Meet Jana Reishus | Glamping Queen of the Ozarks

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jana Reishus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jana, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My sister and I inherited a heritage farm when our grandfather passed away in 2006. The farm has been in our family for over a century and after our grandfather passed I made the decision along with my family to turn the farmhouse into a vacation rental in 2010, one of the first vacation rentals in SW Missouri. Over the years and as our children became older my husband and I decided to expand the farmhouse vacation rental business into a glamping and gathering business incorporating about 80 acres into the site and with the vision of turning the farm into a place where we could share more of our gift of this beautiful piece of our history with others. Our children are now grown, we moved to the farm from the city during the pandemic and we have developed a brand that incorporates our love of nature and the outdoors. Our farm is approximately 376 acres, most of the land is leased to a cattle rancher and we built our glamping tents and shower house facility and now are working on recreating our barns. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, my great grandfather was a successful businessman and my grandfather was a self employed farmer and my father an excellent salesman. I’ve taken their legacy and created with my husband a very inspirational transition from urban to country during a pandemic and as empty nesters.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a creative multi passionate entrepreneur. My gift is to be able to take a large vision of space and make it a beautiful work of visionary art and comfort. The atmosphere I’ve created with my brand is one of quirky, comfortable and thoughtful accommodations and places on the farm to enjoy being alone, with another or with a group. I specialize in design of outdoor spaces, photography sets, dinner tablescapes, hospitality and creating just about anything outdoors from whatever I happen to have on hand on the farm. I thrive on repurposed vintage items, materials found on or about the farm and of course I have quite the collection of items from my travels and wanderings over the years whether store bought or a beautiful rock picked up off the creek.

I got where I am professionally with a lot of directed thought, I’ve always been able to do exactly what it is I focus on. This journey of mine has been incredibly challenging. My husband and I have used our own means to create this vision of ours and it has been very, very hard. We are constantly having to pivot and market our business in different ways to different groups and our reach after 2 years is finally gaining traction. It took me many years to build our farmhouse vacation rental business and I think my husband and I thought the glamping and gathering business would happen overnight. It didn’t and that’s ok. It’s going to take awhile but the gift of it all is doing it together and living on a beautiful hill where my father lived 40 years ago, I mean how wonderful to be able to live in the place that I grew up loving so much.

We are so grateful for this beautiful farm and we are so very fortunate to be able to make it into something to pass along to our descendants. Yes, it’s tough but worth every single moment.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am from Dallas, and although I live on the farm now my favorite places to go in the city are of course Northpark, Ida Claire, Whiskey Cake, and if I’m in the city in the fall of course the State Fair of Texas.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband is the most important person in my life. He has been the biggest support and has helped me realize my dreams of living on the farm and making the land a beautiful place for us and others. We are a team, we work harder than we’ve ever worked. Long physical hard work as well as many many hours of planning, creating, marketing, greeting guests, running the business and much much more. We’ve been married for 34 years and without his support and shared vision of living this kind of dream this would have never been possible.

Website: www.littlesugarfarm.com

Instagram: @little_sugar_farm

Facebook: Little Sugar Farm

Image Credits
Sunshine Joy Photography Kenneth Bogle Joplin Outdoors