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In the winter of 1996, Donna Murphy and Cindy Hoehne were looking for the perfect place to start a bed-and-breakfast. They had looked at hobby farms from Tomah, Wis., to Brownsville, Minn., all in various states of disrepair.

They were driving around Onalaska, along Sand Lake Road near Highway S, when they spotted a sign that read, "hobby farm for sale." There was no agent listed on the sign, but they decided to take a look.

They followed the signs to a picturesque old farmstead on Hauser Road, nestled in the valley.

When they arrived, they found no agent's sign so they started to inquire about the place. They found out who the owner was, stopped and talked with him and found out the place was indeed for sale.

They didn't get a chance to look at it then, but fortunately the owner, Conrad Steck, held it until March when they were able to make a trip back from Virginia, where they were both living at the time.

It was just what they were looking for.

The two became friends when they were living and working in the Washington, D.C., area.

At the time, Murphy was working as a contractor and real estate agent and Hoehne worked as a nuclear medical technician.

Then they decided it was time to move back to the Midwest.

"After 12 years of Washington, I was finally tired of traffic, crime and nasty people," Hoehne said.

Hoehne, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Ill., went to school at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She remembered how beautiful the area was.

When Murphy said she wanted to open a bed and breakfast in Pennsylvania, Hoehne said she'd be interested in going into business with her if they could open one closer to home.

They bought the 35-acre hobby farm in June 1996 and not long after they opened Rainbow Ridge Farms Bed and Breakfast.

Neither Hoehne nor Murphy had any farming experience when they bought the old farm, nestled in the bluffs between Onalaska and Holmen.

"It's kind of fun," Hoehne said. "I never thought I'd have a farm."

They didn't have any experience running a bed and breakfast either. But that didn't stop them.

They weren't sure what to do when they started, they just knew it was the right thing to do. Both said it's definitely been a learning process.

With a modest amount of renovation, they turned the old farmhouse into a comfortable four-room guest house. Each guest room has its own bathroom, with an antique cast iron tub. Each room overlooks a pond.

Guests are treated to a huge country breakfast served family style. Breakfast includes freshly brewed gourmet coffee, juice, tea, freshly baked muffins, an assortment of breads, and fresh fruits. Weekend guests also enjoy Rainbow Ridge's farm-fresh eggs or pancakes, and bacon or sausage. Home baked treats are available in the evenings.

"Our guests usually sit down for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and don't leave until probably 10 a.m.," Murphy said. "We want people to waddle away from the table."

They make a point to let people know that children are welcome at Rainbow Ridge Farms. There is plenty of room to roam and plenty of animals to visit. Guests are also welcomed to help out around the farm, feeding the animals or gathering eggs, if they want an authentic experience. They can also help bottle-feed any newborn animals if they visit at the right time.

Hoehne and Murphy, who belong to the Wisconsin Innkeepers Association and the Wisconsin Bed and Breakfast Association, said winter is a slow time of year, which gives them a chance to catch up on work around the farm.

Murphy does most of the farming and construction work - she built a deluxe coop for the farm's chickens. She raises hay to feed to the animals.

Visitors come from as far as Minneapolis, Madison and Milwaukee. Rainbow Ridge Farms even gets visitors who live nearby but just want to get away for the weekend.

Since opening Rainbow Ridge Farms, Hoehne and Murphy have acquired a variety of farm animals: chickens, sheep, pygmy and fainting goats, donkeys and a guard llama, which protects all the other animals from coyotes.

They have given animals to Onalaska's Clearwater Farm. They also take some of their animals with them to area events such as "The Bethlehem Event" in La Crosse and Holmen's "Majesty of Christmas."

Rainbow Ridge Farms also has its share of wild animals that visit regularly. Guests can watch wild turkey and deer roaming through the fields.

When they started raising animals to the farm, Hoehne and Murphy asked if the local 4-H had a goat project and found out there was none. They decided to start one for area children who were interested. They've run the program for the past five years.

They provide goats for children who don't have goats on their family farms or children who don't live on farms. Children volunteer time on the farm in exchange for boarding goats there.

Rainbow Ridge Farms is also open for school group visits. They get many young visitors who enjoy coming to see and feed the farm animals.

"Our purpose is to educate the kids who come here," Murphy said.

Along the way Hoehne, a nuclear medicine technician at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center in La Crosse, has learned to do many things she never thought she'd be doing, like making soap.

Since raising a small herd of goats, Hoehne now uses the goats' milk for her Walnut Creek Soapworks specialty soap. They also sell chicken eggs locally at the Holmen Locker and Meat Market.

When they moved to the area, there wasn't too much development around Rainbow Ridge Farms. In the almost nine years they've been here, they have watched as the nearby land has been developed. But they don't feel the pressure.

"This stays a farm," Murphy said. "This valley was meant to be farming land."