Over the years, we’ve evolved quite a bit in our gardening ways.  When we moved to this farm, there were two peonies in an overgrown area surrounded by stinging nettle.  I could have mowed them down.  I didn’t.  I braved the nettle and dug them up, dividing them and moving them to a better location.  Then a friend of mine offered me even more plants from her garden.  I was delighted when she showed up with 10 or more beautiful bushes.

This year, all of my peonies bloomed into incredible shades of magenta, white and pale pink.

I made sure to send some to my sister, who appreciated peonies long before I ever did, then I placed them all over my house. I smile every time I walk by the bouquets in my house.  They are an exquisite reminder of just how far I’ve come.

When we started Black Sheep Farms, Kelly and I wanted to share our love of growing food and flowers with our community. After all, we were lucky enough to have family and friends who passed along their wisdom and advice to help us get started.

Many times, people ask us for tips about how to start gardens and where to buy seeds and plants. We are eager to reveal our favorite sources, but we understand that not everyone wants to buy a packet of 250 seeds for their backyard garden. So, this year, we are helping a little more by offering plants for sale.

The Black Sheep Farms plant sale is open on Saturdays, April 28th and May 5th from 12-5pm. The farm is located at 12808 N 192nd St, which is the NW corner of Hwy 36 and 192nd St.

Since we specialize in chemical-free, non-GMO, heirloom varieties for our farm, we have grown the same for you. We have started hundreds of vegetables, flowers, houseplants, and herbs, and we have transplanted fruit plants and bushes, too.

Some of the items we have include:

• eight tomato varieties, such as Cherokee Purple, Isis Candy, and Hawaiian Pineapple
• raspberries (red and blackcap)
• strawberries
• bushes and perennials, including curly willow, begonia, and liropie
• seven herbs, like lavender, lemon basil, and Thai basil
• King of the North bell peppers and sheepnose pimento
• ornamentals and houseplants, like jade plant, ferns, aloe, and purple heart

-Brian

Weeks ago, we planted seeds in the greenhouse for our upcoming plant sale. They sprouted and stalled, ignoring our pleas for growth until the sun sent the expected signals. Then, the tiny stems thickened and reached upward. Plants know when the time is right.

Our chickens huddled together, refusing to lay eggs. Just two weeks ago, we found one a day. Yesterday, there were 23.

Even roadkill has its seasons. In February, it was skunk. Now, rabbit.

We have spotted flies winding their way across the sky and heard the early morning birds greeting the day. The sprouts of garlic and tulips are pushing their way up, as are the lily-of-the-valley. These changes give us hope for a healthy growing season and many hours of playing in the dirt.

The acts of selecting seeds, planting them, watering the sprouts, nurturing the plants, and enjoying the fruits, flowers, and foliage are manifestations of hope for the future. Until the last, all of your effort is channeled into something that will happen in the future. Dreams of a slender bean or a bright ranunculus drive you to complete the difficult tasks of working the soil, weeding repeatedly, and living with dirty fingernails.

It is never too late to get started, and it is never too late to make a change toward a better life.

I ♥ Soil

Soil, how could I
Have forgotten you?
You help with the harvest,
And feed the animals too.

Your rich nutrients
Help me grow my crops,
So I can feed my family,
If the drought never stops.

You give homes to animals,
Let them burrow through your layers…
(If you would keep the prairie dogs out, though,
That would answer my prayers!)

You humus gives food
To the plants in the ground,
And was once decomposed
By this worm that I found!

You have helped everybody
In so many ways,
I feel that I haven’t
Given back much these days.

I vow to keep my animals
From over grazing,
Use more contour farming,
And that sort of thing!

To save you, I’ve gone through
Hard work and much toil,
It’s hard going without you,
How could I forget soil?

Not many of our animals have names. Sure, we have named the dogs and cats, but the food animals are a different story. Even at the beginning of our farm adventure, we knew that these animals weren’t pets. That’s an important distinction. We still care for these creatures and respect them for who they are, but we don’t get attached the same way.

In the normal course of life, however, some animals get named. With the pigs, we had Ranunculus, the boar we bought from Pandora Farms. And, there was Number Two, named for his ear tag.

Here, you see a photo of Bad Jr. He has the distinction of being the only chicken who has hatched on Black Sheep Farms. He is the combination of a Sumatra black mother and our Rhode Island Red rooster, Big Bad Rooster. This gives him a beautiful combination of beetle green and feiry red feathers. In his youth Big Bad (also called BB), would chase our boys around the yard, flapping like mad. He was the biggest rooster of the bunch, so the kids started to identify him as the Big Bad Rooster. Clever, huh?

Today, with the first snow of December, Bad Jr. finally moved into the chicken coop. His mother had laid her eggs in a corner of the pig hut, and they spent the summer and fall following the pigs in their rotation around the alfalfa fields. No chicken likes snow – at least none that I know – so he reluctantly hopped up the concrete step and joined the rest of the flock inside. It was a big day for him.

-Brian

That may be my favorite part. Dreaming. Farming is full of possibilities, and every year brings the chance to change, to do something new. The Nebraska winters force us to stop, rest, and consider what we’re going to do for next year. This year, we’re considering what we want to be for next year.

Since we started Black Sheep Farms, we have been concerned with expanding the farm’s production. It looks like this:
2008 – Village Pointe Farmers Market
2009 – Village Pointe Farmers Market plus small CSA
2010 – CSA
2011  - CSA plus The Grey Plume

This year, we have been engaged in conversations about our lifestyle, what makes us happy, what we can handle, our relationships, our goals, and a hundred other things. We have discussed our limitations, our intentions, and our passions. We have focused our eyes on “why” instead of “what.”

We have declared 2012 “The Year of Beauty.” We want our farm to be prettier. Kelly wants to concentrate her efforts on flowers. We want to position ourselves to enjoy the summer instead of feeling crushed by tasks that never find completion. Farming should be delicious to the mind.

And, so, we’re pulling back a little bit. Our CSA will be a bit smaller, our fields a bit smaller and more colorful, and our time a little slower. We’re planning a nice patio outside the kitchen. We will be converting the old raised beds into a flower garden. We will pay more attention to our spaces and how to share them with friends.

In short, we will stop to smell the roses.

-Brian

The price is only $15/individual or $25/couple or family, and we accept PayPal and Dwolla. Class starts at 10am and is limited to 20 people. If there is enough request, we will open a second class.

-event has passed-

These days, we are taking breaks during the hottest part of the day and we swim or play in the water quite a bit.   But even with shade trees and a breeze it’s still 90 degrees inside the house!  Sometimes it all gets to be too much.  Today is one of the those days.  So today you can find me holed up in my bedroom next to the window air unit, dreaming of snow!

Later this week they are talking highs in the 80s!  I can’t wait!

Stay cool everyone! 

We hope to return energized and ready to tackle the second half of the growing season!