Say hello to our Intern!

We are so fortunate to have Claire come to us this fall from the University of Missouri-Columbia's Hospitality Management Program!

Claire is learning the ropes of each facet of having a small hospitality-based business while assisting us in daily tasks and projects.

She's currently in competition with Chris for serving beverages on the weekend, and in competition with Jeff for making a "mean" bed!


Weekend guests have had the pleasure of getting to know her, and hopefully some of you will get to stay and meet her, too!

Just about harvest time in Historic Missouri Wine Country

Today we rode our bikes on the Katy Trail to Augusta from Defiance (as we often do), and surprisingly the smell of autumn seemed to be in the air.  It was an unseasonably cool August morning, and it was beautiful.  We saw several farmers in their fields harvesting, and now the vineyards are beginning to be ready for harvest as well.

It's really a lot of fun to watch the vineyards and wineries harvest their grapes.  The hard thing though, is to pinpoint exactly when they will be doing it.  So much depends upon the weather and the ripening of the grapes.

There's something beautifully peaceful about getting to one of the vineyards early in the morning and beginning the task of harvesting grapes or watching someone harvest grapes.  Keep a lookout on the winery websites for when they're harvesting their grapes and make a point of going to watch (or simply sample some of the finished product).

Next time you take a sip of a really good wine, think about what all went into the making of it, and be sure to thank the person who grew the grapes -- they're sort of performing a public service!

Hello summer - goodbye rain!

After weeks (and weekends) of non-stop torrential rain, the sun came out today as if to say "WELCOME SUMMER!"

Our garden is a little puny from too much water, but all of the plants welcomed the sunshine today.

We also put up the flag bunting, a sure sign of summer and our memories of summer fun - bike riding, winery visiting, picnics, etc. (Well, actually, Jeff put up the bunting and I supervised... Ha!)

While I'm on the deck writing this, I can smell freshly mowed grass and the birds are happily singing. All signs of the flash flooding we experienced the past few days are gone, and we all couldn't be happier! Thanks for showing up, summer!

The Garden is coming along!

As all of our guests know, we try to provide farm-fresh, local foods whenever possible.  With our community's loss of Greene's Country Store, we have been building new relationships that will provide us with organic wholesome foods for our guests.

This year in our little pocket garden we've put in various varities of tomatoes - heirlooms, cherry, Roma, and others. Our peppers include sweet bell varieties, several hot selections, and your good old green and red peppers. We decided to try some squash this year as well.

Of course we have planted all of our "go-to" herbs, and they're starting to fill in (cilantro, parsley, rosemary, mint, chives, lavender, basil, sage).

Our attempt at various greens was foiled  last year by a voracious groundhog, so we didn't even try that this year. The rain has been making growing a challenge so far this year. We're hoping for more sunshine down the road.

Trip Advisor 2015 Certificate of Excellence

Wow, Thanks Everyone!!

Jeff and I, along with Chef John Richardson, would like to thank all of our guests who came to stay during our first year of operation for their incredibly nice reviews of our Inn.  It garnered us a 2015 Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor.

Jeff Comotto, Owner & Innkeeper Displaying Certificate



When we decided to purchase the property and open the Inn last year, we knew we wanted to provide a special and memorable experience for all of our guests who stayed here.  We really took that quite seriously as our mission. 

One important component of that was asking John Richardson if he would be interested in being the "Chef Extraordinaire", serving unique farm-fresh menu items for breakfast for our guests.  We were so happy he agreed to be a part of our weekend adventure, and we're thrilled that as we go full-throttle into year two, he's still a very integral part of the equation that helps us succeed in fulfilling our mission.  It goes without saying, that I'm thankful for Jeff being our resident weekday Chef.  He sometimes thinks he has big shoes to fill, but he really has done a great job in the kitchen (who doesn't love his cookies, too??)!

Another component which we feel has helped us along the way was asking our guests to let us know if we had forgotten something to make their stay a great experience.  Many of you told us things you thought might be helpful, and believe me, we listened.  So as we have gone along, we like to think that all of our previous guests are part of the reason everything seemed to "click" and work.

Having wonderful guests who were willing to share their experience with others through Trip Advisor was obviously the key component to getting the certificate (hopefully the first of many) awarded to us.  We truly appreciated each and every guest taking time out of their day to submit a review, and we do read each and every one.

Thanks, all of you, for making our first year in business so rewarding.  As individuals who travel quite a bit, we always relied upon Trip Advisor reviews ourselves.  It's sort of weird being on the other side of that now, but we really appreciate that you have shared your experiences with future guests.

Hope to see you all again soon!

Cheers,

Jeff & Chris Comotto

Roots: A Pairing Dinner in Collaboration With Ferguson Brewing Company

A Celebration of Regional Cuisine and Cultural Heritage

Join us on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6:00 p.m. along with Chef John Richardson and Brewmaster Ryan Landolt as we serve six courses paired with six uniquely hand-crafted beers.  This one-of-a-kind dining experience is housed in the intimate atmosphere of The Gallery at Defiance, where seating is limited.

Tickets may be purchased only online through the link below:
Get Tickets Now

Chef John Richardson has been delighting breakfast guests at The Inn at Defiance since our grand opening April, 2014. He also created three unique pairing dinners for the Inn in 2014 (which all sold out in advance) -- our Oktoberfest Beer Pairing Dinner, our Harvest Wine Pairing Dinner, and our Holiday Cocktail Pairing dinner. 

Ryan Landolt, the Brewmaster at Ferguson Brewing Company has been providing aficionados of beer with tasty creations during his tenure at the brewery.  He treated our dinner guests last year to some memorable brews and is looking forward to presenting them with some new tastes this summer.

This dinner is limited to sixteen (16) guests.  Tickets go on sale online May 25th.

Schedule:

6:00 pm        Doors Open for Social time
6:30 pm        Meet the Chef & the Brewmaster
6:45 pm        Dinner is served

Farewell to Our Friend - Greene's Country Store

It's Been A Good Run with Amazingly Good Products & Service

On May 1, 2015 we were surprised and saddened to receive an email that our local purveyor of great fresh, organic food - Greene's Country Store - was going out of business.  As many of our guests know, we belonged to their CSA program and regularly shopped there for healthy fresh foods for our breakfasts here at the Inn at Defiance.



Randy Greene and his family and staff were always great to work with, friendly, helpful, and going the extra mile for their customers.  They consistently offered quality products direct from local farmers and other purveyors of products such as soaps, teas, spices, etc.

The store will be closing their doors on June 2nd.  We will greatly miss them and the niche they filled in our community.  In their place, we will be utilizing the fresh, organic products of several local partners to provide our breakfast guests with healthy food.

Our best wishes to the Greene Family and employees,

Jeff & Chris