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Come Adventure with us on a Dean Homestead & Art Studios Tour

Enjoy a Heartfelt, Handmade, & One-of-a-Kind Experience

Dean Family Farm and Art Studios - Homer, Alaska

Looking for memorable things to do in Homer, Alaska? Consider joining Alaskan artists, Ranja and Jeff Dean for this unique Homer tour.

Immerse yourself in our creative lifestyle as you visit our Alaskan homestead, meandering through a menagerie of art and animals, gardens, and architecture.

Learn about life in Alaska, fitting with the climate and following the seasons, creative building, homestead tech, gardening and landscaping, and animal and plant breeds that thrive in the North.

Visit our studios to see art in the making and hear about our artistic process. And at the end of your tour, you’ll visit the Dean Gallery to see our completed works and put everything you’ve experienced into context.

Then, of course, there’s Yeti the yow…

Tour Highlights

We hope to bring some magic to your day and inspire and encourage you in your originality, as we share a lifetime of inspiration, dedication, and diverse creative output.

See Creative Architecture
Meet Remarkable Animals
Visit Working Art Studios
Walk Winding Garden Paths
Learn about Homemade Tools
Browse The Dean Gallery
Learn about Timber and Cordwood Construction
Learn How We Make Our Art
Hear about Innovative Farmstead Solutions
Enjoy Inspiring Views
Ask about Jeff's Timber Jig
Hear about High-Tech Heating
See Herb, Flower, & Vegetable Gardens
Listen to Not So Tall Tales
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What Our Guests Have to Say

We hope to bring some magic to your day and inspire and encourage you in your originality, as we share a lifetime of inspiration, dedication, and diverse creative output.

Do you love handcrafted wines?

We’ve partnered with Bear Creek Winery to offer a special tour and wine experience.

Dean Homestead and Art Studios tour and Bear Creek Winery wine tasting and your choice of a bottle from among 15 varietals.

Our Tour Schedule

The Dean homestead, art gallery, and studios are nestled among the red-caned wild roses on the Homer bench, up against the hill with sweeping views of Kachemak Bay State Park and the Kenai Mountains.

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

Although most of our mornings are booked with Backroads Adventure groups and other private tour companies, we have public tour availabilities on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 2:00 pm.

If your schedule doesn’t match one of these times, give us a call, as we may be able to accommodate you at a different time.

And, if you can’t work a tour into your schedule this trip, you can still visit The Dean Gallery.

We offer discount pricing for groups of ten or more, so gather your friends and family for a memorable afternoon.

For same-day bookings or more information call or text 907-299-4124

A Dean Homestead and Art Studios tour may be one of the highlights of the things you do while visiting Homer, Alaska. View of the Dean farm from the hill behind Dean Family Farm and Art Studios overlooking Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountains.

A Unique Homer Cultural Experience

Ranja and Yeti the yow.
Ranja and Yeti the yow.

You’ll see examples of innovative building, timber framing, and cordwood construction, from the hammer-beam arches of the studio and goat barn to the arch-roofed donkey barn, home, sheds, and The Dean Gallery.

Walk through beautifully landscaped herb, rock, and vegetable gardens and learn about flower foods, wild foods, herbs, and herb drying.

From handmade to high-tech, you’ll see a variety of innovations. There’s the sporty handmade donkey cultivator, our solar thermal and wood boiler heating system controlled by Jeff’s custom software, the versatile homemade Timber Jig timber framing tool, a walk-through garden tool shed, and more.

Our rustic animal breeds will greet you; shaggy donkeys braying on the hill, wooly milk goats, heirloom chickens, and last but not least, Yeti the yow, our 2500-pound pasture ornament.

Learn how we make our art and visit our studios to see where we make it. Whether it’s one of Jeff’s current commissions or the art we’re creating for our gallery, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making our artwork.

Wow! Amazing, beautiful, engrossing
We visited as a part of a longer tour we were on, and I was a little skeptical as neither art nor farms is my thing. I came away practically glowing - the Deans are fabulously creative, inventive, and welcoming, with a wonderful aesthetic. Their gardens, animals, design, buildings, and stories will make you realize how differently a life can be well lived, and but for the winter weather, make you wish they’d adopt you. Any one of the flower garden, vegetable and herb gardens, animal collection, or ingenious buildings would be enough to make this family jaw droppingly impressive, but on top of all that they are accomplished artists. A greatly appreciated 2 hour visit. Thank you!
Mark D.
TripAdvisor review - June 2022

It's a Glimpse into the Lives of an Alaskan Family

Are you looking for things to do in Homer, Alaska? This video will introduce you to what you'll see on a Dean Family Farm and Art Studios Tour.
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Tour Details

  • 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 $75 per adult, $45 per child 6-11, and children 5 and under are free, prices can change seasonally.
  • We also offer savings for groups of ten or more at $60 per person.
  • For safety purposes, all children must be supervised by an adult at all times, and children under 3 must be in a backpack carrier.
  • Each tour has a two-person or $150 minimum.
For same-day bookings or more information Call or text 907-299-4124 or 907-299-5175, You can also send us an  email

Tour and Wine Package

Wind down after your Dean Homestead and Art Studios tour with a visit to Bear Creek Winery.

On your way back to Homer, visit the award-winning winery for a delightful wine tasting and a bottle of your choice from among 15 handcrafted varietals.

Dean Homestead and Art Studios tour and Bear Creek Winery wine tasting and your choice of a bottle from among 15 varietals.
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

Some Other Things to do in Homer Alaska

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

Many of our guests have considered the Dean Homestead and Art Studio tour to be one of the top things to do in Homer, a highlight of their Alaska trip.

We welcome you to join us and decide for yourself.

Dean Homestead and Art Studios
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Enjoy a Unique Homer Cultural Experience

Ranja and Yeti the yow.