and one-of-a-kind experience

Bring Some Magic
to Your Day

On a Dean Family Farm and Art Studios Tour

If you’ve been wondering about things to do when you visit Homer, consider joining Alaskan artists, Ranja and Jeff Dean, for one of the more undiscovered Homer Alaska tours.

Immerse yourself in our creative Alaskan lifestyle as you meander through a menagerie of art and animals, gardens, and architecture, from patchwork quilts to timber frame barns, towering beach logs, and arched roofed structures, innovative tools, farmstead gadgets, and both fine and functional artwork.

Learn about life in Alaska, fitting with the climate, and following the seasons, about animal and plant breeds that thrive in the North, creative building, flower foods, wild foods, herbs, and herb drying.

You’ll visit working art studios and see art in the making.

The educational tour lasts around 2 hours, ending with a visit to The Dean Gallery.

It’s a glimpse into the lives of an Alaskan family as we share a lifetime of inspiration, dedication, and diverse creative output.

We hope to bring magic to your day and inspire and encourage you in your originality.

COVID-19 has changed the way we all do business!

Our COVID-19 protocols include providing you with hand sanitizer upon arrival. Properly-worn masks are required when inside the barns, studios, and gallery.

Please remember to practice ‘social distancing’ from your guide and other groups as well.

There are no exceptions to this and we thank you for your understanding.

Note: If you viewed our rack card, you would have seen reference to visiting our home for refreshments at the end of the tour. We no longer offer this due to COVID.

Watch our Micro-Documentary

Film by WOODTEB

Dean Family Farm and Art Studios Tour Highlights

Our farmstead, gallery, and studios are nestled among the red-caned wild roses, up against the hill and overlooking Kachemak Bay State Park and the Kenai Mountains.

These are some of the things you’ll experience on your tour

Our well-equipped timber frame studio with its arched doorway and hammer-beam trusses
Delightful, timber and cordwood masonry barns and animal houses
Beautifully landscaped herb, rock, and vegetable gardens
A large variety of Alaska hardy fruit trees and berry bushes
The Dean Gallery featuring Unique and limited edition sculptures and artwork in bronze, wood and other materials
Original, Heat tinted, engraved steel wall art
Carved wood panels and Ink miniatures
Beautiful, Ferro-cement rabbit houses
Rustic and unique animal breeds including:
Shaggy Donkeys
Wooly Milk Goats
Chickens
Yow (Yak/Cow-cross)
A sporty handmade donkey cultivator
Innovative solar thermal system with it’s custom software and controller
The versatile Timber Jig timber framing tool
Walk through garden tool shed, and more…

Read what our guests have to say

You can also read all of our

5 star reviews on Trip Advisor.

In all my years as a lover of the artful melding of landscape and built environment, I have never seen such a high degree of creative diversity, magnificent craftsmanship, and architectural charm as the Deans have created. From the elfin chicken houses and rabbit warrens, the enchanting donkey and goat barns, the handmade house chocked full with a lifetime of artistic output, the prolific vegetable and herb gardens, and down to the last hand-hewn garden tool - it is inspiring to the highest degree and like nothing you have ever seen!

Betsy Webb

Retired Curator of Collections
Pratt Museum - Homer, Alaska

A treat for your creativity, serenity, and soul
Thank you Ranja and Jeff for an amazingly inspiring visit to your home, for sharing the beauty, the wit, the creativity and the loving soul of your life’s work and art, so far! We came away enriched! To everyone out there thinking of asking for a tour – make sure to get a visit in before everyone else hears about this hidden gem and you will have to stand in line to get to experience it. / Kindest regards Pernille and Niklas, Sweden Ps. Looking forward to reading your book of magical encounters, when you’ve written it Ranja.

Pernille and Niklas

Sweden

To visit Jeff and Ranja's homestead is to step into an alternate reality, one filled with magic and beauty at every turn. The first thing that struck me on a visit to their place was the wonderfully unique architecture of their handmade buildings (house, workshop, barn, goat house, even the tool shed, chicken coops and rabbit hutches!) and the way they fit so perfectly into their environment, including the gardens which are every bit as beautiful as the structures. Stepping inside their home I found delightful surprises around every corner - from homemade benches and quilts to a dollhouse, rounded countertops and beautifully worked doors and windows. Everything on the homestead is a testament to the imagination, creativity, and skill of the Deans. And then there is the wonderful menagerie of unique animals that they have there - a yow, shaggy donkeys, goats, a grazing pig, etc. Every time I visit their homestead I come away inspired and with a silly grin on my face, thrilled to know a couple like Jeff and Ranja who have truly mastered the art of living and artful living. As a local guide, I was excited to bring some of my guests out to the Dean homestead. They were as taken with the place as I was, and one guest told me afterward that her experience there had been 'life-changing.' I will certainly try to include a visit to the Deans with friends, family, and guests coming to Homer in the future!

Carla Fabian

Tour Guide

This place is magical. I can never describe it to people and do it justice. I have been to their place a million times and never cease to be surprised and enchanted each time. The thought and care put into every corner, every curve, and every surface makes the whole farm an intertwined piece of art. It is my favorite showcase of how to live thoughtfully, how to live with beauty, how to be intentional in the creation of our lives. That is no small task. For the first-time visitor, to see it all in a few hours will be overwhelming. No matter how many times you visit, you will leave questioning how you live your life, how you can bring more love and creativity into it. If nothing else, I bet you will leave at least wondering why your house has so many boring square corners.

Kyra Wagner

Coordinator, Sustainable Homer

Please keep these details in mind:

We’re located in Homer, Alaska on the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. About 10 minutes from downtown, and 15 minutes from the airport. It’s an easy drive to find us. We don’t provide transportation but suggest you contact one of the local cab companies if you need to. Make sure they know to pick you up 2 hours after the start of the tour.
Tours are by reservation only.
Please book your tours online. For same-day booking, we require a 2-hour minimum before the tour time.
We work hard to provide a quality experience, so please plan on spending at least two hours with us. The walk distance itself is not long, but you’ll be outside much of the time. After the walk, we’ll visit the gallery.
Your group may not be the only guests; we take up to twelve guests per tour.
Wear season/weather-appropriate clothing. The weather here in Homer can change fairly quickly so be sure to come prepared.
If you arrive early, you may have to wait in your car while we finish preparing for your tour.
Our tours are by reservation only. This is our home; please respect that.
Prices are $55 per adult, $35 per child 3-12, under 3 free, prices can change seasonally.
For safety purposes all children must be supervised by an adult at all times, children under 3 must be in a backpack carrier.
Each tour has a two-person or $110 minimum.

For more information call 907-299-5175 or 907-299-4124, or send us an email.

When people think of the things there are to do in Homer, the first that come to mind might be fishing, hiking, or kayaking across Kachemak Bay, and visiting the many art galleries in the area.

Many people consider us a bit of a hidden gem here in Homer and we welcome you to decide for yourself.

If your schedule doesn’t match our tour availabilities, you can get a little glimpse of our place and shop for our artwork when you visit our gallery.

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